Take a drive down 41st Street on Miami Beach and you'll notice something Kosher is afoot. Almost all the eateries and markets in this part of town boast their offerings conform with Kashrut, Jewish dietary laws. On weekends, starting Friday evenings, black-clad Orthodox and Hasidic families take over the sidewalks, conforming with the custom to do no work, and not use cars or any kind of powered devices.
Tucked between a salon and a chocolate factory in an ivy-covered is House of Dog, an all-Kosher eatery offering beer infused hot dogs with an endless array of toppings that made us question whether it is actually possible that it's all Kosher. It is.
Since opening earlier this year they've added burgers and sweet Italian sausages to the menu, but the employee manning the grill couldn't tell us whether those were Kosher, and no one returned our calls.
Dogs here are injected with beer, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and simmered in a beer bath. Upon ordering, a bun and the dogs are thrown on the grill and weighted, making for a hot and toasty bun with a bit of char and crispy dogs.
Vintage looking Coca-Cola and beer ads and pegged to exposed brick and dark wood tables and walls. A communal table in the back of the narrow restaurant makes it a good place to bring a large group before or after a night of drinking. The 3 a.m. close time on Fridays and Saturdays helps.
Creations range from the Miami Heat -- topped with chili, sauteed onions, pickled jalapeno and wasabi mayo -- to the Boro Parker -- topped with a Jewish stew called cholent, a mix of meat, potatoes, beans and barley, kishka sausage, pastrami, cole slaw and barbecue sauce.
Most dogs are about $8 with the option to go for a footlong for an extra $3.
We tried The Ninja, a single dog with sliced sauteed portabella mushrooms, pineapple, teriyaki sauce and spicy wasabi mayo. A variety of other sauces and toppings can be added for about 85 cents. Premium toppings, like avocado cost $1 and a handful of pastrami goes for $2.
There's also more than two dozen craft bottled beers available for about $6, not a bad price for this part of town.
So next time you have to shlep across the Julia Tuttle Causeway, find yourself hungry, and aren't in the mood for a $17 lobster peanut butter and jelly sandwich grab a Kosher dog and beer. Be sure to ask your bubby if you can bring her anything.
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