The hot dog as high cuisine

Outside Senate restaurant in Over the Rhine.

The long bar, which is made of concrete.

The hot dog has gotten trendy. Go figure. One of the hottest restaurants in Cincinnati right now is Senate, which bills itself as having upscale street snacks. Yesterday, I met up with my longtime friend and fellow blogger Bryn for lunch at this Over the Rhine restaurant. The decor is minimalist/cool with exposed brick walls, a long bar of polished concrete and no clutter or artwork on the walls. The music was also good and I heard lots of my Swedish favorites such as Peter, Bjorn and John and Lykke Li.

The Lindsey Lohan hot dog.

As for the menu, it features oysters and mussels, poutine and a sweet potato falafel. And then there are the duck fat fries and truffle fries which everyone is talking about. But what Senate is really known for is hot dogs. They’ve taken this basic street food and tarted it up in a big way with all sorts of garnishes and humorous names. So the Korean has kimchee, braised short rib and pickled cucumber, while the trailer park has bacon, American cheese, coleslaw and potato chips on top. As for me, I had the Lindsey Lohan which had goat cheese, bacon, carmalized onions and arugula and balsamic on a brioche bun. It was tasty and very filling.

Obviously, these aren’t your average hot dogs. I had to eat mine with a fork and knife. And that was also kind of fun.

Tagged as: dining out in Cincinnati, gourmet hot dogs, Lindsay Lohan hot dog, upscale street food