Restaurant Review: Senate in OTR

Oh, OTR. You've come a long way.

It's the cool, happenin place to be. I know, I'm like 4 years late lol. Lined with tons of cool restaurants and bars, all within walking distance, right by Washington Park... who cares that you sometimes have to wait 2 hours to get a table  :)

Senate has been on my list to try for quite some time. Gourmet hot dogs, people. I'm not much of a hot dog person, but pile on tons of delicious, creative and heart-attack inducing ingredients and I'm all for it. 

It's pretty small on the inside and if you go on a weekend, during lunch, or probably even a weeknight, you may have to wait for a table. There was already a wait on a Saturday for lunch at noon, so we decided to sit at the bar. Like I said, not a ton of room... tables are very close to each other so you can hear what your "neighbors" are talking about if you're nosy :) But it's worth it.

I mean, where else can you get a hot dog named after Nick Lachey, or one topped with braised short rib or grippos?!? 

I had their special for the day, The Kevin Bacon ($12). This beef hot dog came piled with some deep fried bacon, avocado, fried onion strings, and a special cheese sauce. All on a brioche bun. To be honest, I completely forgot it had bacon on it and thought I was just eating the fried onions, so wish I had tasted more of the bacon cuz let's face it, I LOVE BACON (see my sign off for proof). But either way I enjoyed it. It was huge though, I couldn't finish it!

Look at that cheese sauce!

 
























































My friend, Mandy, got the Lindsay Lohan ($10) with goat cheese, caramelized onions, bacon, arugula, and balsamic. It looks and sounds way more fancy and put together than Lindsay Lohan lol. Mandy really liked it! I'll be trying that when I go back one day too!

We hadn't seen each other in awhile and were celebrating our recent successes.... graduating from Xavier's counseling program and getting new big-girl counseling jobs... and so that called for some dranks of course! I got the Tequila Olde Fashioned ($10), which is cazadores blanco tequila, brandied cherries, orange and grapefruit bitters (on the left). Mandy got the Gin Paloma ($9) with grapefruit, tanqueray, soda & St. Germain (on the right). Aren't they pretty? They tasted good too! They also have beer and wine if you're not a cocktail kinda person.

 
They're known for their hot dogs, but if you're iffy about the hot dogs, they've got other bites too (think Poutine Fries and Lobster BLT). I definitely have to go back to try lots more dogs + their other offerings. Plus dessert! Hello chocolate & bourbon bread pudding.

I definitely need to get my butt to OTR more often, and that means back to Senate.


Peace, and bacon grease!