Mad Dogs Cafe

*** Update Mad Dogs has closed

During the beginning on December, I received an email from "Chong" posing a question to me. The question being, "do I take recommendations?" Of course the answer is, yes..... I don't think I'd still be around doing this food blogging thing without all the recommendations I receive. At the least, it always adds a sense of adventure to my visit. In his email, Chong recommended a place called Mad Dogs Cafe which is located on emerald Street in Pacific Beach, right as you head toward the ocean from Mission.

On a recent morning I decided to check them out. PB is less crowded this time of the year, and parking is less of a hassle as well. The place has a clean, fast-casual-cafe type of vibe, and the main items featured on the menu are gelato, coffee, and what Ching had recommended, the "Mad Dogs"....... so I guess the name wasn't referring to a specific Wrestler I recall from my youth!

 
Now Chong's description had rung some bells........ you see, there's this phenomena back home in Hawaii called a Puka Dog, which I recall Tony Bourdain enjoyed on his No Reservations Hawaii episode(though it seems that not everyone enjoys them) . If only for curiosities sake, I was going to check this place out. A quick walk to the counter to check out the menu, and a "Mad Dog" was quickly defined: "a sausage and sauce nestled inside a freshly baked baguette".

Ok, choose one of nine sausages, and then whatever permutations of "sauce" you desired. Having only one stomach, it was really hard work trying to decide.

The really, really, nice young man manning the counter tried to be as helpful as possible..... Of course, lacking creativity I ordered a plain old Frankfurter with Mustard($3.99), as I thought it would give me a good idea of the ingredients and how things were put together. I also decided to order something else, which made the young man tell me, "this is kinda filling......" But he also helped me by recommending the Chorizo with Mad Dog Sauce ($4.50). 

The Baguette in this case was pretty much like a "heat and eat" kinda product, soft with minimum crustiness..... very bready overall. One thing was also pretty obvious, the gentleman was right, this was kinda filling......

The center of the bread was punctured and sauce (or sauces) injected, followed by the sausage of choice. I believe Puka Dog toasts the interior, which would make for much more interesting texture contrast, especially in the case of the Hot Dog, which didn't have enough "snap" or flavor to keep me interested. That ended up being way too much bread....

The young man actually ended up saving the meal for me by recommending the Chorizo, as it had enough crunch and chewiness to stand up to the "dough". The sausage had some decent heat and flavor, and the exterior had been charred to a slight crispness that worked well.

I also enjoyed the Mad Dog Sauce which adds a bit of a creamy texture to the whole affair, along with a nice tangy-sweet-mildy spicy flavor. There seemed to be a bit off fruitiness to the sauce which I thought complimented the sausage well.

If the interior had been toasted like a Puka Dog, it wouldn't have gotten quite as soggy, quite as quickly. I'm thinking that sausages other than frankfurters are the way I'd go here in the future.

I'm glad that the young man had been so helpful. So I guess I take both recommendation from readers and the folks working in the various restaurants!

Mad Dogs Cafe
746 Emerald St
San Diego, CA 92109

Thanks again for the recommendation Chong!

Comments

[Eat. Travel. Eat!]

This is quite interesting. I've heard of the Puka dogs also via Bourdain on the Travel Channel but never tried one.

Yeah, that baguette looks more like the heat and eat types rather than a freshly baked baguette. I guess it fits their model better though as the bread needs to be soft.

[Lynnea]

Can never have too much Chorizo. That stuff is delicious!

[bill]

Oh geesh another way to make a hot dog without all the condiments dropping out upon the first bite.
Not sure if its worth that much but I love me some hot dogs occasionally but not for that price. FYI - Costco sell the natural hot dog without the preservative and I think it's a dang good one too. I think the brand is Coleman. Let us know what you think about it.

[foodhoe]

mmmm, chorizo and mad dog sauce! Not sure about the puffy baguette, I'm partial to the fluffy steamed buns...

[Kirk]

Hi ETE - I think a toast of the interior would make things a bit more interesting texture wise.

Hi Lynnea - Well said.... one can never get too much chorizo! ;o)

Hi Billy - Costco Dogs are a bargain..... it used to be made by Hebrew National, but I think they've changed things around. Personally, for the price, I usually get a sausage!

Hi FH - I love a nice fluffy steamed roll too!

[dave]

Too many choices! Why can't places like this offer up a couple of combinations they have already worked out? How am i supposed to know if an andouille sausage with raspberry chipotle and mad dog sauce would be good or gross? Too much trial and error...

[Boots in the Oven]

Thanks for linking to our Puka dog review! Yeah, I think part of the problem with our puka dogs was that they were way undertoasted, so I sympathize with your experience of too much bready bread. Chorizo, though, now THERE's an idea!

And Dave, seriously! Give us some recommendations, - how do we know if the guava mustard goes with the pineapple relish or not?

[kirbie]

Ooh, this looks interesting. Interesting enough for me to make a trip into PB.

[meemalee]

I love a good hot dog but you can't really get them over here - just pappy ones in cinema :p

[Kirk]

Hi Dave - Yes, that's why I had to ask the young man for a recommendation.

Hi BITO - I like the different sausage concept...... there needs to be some textural contrast to keep things interesting. I loved that post BTW.

Hi Kirbie - I dunno if it's worth the trip, but it is a bit different. Right across from Bareback Grill.

Hi Meemalee - "Pappy ones" I love it!

[graham]

When I was down ther I heard that they were going to be adding some exotic sausages to the menu. Buffalo and venison and maybe some others as well. Now that's different.

[Kirk]

Hi Graham - Thanks for letting me know, I'll try to keep tabs on that.