Restaurants
Lou Dawg's Southern Sandwiches
Lou Dawg's has a curiously rustic menu. Specializing in meat, other kinds of meat and more meat, this newish King West sandwich joint is not the place to take vegetarian friends or fancy people.
Who should go to Lou Dawg's? Diners who like the taste of campfire--not liquid smoke, or chemically fabricated hickory zest--but genuine, smoky, "I hate white rabbits" campfire flavour. The taste is so authentic that I had to smell my jacket 30 minutes after leaving, surprised I wasn't carrying the tell-tale effluence.
Despite Toronto's recent carnivore craze, Lou Dawg's is only the second smoke house to open downtown (the other is Phil's). Spacious and tavern-dark, Lou Dawg's is decorated in wood-plank panels and a stone facing that reminds me of a Bruce County highway, a jagged square hewn through limestone peninsula, and a sure path to campgrounds, cottages and, of course, BBQs.
Lou Dawg's looks and feels like a mid-range family dining establishment, so I was surprised to discover they'd opted for counter service instead of full-service dining. I was equally astonished by the quick delivery of my meal: barely had my lunch friend and I started chatting before the waitress was calling our names.
We ordered a Pulled Pork Sandwich ($6), Smoked Beef Brisket Sandwich ($8), Garden Salad ($3), Blackbean Corn Salad ($3) and Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Muffin ($2). Unfortunately there were no muffins on hand, but our friendly staffer quickly offered a replacement (Meaty BBQ Beans-$3)--with no quibbles over the extra $1.
Both sandwiches were big enough to feed an average lunch eater, unless this average lunch eater was a) determined to have some veg with every meal and b) a glutton. Since I'm both, I shelled out the extra moola for sides, compromising my Cheap Eats lunch rules ($10 or less for a full lunch, $15 and under for dinner) but satisfying my (now distended) belly.
The Pulled Pork Sandwich was perfect: soft, smoky, and smothered in a sweet, slightly piquant house-made sauce. I would recommend this sandwich to any pulled pork aficionado, although I won't order it again myself. One bite of Lou Dawg's Smoked Beef Brisket Sandwich had me hopelessly devoted like a prom queen to the high school badass: it smokes, it's saucy, and I know it's bad for me, but it's also unbearably tender. I'm smitten, and can't imagine choosing any other sandwich. 
Rounding out the cast of flavours, the Blackbean Corn Salad came dressed in Chipotle Lime Sauce, giving refreshing contrast to heavy meat mains. Meaty BBQ Beans followed the theme of the sandwiches, and were rich, tender, and (surprise!), smoky. The Garden Salad was super fresh, but curiously covered in a Smokey Balsamic Dressing that was a bit too acidic and, well, smoky. A lighter contrast to the mains would've been nice, but I don't suppose it matters all that much, since meat is the feature at Lou Dawg's, and the meat is amazing.
Lou Dawg's has been open for just a few weeks, but if they continue producing this level of quality BBQ, I'm sure they'll manage to keep the home fires burning for a long, long time.
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Great food, great vibe.
Love their music on the website, still, can you please post the hours under the address and phone number?
I can't wait to go! Thanks for the story.
My boyfriend and I have eaten there several times, hoping to get a consistent meal - which has been a giant FAIL.
I even sent them an email, hoping to get a reply.
Which I didn't.
"So, we've been to your place 3 times now - living on Brant at King, it's extremely convenient!
Feedback:
- why are you putting that yucky red 'powder' all over the fries now?
It doesn't add anything to it - and the fries were better before - nice and Simple.
- potato salad: the potatoes need to be cut up smaller. I have dietary restrictions, and cramming half a potato in my mouth gets seriously clogged in my throat.
And cutting them up before eating is such a hassle.
- get the sizing down. We've ordered a 'LARGE' fries every visit, and every visit, they're in a different container.
Last night, it was in the same SMALL container that the small potato salad we ordered came in ...
Why? Did we just get the wrong order? (we paid for a large - double checked the receipt)"
We haven't been back since.
However, one thing they haven't put on the menu, which you MUST try, are the CHICKEN WINGS.
AMAZING.
Getting fancy friends to loosen up: now that's an idea I can support!
I ordered the cole slaw and I thought it lacked flavour, I want a simple cole slaw no raisins/cranberries no nuts just a good tasting add on..
First off, I would like to apologize in my tardiness to replying to your posts. At lou Dawg's - customer feedback is absolutely critical - and I wanted to take a minute to let you know that we have listened to your feedback - and made some recent changes in order to improve our service, consistency and quality.
So - after reading the posts above - here are some of the changes/comments I'd like to share with you:
- Vegetarians Welcome!!! At some of the festivals we participated in this year (jazzfest, edgefest, queen west art fest) - we had an unbelievable response to our Veggie Wrap... so we've added it to the menu!! For $6, you will get: A fresh wrap stuffed with blackbean corn salad w/ Chipolte lime dressing, provolone cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and our delicious home made creamy bbq mayo.
- Food Quality - Our executive chef sean smith will now be working open to close at our restaurant... this will improve quality and consistency - and will offer dinner specials and other nice touches such as fresh baked apple pie for desert!
- FRESH CUT FRIES!!! (WITHOUT THE ``Yucky red spice``) Both our fries & Sweet potato fries are now fresh cut in house... they are so delicious - that they don`t need seasoning at all! Try them out!
- Small portions! My apologies for this, a little bit of trial and error here but we`ve changed our in-house packaging... and will be moving to baskets to serve our food. This will improve the presentation as well as the portions.
- Potato salad - now cut smaller to accomodate dietary restrictions.
Thank you again for all of your feedback... as a new restaurant, we can`t possibly improve without it.
Feel free to contact me directly anytime at daryl@loudawgs.com
Cheers!
Cheers!
And the ribs, mmmmmmmmm, now that's some good sauce!!
Lou Dawgs 4 life :)
Sometimes the music is a bit loud...I'd like to talk to my dinner date once in a while ;) Although I guess we could just talk in body language!
Another key side-dish to a top-of-the-line BBQ place in my opinion has to be its beans and the beans from Lou Dawgs do not disappoint. Though, they are not the best in the city but they are meaty, smoky and loaded with flavour and I would definitely recommend trying them at least once.
In response to previous posters, I have also had the pulled pork from Lou Dawgs and it is honestly not great and after having the brisket sandwich there is no reason to order anything else on the menu.
I have not had the ribs or wings but trust me, after having the brisket, you will not need to try anything else at Lou Dawgs
The fries were also good, haven't had them since before they eliminated the red-powder, must say that they were also amazing, and I have been left full.
Overall a great experience, good food, nice staff, quick service.
just ask for the brisket po boy style, and win!
smoked turkey wrap is great too, ribs ok, wings good, but need to be separated, not drum and wing still together..
they need a rotisserie fired with applewood, and spit roasted chicken and wings... smoking everything gives it the same flavours, with sauces to hide that fact.
Please check out this link
http://app.toronto.ca/food2/DineSafeMain?userRequest=view_history&;ESTABLISHMENT_ID=10351000
You will never eat there again. I WILL NEVER EAT THERE AGAIN!!!
Ps. The fact that I get sick after I drink the draught beer says alot. They dont clean their draught lines either !!!
Why would you think once someone has handed you food that you can just return it? Do you think that they can go ahead and serve that sandwich to someone else now? Do you think if you went to a hotdog vendor and he handed you a hotdog and you said "wait I want a refund" you'd get it?
Anyway thanks for pointing out he was a mixed race guy, and chubby, I am sure that will help any of your fellow racists to make their decision on whether or not to go there!