Franktitude

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.