Franktitude

Beef franks at Franktitude ars custom made to order, this frank includes wasabi mayonaise, jalapeno peppers, and banana chips.

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miamidon

Posted on Mon, 02.25.2008 @ 13:48

When one enters, the eye is first drawn to the plasma screen flashing an advertising video with hipsters enjoying hot dogs. Then you notice the wall-covering murals and advertising. If a hip web-site designer got into the hot dog business, this would be the result. I ordered a D.I.Y. Dog with mustard, a Chili Cheese Dog, and french fries. I ate the mustard dog first. The girl who prepared it did a really nice job of making uniform squiggles of yellow mustard all along the hot dog. Unfortunately, this put about a quarter cup of mustard on the dog. Too much for me. The roll was undistinguishable from a supermarket Wonderbread roll. The hot dog itself had a spicy/garlicky NY/Kosher taste and was about 1/8 pound and skinless. It was heated/cooked on a sort of beefed-up roller grill, and had some color too it, but of course no nice marking like from a flat-top grill. I'd give it a "B". The french fries were bad. If I weren't in a hurry, I would have demanded that they try again. They were dry, crunchy and not very warm. (maybe sitting under a heat lamp?) The next person who came ordered fries, and I saw the worker take a fresh bunch from a bag and put them in the oil. It looks like it was my bad luck to get old fries. They still were single-fried, which is a second-rate way to cook them. On to the chili dog. The "cheese sauce" came out of a squeeze bottle, and I could not readily discern its flavor after it melted into the chili. There was a lot of stuff on this one for hand-held eating. I would have given it a "thumbs up", except for one thing. It had BEANS in the chili! That's a no-no for me. Summary: I didn't think much of the hip-to-the-max styling of the place. Maybe I should think of it as Chuck-E-Cheese for the 10-30 set. The basic nude hot dog is ok. One would have to "take control" to make sure that toppings are added in the amount and order one likes. Leave off the chili if you don't like beans on your hot dogs. My fries were awful, but yours may not be. If you are a hot dog purist, and if you want a good poppy-seed roll, a properly grilled hot dog, and twice-cooked fries, go to Dogma Grill. They have a lot of unusual toppings too, but they take more pride in the essentials. ... Read more

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Member rating: 2

21 NW Miami Ct.
Downtown Miami, FL 33128
Phone: 305-381-7118
Website: http://www.franktitude.com
Hours: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday
Price: $, $10 and under
Cuisine: American, Fast Food, Fusion, Hot Dogs

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About

Not all the hot dogs sold in downtown are peddled from street carts. Now there is hip, cool Franktitude right across from the court house, where you can get unusual dogs with various fresh toppings and sides of buttery corn on the cob or sweet potato fries.

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Not all the hot dogs sold in downtown are peddled from street carts.

Now there is hip, cool Franktitude right across from the court house, where you can get unusual dogs with various fresh toppings and sides of buttery corn on the cob or sweet potato fries.

The space is bright and sleekly designed, done in cool gray with lime green accents, blonde wood tables and a long, curvy counter. Blown-up photos of hot dogs and people eating them adorn the walls and windows. The front counter has a topping station, including sliced black olives, pickled jalapeños and chili and cheese sauce in little compartments.

Choose from beef, chicken, salmon or tofu dogs that are cooked on a rotating grill so any grease drips down. Then select from plain, poppy seed or whole grain buns. Order off the menu or pick any four toppings. Each day of the week brings a different soup. There are several salads and hot-dog-shaped vanilla ice cream in sponge cake buns made by a company in Massachusetts called Cool Dog.

Franktitude is the brainstorm of Ari Wurmann, a Chilean of Romanian descent. He earned a MBA in entrepreneurship at Babson College in Boston and moved to Miami a little over a year ago with his wife, Vivianne, who designed the menu and came up with the name Franktitude. He chose Miami for the weather and because he can get direct flights to Chile for meetings with investors back home. Plans are under way to open five more in South Florida in the next few months, then eventually franchise the name.

Wurmann got the idea for the restaurant when he discovered that 20 billion hot dogs are sold in a year nationwide, but there is no well-known, big chain. In Chile hot dogs come with much more exciting toppings than ketchup, mustard and relish, so he started playing around with different combinations and held tastings.

The completo is a Chilean-style frank, topped with mashed avocado (in Chile it is used as a spread like butter), tomato, sauerkraut and cheese. The Stringy frank comes topped with tomato, potato straws, fried onions and coleslaw while the Weird has hummus, tomato, cucumber and olives. The Unique has avocado, tomato, wasabi mayo and banana chips while the Fiery frank is topped with hot cheese sauce, jalapeños, wasabi mayo and onions. The Friendly comes sliced on top of fries.

Non-meat eaters can choose from the Clever franks -- including a smoky salmon dog made from farm-raised Chilean fish or the soy-based hot dogs made by Morningstar Farms in Michigan. There's the Ironic frank on whole grain with sliced mushrooms, tomato, pickles and olives and the Fresh with artichoke hearts, cucumber, tomato and carrots. The salmon frank gets topped with tartar sauce, tomato, onions and sesame seeds. Chicken and beef franks are from National Deli, made in Miami. All the dogs can be had solo or as a combo with one side and a soda. Or wash them down with raspberry tea, beer or lemonade.

Lunch has been packed since opening a few weeks ago and breakfast was just added so that before jury duty, folks can grab a breakfast dog with scrambled eggs and several toppings and orange juice. Frankly, this place could become the Starbucks of hot dogs.