io9 is at San Diego Comedian-Con 2023 and we made a pre-convention heart detour to the Sonic the Hedgehog Pace Cafe, a quick meals activation impressed by SEGA’s Sonic the Hedgehog online game universe.
Secret Sauce Society’s co-founder Kevin Search engine optimisation was on the pop-up to clarify how the collaboration with SEGA happened. And sure—it all began with Sonic’s iconic chili canine. “This one began with an extended relationship with the SEGA staff and we actually dreamed about an thought to convey nice chili canines—Sonic’s chili canines to actual life,” Search engine optimisation shared. “And so there was a whole lot of design conversations, dreaming conversations, and it lastly led to the staff working with our group, Secret Sauce Society, to convey collectively superior sizzling canines.”
Sonic the Hedgehog Pace Cafe was bustling after we visited the placement within the coronary heart of Gaslamp—it had a couple of four-hour wait time from what we may inform, as the road filled with online game followers queued down the block. The menu curation has a wide range of choices impressed by the sport with taste twists, just like the aforementioned “Sonic’s Traditional Chili Canine,’’ and likewise that includes a crispy fried rooster sandwich known as the “Knuckles Sandwich,” as a result of it has successful of spice that may punch you within the face (I attempted it!).
Search engine optimisation laughed, explaining “That’s why Knuckles Sandwich is spicy, as a result of it as a result of it has a punch.” Moreover, there’s “The Evil Genius” egg salad sandwich and “The Good Eggdog,” which appeared darkly questionable however have been truly peppery with umami. Of the curation Search engine optimisation mentioned he was impressed by the character profiles, clearly, “Yeah, and ‘The Good Eggdog’—what’s enjoyable about that’s that merchandise is from the brand new cookbook that simply launched. So we additionally did a play on that, the place we did the very same sizzling canine which you could get in [the Sonic the Hedgehog] cookbook.” Sides and drinks embody “Golden Ring” onion rings and colourful frozen slushes impressed by Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails.
The design and ambiance felt proper at house with the unique SEGA Genesis aesthetic. “It was like, we’re quick meals meets Sonic,” he mentioned, hence the title “Right here’s a whole lot of racer stripes that associate with Sonic, so that you’re going to see a whole lot of that theme that’s round. Our merch is impressed by that as effectively. Should you have a look at among the designs that now we have, it’s form of like these like racer logos—so all of us introduced all of that really feel in. And in addition for us, we love tradition and we all know that Sonic finally is a Japanese model. So we saved that for lots of our hoodies and shirts with unique logos from Japan as effectively.”
Click on by for a have a look at the Sonic the Hedgehog Pace Cafe now open by August 20; throughout Comedian-Con (July 19-23), hours run from 11:00 am-midnight.
Location: 910 J St House 2, San Diego
