The Hat

I had yesterday off so I worked for a couple hours (which was probably 90 minutes longer than necessary, but that's a whole other story) hanging cabinets at my mom's work up on Lake Ave. It was a very warm day and I worked up an appetite. The nice thing about the location is the plethora of restaurants within walking distance: The Slaw Dogs, El Taquito, Tonny's, Cabrera's, etc. But I was sweating and probably not smelling great so I chose the closest place, The Hat, so that I could get the food and take it to go.

I wrote about The Hat back in December, my first visit in many, many years. I had a pastrami burger then, and I loved it, but I wasn't in a burger mood yesterday. I chose a chili cheese dog. I ordered a ham and cheese sandwich for my mom (I knew they had a selection of cold sandwiches, but to be honest, I have never once heard anyone talk about them). Last time I got a large order of fries and found them to be perhaps the largest order I have ever seen. So this time I got a small order for my mom and I to split.

Unwrapping the hot dog a couple minutes later was a little scary: it was big. I picked off the tomatoes (I still don't like chopped tomatoes) and did my best to eat the thing without it falling apart. I did a pretty good job; it wasn't until the last couple bites that the thing became impossible to eat with my hands. It wasn't as good as the pastrami burger, but I would definitely get this again.

My mom really liked the ham sandwich, although she said she preferred it on sourdough. (I hadn't realized there was a choice of bread and so when asked I just said "French roll," figuring that was a pretty innocuous choice.) The small order of fries was still too large for the two of us to share.

Once again I had a very good meal at The Hat. It's not the best of the neighborhood choices but it was perfect for the occasion and inexpensive for the amount of food you get.