Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Vegan Hot Dogs at LinX Artisan Sausage in Old Town Orange, CA


Written by Sarah E. Jahier

I am always so stoked when non-veg restaurants offer up a vegan option to their customers! So when I heard that LinX Artisan Sausage in Old Town Orange was serving up a vegan hot dog, I couldn't wait to go down there and check it out!

I stopped in for an early lunch on a weekday, and was immediately drawn to the look of the place, which is brick with dark wood tables and tall pub chairs. It felt like your cozy, neighborhood bar with a legit list of craft beer and other drinks (check out a partial selection of brews on their site!) plus artisan hot dogs and fries. I wasn't morning drinking that day, so I skipped the beer (though it was tempting!) and went straight for the food. It wasn't too busy, so I had the guy working the counter go through the ordering process and vegan options for me. My only major problem with this place is that the guy working didn't know if any of the buns were vegan (sigh, one of my pet peeves is when a place that serves vegan hot dog/burger/sandwich options doesn't go to the trouble of ensuring their bread is vegan as well!). To be safe, I ordered mine without a bun.

You can order their hot dogs two ways here - you can opt for the "naked" option, which just gets you a hot dog and a bun (unless you want a vegan bun, then I guess you are out of luck), or the "deluxe" option, which gets you the dog, bun, plus two toppings and two sauces. It's pretty easy to tell which sauces aren't vegan (um, avoid anything with "bacon", "cheese", "mayo", "ranch", or "honey" in its name), but they can look up the ingredients if you want to know for sure (I guess looking up the bread ingredients is more difficult or something, grumble, grumble).

I opted for the "deluxe" version since a bun was out of the question and I would have ended up with quite a lonely wiener if I went with the "naked" option. For my toppings and sauces I got roasted jalapenos, grilled onions, curry ketchup and spicy beer mustard. I also ordered a large side of Belgian frites, cuz I gotta get my carbs somewhere, ya know?

There is a delicious LinX vegan hot dog buried under all those
toppings, promise! And don't those frites look delish?! Cuz 
they were!

I sat outside on their little patio that faces the street (and shares space with the restaurant next door) and I gotta admit, it was pretty pleasant people-watching while waiting for my food. I didn't have to wait long, as service was pretty fast.

And you know what, even though I didn't have a bun, my vegan hot dog was pretty freaking delicious!! The toppings I choose definitely gave it a big kick, but underneath it all the vegan hot dog was really, really tasty on its own. Sure, it was a bit on the small side, but it packed a flavorful punch which made up for its small stature. I am not sure, but I think LinX may make their own in-house vegan dogs since I didn't recognize the hot dog as being from Tofurky or Field Roast...but I could be wrong. Either way, it was really good, and that's all that matters!

The Belgian pomme frites (it makes me feel fancy calling them that instead of plain ol' regular french fries!), which are served with the sauce of your choice, were really yummy as well and I pretty much devoured them all and my hot dog in 5 minutes flat.

If you are ever in Old Town Orange and want a tasty treat, check out LinX and try their vegan dog and some fries...you will be drooling for more! And hopefully they will have confirmed that they have a vegan bread option!

For more info and a full menu, check out LinX's website!

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