O.S.S. opened this year in a little brick building on Regent Street that has been vacant for a while. O.S.S. by all technical definitions is a sausage shop and the name can mean whatever you want it to mean – Old School Sausages, Open Source Sausages…they even take suggestions from customers. But no matter what O.S.S. means to you, it will also mean awesome sausages, fresh cheese curds and perfectly crispy hand-cut french fries. Plus, the menu uses locally sourced sausages and cheeses, which I absolutely love!
The tiny brick building is conspicuously signed with a side entrance and a hidden back patio. The dining room is flanked on both sides by long, communal tables with a mix of chairs and stools. The entire place has a unique, industrial feel to it with warm touches — the legs on one of the long tables is made out of a stack of books! There’s also a whimsical feeling because they won’t really tell you what O.S.S. stands for, yet you can find the initials and possible definitions scattered throughout.
The bahn mi sausage, which the manager said is one of their best sellers, had some real potential. The sriracha mayo added a great spice to the heavier sausage, and the cabbage slaw gave the entire thing a much-needed crunch. I could have done without the cilantro, and the whole jalapeno slices could have been cut smaller as to avoid an entire mouthful of unbalanced spice. But the slaw mixed with the mayo and sausage was a great combination.
The traditional Chicago dog was pretty awesome. It is a traditional hot dog with tomatoes, onions, relish, a pickle, celery salt, sport peppers and mustard. The hearty bun was just the right size to contain all of the top-notch ingredients. The peppers and the pickle added a great spice and saltiness to the dog, and the freshness of the tomatoes and onions was very welcome. I’ve never had a Chicago dog in Chicago, but I can’t imagine they could be any better.
The hand-battered cheese curds were pretty phenomenal. They were stringy and melty with a perfectly light and crunchy batter. They were probably the freshest fried cheese curds I’ve ever had. The manager told us you can also order them spun in sauces, like chicken wings…which sounded very interesting, but we opted for the traditional curds. The curds came with a special sweet mustard from the National Mustard Museum. The mustard was sweet and a little tangy, but the curds were good enough on their own.
The hand-cut fries were just as prefect as french fries can get. The fries still had the skins on them, and all of them were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. The entire batch had just the right amount of salt, and they even came with a stray cheese curd!
FOOD NOTES: This sausage shop is an awesome addition to the Regent Street area. Regent Street has never been a food destination for me, and O.S.S. really changes that. Their take on traditional cheese curds and hand-cut french fries shows that making fried sides fresh and with quality ingredients really pays off. I enjoyed both sausages I’ve tried, but I really want to try some of their special dogs they’ve posted on Facebook (Swissco Bacon Mac Dog, the Assadura and the Tikka Masala…yum!).
Small Town Tourist 
i struggled to find a good chicago dog in madison for years, and then that hot dog restaurant off of state street closed a few years back. not in madison anymore, but sounds like i can stop at OSS if i’m ever in town with a craving!