Showdogs

Recommends

Patrick Heig

Joined 5 years ago

Specialty sausage cafe in the heart of the Tenderloin.. Consider the conundrums: On a seedy corner of a 'hood known for excellent, inexpensive ethnic eats, Showdogs serves gourmet, pricey versions of a simple all-American food, the lowly hot dog, the very last thing anyone would expect Foreign Cinema (same owners) to be into. But that was before the hot dog craze of '09, when frankfurters got haute. Now produced by the city's boutique meat purveyors (Fatted Calf, 4505 Meats, Golden Gate, etc.), these dogs arrive on custom-baked Acme buns tastefully slathered with house-made garnishes like piperade, sauce soubise and remoulade. The sausages themselves are mostly made of the organic, sustainable meat of not just the usual pigs, chickens and cows, but duck, lamb and boar (don't miss the duck with pasilla and kimchi). A selection of eight microbrews on draft, mostly ales and stouts, are the perfect thing to wash down the dogs while watching the always lively, sometimes scary street life on 6th and Market through the floor-to-ceiling windows--a fine setup considering that hot dogs are designed to be eaten while watching a spectacle.