Farmer's Market Shed #2
1010 S. Pearl Expressway
214-760-9000
oldworldsausagecompany.com
Estimated Delivery Time: 60 minutes
Actual Delivery Time: 75 minutes
Not having to order Chinese food or pizza: 20
Friendliest service encountered during Knockers review: 40
Excellent selection of Chicago deli classics: 20
Late delivery: -10
Orders by fax: 10
Neon relish: 5
Total: 85
Death and taxes may be life's only guarantees, but here at the Observer headquarters there's a third: free shit.
Yes, we love to give you loyal readers loads of free goodies, and you seem to enjoy it, sometimes a little too much. People are still begging me for passes to a free screening of Salt, even though we finished the giveaway last Friday. I get it people, you love Angelina Jolie and her, um, lips, but you're going to have to pay to see both of them. I'm always shocked when we have large groups form hours before a screening pass giveaway, and sometimes I'm perplexed by their behavior.
In the past, I've had to hide work I'm doing, because if it's sitting on the top of my desk, an Avatar-obsessed, middle-aged woman (in a promotional T-shirt from the last giveaway) will try to take it home. That's why I'm glad they're always takeout menus and chicken wing coupons to satiate this freebie hunger or else I'd have no office supplies or work, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Thankfully, I did save one delivery menu from Old World Sausage Company during the last round of ticket giveaways. Good thing too, because I'm running out of restaurants for Knockers.
Old World Sausage is located in Shed #2 at the Dallas Farmer's Market, and as Alice Laussade discovered on a recent Basket Case outing, they make one freakin good neon hot dog. I thought maybe this could be my new delivery destination, so I rallied friends at work to sample the Chicago style deli. When I called Old World, a friendly woman jotted down my large order of sandwiches, hot dogs, and mac and cheese. We're a healthy bunch, can't you tell? She quoted a delivery time of an hour and said she'd call if that changed. Now that's customer service. How many delivery joints let you know when they're running late?
Unfortunately, the delivery guy probably doesn't have GPS, and when he showed up looking confused and 15 minutes late, I was willing to give him a pass. He told me he had a hard time finding our building, which I hear a lot, so much so that I'm beginning to think the huge Observer sign posted across the top of our building needs to be bigger. I was so hungry at that point, I didn't care that my Chicago style dog arrived lukewarm. It was still a great hot dog despite my inhaling it in three bites, but I did have time to taste it in spite of my voracious appetite. Old World serves up fat Vienna hot dogs in sturdy buns with typical Windy City toppings--tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, peppers, and mustard. The only downside was a hefty scoop of that neon green relish, and, though I love me some neon relish, it's probably a little too messy for a work lunch.
I also sampled the mac and cheese, which needed more salt and a little spin in the ol' microwave. It was good and would probably have been better if the delivery guy had been on time. The office buddies enjoyed their sandwiches and expressed the same sentiments about the mac and cheese and hot dogs.
This would normally be the end of a Knockers story, but it isn't. About an hour later, I received a phone call from the nice lady who took my order. She apologized that the delivery driver got lost and thanked me for ordering. So, I'm going to give Old World another shot, and maybe this time I'll make the trek down to the Farmer's Market to meet these friendly folks.
P.S. Loyal Knocker readers, if you have any suggestions for restaurants you'd like to see featured here, please comment below. You're welcome to pick up a free coupon for 7-11 wings at the Observer HQ, if you do. I know, more free shit.