DBGB's: for those who aren't afraid of sausage jokes

Sausage fest. Sausage Stuffer. You name it, sausages are funny. Just try and say the word three times without smiling--sausage, sausage, sausage! Beside being funny, sausages are also tasty. So tasty, in fact, that the great Daniel Boulud, he of the famed Daniel's restaurant on the UES and numerous other haute cuisine restaurants up town, has finally deigned to conquer us plebians below 14th street, and opened up what can only be termed a "gastro pub" on 1st and Bowery, called DBGB's, in an obvious play on the infamous CBGB punk club.

And the highlight of DBGB's? It's sausages. Believe you me when I say there is scant greenery to be found. You know how most restaurants have "small plates" for sharing? Well, DBGB's offers up the same thing, except nearly every plate is some sort of sausage.

They are divine. Links, bangers, "saucisses," every one to be savored. Come hungry and ready for some protein. Vronsky is obsessed with the "DBGB dog." He ordered 3 in a row. I quite enjoyed the Berliner and the Espagnole, and the Toscane. Wash one down with one of their many artisan beers to complete the true "gastro pub" experience.

But don't worry...if the thought of feasting on a wide array of phallic-looking foods alarms you, you can always get your fix via one of DBGB's three burger selections, of of which includes a burger patty TOPPED with pork, called "the Piggie." I can feel my heart straining from here, and it's worth it.

The decor is sleek but can get a bit cacophonous at times, as every loud talker's conversation echos off the mirrored walls and nouveau-steel furniture. However, there are these nifty little private enclaves for parties of six or more that look quite enjoyable should occasion arise. The kitchen is also in plain sight, which always fascinates me, watching the cooks in action, sausage makers churning a mile a minute. Heh.

But seriously, there is a convivial atmosphere at DBGB's that no doubt arises from the relatively unpretentious food and underlying humor of ordering 7 different sausages for the table. There are some great places to buy your own sausage in NYC, including Trader Joes, the market in Grand Central oddly enough, Hallo Berlin (wrusts galore!) and of course, Esposito's.

And now, for a good sausage joke:

There once was a nice man who owned a sausage factory, and he was showing his arrogant preppy son around his factory. Yet try as he might to impress his snobbish son, his son would just sneer.

As they approached the heart of the factory, where the father thought, "This should impress him!" He showed his son a machine and said "Son, this is the heart of the factory. With this machine here we can put in a pig, and out come sausages.

The prudish son, unimpressed, said "Yes, but do you have a machine where you can put in a sausage and out comes a pig?"

The father, furious, thought and said, "Yes son, we call it your mother."


Tell me your favorite sausage joke below!