638401 Tue Jul 21 16:31:04 -0700 2009 28 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 4878734 Anybody know about this place? Looks like a hot dog stand by the Foreign Cinema people. Menu looks pretty good. http://www.thrillist.com/civic-center/show-dogs Tue Jul 21 16:31:04 -0700 2009 130031 Shane Greenwood 1 4879305 Went with a friend today and tried the corn dog, the duck sausage and the lemon chicken sausage... Also had the barbeque fries and onion rings... Corn dog was lacking... Odd batter/crust... Didn't really have any corn flavor and was kinda soft/soggy... Hot dog was OK... Crust... Fail. I'd pass on this... Duck sausage was tasty... But I like kimchee... So dunno how others will feel about this garnish... The pasilla BBQ sauce was fine too... Sausage wasn't dry, but not bursting with juiciness either... Lemon chicken sausage was OK, but better than I thought it be... The words 'lemon chicken' strike fear in me, since I had some God awful lemon chicken Chinese dish (I'm Chinese, BTW) in Washington, D.C. ages ago... So... Since I am somewhat bias about this one item... You can probably ignore my opinion on it... ;) Will go back to try some of the other offerings... Onion rings were OK... I liked the barbeque fries... Was like eating the french fries version of BBQ potato chips... Tue Jul 21 20:06:19 -0700 2009 4878734 10867 slew 2 4879516 Thanks for the first report. I'm looking forward to trying those dogs. I probably would have avoided the corn dog anyway, since it's the least interesting item on the menu. I'm glad to see they are open until 8pm too. Tue Jul 21 21:48:58 -0700 2009 4879305 130031 Shane Greenwood 3 4880721 There's another thread here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/637340 but sheesh the dog in the Thrillist post looks so unappetizing to me. Wed Jul 22 09:21:38 -0700 2009 4879516 169233 grayelf 4 4881278 Ah, thanks. It wasn't coming up in my search because of the different spelling. The place is "Show Dogs" not "showdogs". Wed Jul 22 11:39:00 -0700 2009 4880721 130031 Shane Greenwood 5 4927731 link Fri Aug 07 20:24:20 -0700 2009 4881278 10264 rworange 1 4947298 I just came back from Show Dogs for lunch with a couple of friends. It was... a bit of a curate's egg, really, although my opinion may be skewed by high expectations. Overall, I thought the food was good, but I have some quibbles. On our plates: 1. Wild Boar Sausage with remoulade, arugula ($7.50) The sausage itself was nice, with a dense, somewhat gamey flavor that I liked. The remoulade was tangy and complemented the meat well, although I didn't personally think the arugula added much to the experience. (My friends disagreed.) This dog, as well as the others we had, were served on a toasted sesame seed bun, which I thought was a good choice -- it held all the ingredients in place. 2. Organic Duck Sausage with pasilla bbq sauce, kimchee ($8) Again, the sausage itself was fantastic. The main problem was that it was largely buried by the flavor of the kimchee. I actually think the combination could work very well, with perhaps half as much kimchee (maybe mince it up too?), but as it was, too much. The bbq sauce was great, and paired well. Overall, I still thought it was nice, if not the home run that other people said it was. 3. Ryan Farr's Organic 4505 Dog with diced onion, sliced tomato, house mustard ($7.65). I thought this one was the most successful of the three I tried, as the combination of the ingredients worked best together than in the other dogs (and it's hard not to notice that it's halfway to being a Chicago hot dog). I was quite pleased with this one, although it was also the least interesting, with respect to ingredients. Still, good is good, and this one was. 4. 49'er All Beef Schwartz Dog with house mustard, house sauerkraut, arugula ($5.75) I don't know what this tastes like, because my rapscallion of a friend inhaled the whole thing before I could try it. I mention it because he got to try all four of our dogs, and he liked this one the best (hmph!). This was also one of the cheapest dogs on the menu. 5. Barbeque Fries ($3.75) These we did not think were good. They were basically regular French fries with bbq dust liberally sprinkled on top, the same sort used for BBQ potato chips. I'm not personally a big fan of that flavor, so it didn't do much for me, but the fries themselves were soggy and bland. Without the bbq dust, they would be mediocre or worse, in fact in my opinion they would be worse than McDo fries. When I asked the guy which condiment I should use for the fries, he generously gave me a cup of remoulade, which helped some, but not enough to make them tasty. We didn't finish the fries. It must be noted that the staff, who are best described as young, merry hipsters, are extremely friendly. In fact, for this sort of fast food, they are by far the most courteous and helpful servers I've encountered in a while. So they get kudos from me here. The main problem is that it is too expensive. While all the dogs were decent, none of them were outstanding enough to justify the price. I personally ordered two dogs, the fries, and a Diet Coke, and my bill came to $23.27. $23.27! Without alcohol! (Of which, there is a fair selection of local brews.) That prices it well above most quick food options, and I cannot honestly say that it was vastly superior to, say, the $3 bahn mi sandwiches in Little Saigon, which isn't too far away. The fries in particular get a demerit for cost: nearly $4 for French fries? Just how expensive is bbq dust, anyway? It must also be noted that all three of us were hungry again an hour later, although all three of us have high metabolisms. Light eaters may be okay with one dog, but most active people will want at least two. It's hard not to compare this place to Hot Doug's in Chicago, which I suspect was the model for this place. Hot Doug's is, alas, vastly superior, and it's no contest. Locals will probably compare it to Rosamunde, and... well, I prefer Show Dogs, and I think it is now the best sausage place in San Francisco, but I would not be surprised if some disagreed. In any event, all the sausages at Show Dogs are of very high quality, so I think it's just a matter of matching the sausages with good dressing combinations. I think very highly of the Foreign Cinema gang, and I believe they will eventually pull it off (the food, at least. The somewhat coarse neighborhood makes it a tough business proposition.). I will definitely go again, but so far I'm not blown away, as I had hoped to be. It's at least worth poking your nose in if you're in the area. Fri Aug 14 14:54:10 -0700 2009 4878734 29802 dunstable 2 5120067 Any updates on this place? We're thinking of doing a dog off btwn Show Dogs, Zog's and Da Beef in November... Wed Oct 21 10:50:52 -0700 2009 4947298 169233 grayelf 3 5155955 Two of us went two nights ago. We split an order of rings, an order of fries, the wild boar dog, and a merguez. Both dogs were really flavorful, well-spiced. I too felt that the arugula was superflous - the sausage outweighed any peppery flavor of the greens. LIked the remoulade. Can't remember the sauce on the merguez, but the dog itself was really good - nice lamb flavor, not oily. again, no real point in the arugula - or there should be a lot more of it to stand up to the flavor of the dogs. The fries were ok - we got regular instead of BBQ, tho we asked for BBQ. The rings were really good. I'm not a total fan of rings usually - but these were very crisp and lightly battered. The counterman gave us a taste of a watermelon ale that went really well with the dogs, very refreshing and light, so we ordered one to split. i felt the prices were ok - even though they are hot dogs, they are FC hot dogs, so I didn't expect to pay less than $7 or so apiece. The only problem to me was the ambience. We were there at about 7:30-8:15, and sat outside because it was a nice night. It's not a nice strip of Market - there was an homeless man yelling at the top of his lungs at another unfortunate homeless man in a wheelchair, and a lot of panhandlers, not to mention the sirens every few minutes. I'm sure FC is hoping the area will gentrify, as the strip of Valencia they are on is doing . . . it's not a destination place, but I have to say I really liked the dogs, and would try the other dogs (and bbq fries) if i was in the neighborhood. Wed Nov 04 13:06:44 -0800 2009 5120067 44619 mariacarmen 4 5156137 Very helpful, esp re the onion rings which I am a huge fan of when done right -- we're planning to go at lunch this Friday so I wonder if the ambiance will be any different. Wed Nov 04 14:04:38 -0800 2009 5155955 169233 grayelf 5 5156261 It's supposed to rain, maybe, so sit inside - that may help with ambience. remember, tho - i'm not usually an onion ring person, so they may not be up to your standards! Wed Nov 04 14:41:18 -0800 2009 5156137 44619 mariacarmen 5 5156303 i forget, do you put malt vinegar on onion rings? Wed Nov 04 14:53:30 -0800 2009 5156137 105235 wolfe 6 5156687 ??? are you kidding? i've never heard of that. malt vinegar goes on fish and chips only, as far as i know . . . are you just pulling my leg? i can be very naive! Wed Nov 04 17:10:42 -0800 2009 5156303 44619 mariacarmen 7 5157791 Even though my background is English, I don't love malt vinegar. I don't know of any stricture against using it on whatever you might like it on. I, however, love white vinegar on onion rings, FWIW. I didn't realize that there was an option to sit inside at Show Dogs so that is a great piece of info. I had convinced myself it was a stand only despite the clear reference to church pews in the OP's post ;-). Thu Nov 05 07:22:15 -0800 2009 5156687 169233 grayelf 8 5159373 so how did you enjoy your dogs? Thu Nov 05 15:50:38 -0800 2009 5157791 44619 mariacarmen 9 5159395 Too soon, I think it's on their schedule for tomorrow. Thu Nov 05 15:59:23 -0800 2009 5159373 105235 wolfe 7 5157796 Mariacarmen, yes. When I lived in Detroit I used to go south to Canada for chips with vinegar. Just joshing the young lady from Vancouver. Thu Nov 05 07:25:03 -0800 2009 5156687 105235 wolfe 8 5157806 Hey, I remember travelling in parts of the States years ago where they looked at you like you were mad if you requested vinegar of any kind instead of ketchup with your fries/chips. Thu Nov 05 07:27:17 -0800 2009 5157796 169233 grayelf 9 5158295 The fact that malt vinegar is more and more available in the US makes me wonder when Poutine will make its way south of the border... Thu Nov 05 10:12:52 -0800 2009 5157806 261092 BernalKC 10 5158561 They have Poutine at O My Dawg in Oakland. Not sure how authentic it is, but it's dangerously tasty. Thu Nov 05 11:27:46 -0800 2009 5158295 254487 Mola 11 5159426 Cheap too. The way it ought to be. I sense a lunch expedition in the making... Thu Nov 05 16:13:10 -0800 2009 5158561 261092 BernalKC 10 5159368 Trader Joe's sells cheese curds now, and I imagine it's for Poutine . . . Thu Nov 05 15:48:39 -0800 2009 5158295 44619 mariacarmen 10 5159407 Previous abortive cross border poutine raid. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/351637 Thu Nov 05 16:03:21 -0800 2009 5158295 105235 wolfe 8 5159371 Gotcha! Thu Nov 05 15:49:40 -0800 2009 5157796 44619 mariacarmen 9 5174904 Malt vinegar on poutine = Wolf and Montcalm revisited. Don't do it. Cheese curds spotted (and tasted) at Jack London Square market. Not fresh enough to squeak and egad to the garlic and spicy versions but they are there, and the same vendor was at the Tuesday FPFM FWIW. Back on topic, our dog off got rained out and we ended up at Miss SaiGon instead. More on that later... Thu Nov 12 01:33:54 -0800 2009 5159371 169233 grayelf 10 5175221 Frankly my dear I would hope for a better outcome. http://faculty.umf.maine.edu/~walters/web%20230/Death%20of%20Wolfe%20BenjaminWest.jpg Thu Nov 12 06:53:44 -0800 2009 5174904 105235 wolfe 10 5175884 I dunno, grayelf... I lived in Toronto for a bit and it was common there to put malt vinegar on poutine. I like it. :) Thu Nov 12 09:56:35 -0800 2009 5174904 43515 adrienne156 11 5177745 Wow the OP must be tearing his hair out :-). I lived in TO for a few years too and never encountered that particular poutine combo. Of course, poutine in Toronna is not poutine in Quebec or even Ottawa... but that is grist for a different thread, ya? Thu Nov 12 21:32:21 -0800 2009 5175884 169233 grayelf 1 5178144 I had a "Let's be Frank Dog" there a couple of weeks back, and although prepared well, this was the worst excuse for a hot dog, or any kind of sausage, that I've ever had. It was almost tasteless with an unpleasant grainy texture. These dogs used to be good but they seem to be getting worse and worse. So while it seemed to be prepared correctly, Show Dogs loses points with me for choosing to serve such a poor product. Fri Nov 13 05:47:19 -0800 2009 4878734 16655 bdl