Rad Dog-South review

I made it to Hal and Al's for the grand opening of Rad Dog's storefront. If you like the vegan hot dog cart, you'll probably find something you love at Rad Dog's latest incarnation.

I covered a few of the things I tried during the soft opening here. I sampled a few of the other wares last night, and I was more than happy with the results.

The vegan macaroni and cheese is augmented with slices of veggie sausage. The flavor is rich enough to make you forget that the dish is meat- and dairy-free.

Additional side dishes at Rad Dog include hand cut fries, fried pickles, fried mushrooms and chili. A hot dog with a side dish makes for a filling meal. Two hot dogs and a side dish would be a ton of food.

So far, I can attest that the Radneck (a battered brat topped with mashed potatoes and gravy), the Polish Roadblock (a hand-battered corndog), the Sloppy Joe dog, the Rad Dog (kraut, peppers, onions and mustard), the Cowabunga (a coney) and the Bi Bim Bop (fried dog with pickled veggies and Korean hot sauce) are delicious. The pickled veggies and hot sauce combine for an interesting if non-traditional tube steak topping on the dog named after the Korean staple.

Other great looking dogs include the Frenchie, which is topped with French fries, ketchup and veganaise.

Rad Dog also features Pattycake Vegan Bakery cookies for dessert. During the Friday grand opening, Pattycake proprietor Jennie Scheinbach was walking around passing out bite-sized vegan peanut butter chocolate cupcakes.

The other benefit of putting Rad Dog in a bar is that now you can have an adult beverage or five with your meal. Hal and Al's has about six draft beers that include Great Lakes Nosferatu. They also have some great things in bottles, including Rogue beers, Chimay, Goose Island Honkers Ale and Abita Turbodog, as well as plenty of cheap beer in cans.

Rad Dog Hal & Als