(Click here for a little background on the 88 Cities Project!)
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Here we are… Day 1, Restaurant 1. The question is where do we start? Figuring we might as well make it an adventure and pick something far, we decided upon The Hat in Temple City, 26 miles from our apartment in Culver City. Typically I’m trying to stay away from anything considered a chain, but unfortunately I didn’t realize that The Hat has 10 locations. Of course, since first eating there I have seen two others – (Murphy’s Law!) — but that’s ok, this is just the beginning, live and learn!
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Known for its pastrami dip sandwiches, my fiancée Mike ordered this, with fries and a coke and I settled on the chili cheese dog, another Hat specialty. The pastrami was piled high on a hoagie bun with tangy mustard and juicy pickles, and tasted, for lack of a better word, good. Not great, not incredible, but definitely good. There was, however, nothing to actually dip the pastrami dip in. We probably should have asked, but after being reprimanded for taking a picture of the wall menu, we decided to lay low. Regardless, the pastrami sandwich was satisfying. Fries were typical, probably frozen, nothing special.
As for the chili cheese dog – unfortunately it was bordering on inedible. The chili tasted like paste and looked like…. Um, dog excrement? Sorry. I suppose chili usually has this look to it, but it was overly unappealing. The shredded cheddar cheese looked abnormally orange and the amount of chunky white onions was absurd and overpowered everything. But hey, I get it. It’s a chili cheese dog, what can you expect? Regardless, any other chilidog I’ve ever had was better than this one.
So, in the end, it was a fun first experience for the project. Would I drive 26 miles for this place again? No. But if I were in the area or happened to pass one and had a hankering for pastrami I most certainly would stop here for a sandwich.
THE HAT
5505 Rosemead Boulevard
Temple City, CA 91780
(626) 292‑1000