Another day, another food truck to try. This time around, I biked over to the George-Etienne Cartier statue on the slope of Mont-Royal to give Chaud Dogs a try. Chaud Dogs is, as one could probably guess based on their name, a truck that specializes in gourmet hot dogs. Everything they use is 100% homemade – be it the handmade sausages themselves down to the mustard and ketchup they use. They have a focus on using seasonal ingredients and a desire to support local farmers through local markets. An awesome concept that I believe we can all certainly get behind.
On this day, the truck was offering a homemade corn dog, a ‘Wu Dog”, black bean salsa, house fries, bottled water and a Lemon Thyme soda. While there was some temptation to try everything, I held off and decided to stick to the two dogs for this particular visit. If the dogs held up, then I would be back at some point to try the side-dishes.
First up, the Chaud Dog corndog. A nice housemade play on the classic pogo. The sausage itself was quite good and the corn batter around it had a slight sweetness. The batter had a nice crisp to it on the outside but was thick enough to be nice and moist inside. Add to that homemade ketchup and mustard on top and you have a solid offering. If you don’t like pogos, I don’t think this will change your mind but for the rest of us, this corndog will do quite nicely.
Secondly, the “Wu Dog”. A very unique Asian-inspired play on the standard hot dog. Here you have a grilled sausage with a sesame/poppy seed bun, marinated carrots and Daikon radish,crispy chicken skin and hoisin sauce as a condiment. Big winner for me on this day. Each individual component was well done and created interesting contrasts in terms of both texture and flavours. In particular, the use of the marinated vegetables and hoisin sauce really added a lot for me. I loved the chicken skin but honestly their presence made it hard to actually bite into the hot dog as one would want to do. I ended up eating most of it separately and leaving myself smaller pieces to actually bit into on top of the hot dog. Regardless, a very creative option to be offering in this truck.
Two for two so far in my food truck experiences this year. Love the fully housemade concept, the creativity and the flavours that Chaud Dogs brings to the party. If one is craving a good hot dog, Chaud Dogs is definitely one you want to look for this summer in the street of Montreal!
Cheers!
Chaud Dogs
on Facebook or Twitter: @chauddogs
Ramblings from the Complex Mind of a 30 Something 
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