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'Kings of Kobe' to Serve Up Hot Dogs With Exotic Toppings in Hell's Kitchen

By Maya Rajamani | December 12, 2016 6:15pm | Updated on December 13, 2016 4:42pm
 An eatery that started as a pop-up inside a Chelsea pub is bringing elevated hot dogs to the neighborhood.
Kings of Kobe
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HELL’S KITCHEN — Call them haute dogs. 

An eatery that started as a pop-up inside a Chelsea pub will be serving up its Kobe beef franks with exotic toppings at a new location on Ninth Avenue. 

Kings of Kobe will serve burgers and frankfurters with toppings like caramelized onions and apples, red onion marmalade, mango pickle relish and sheep’s milk ricotta when it opens at 790 Ninth Ave. next month, owner Etai Cinader said.

The venture began as a takeout window at Cinader’s now-shuttered Eighth Avenue pub Pounds & Ounces.

“It’s something that I started serving in my restaurant, and people loved it,” he said. “I’ve always loved hot dogs, but I wanted to do something a little more culinary and a little more fun than just the generic kind of greasy… toppings.”

All of Cinader’s burgers and hot dogs are made with all-natural, antibiotic-free Kobe beef, he said.

Hot dogs will range in price from around $7 to $9, while burgers will cost between $8 and $11, he said.

A tentative menu filed with Community Board 4 lists offerings including a “Banh Mi” hot dog with pickled vegetables, cilantro and Sriracha aioli; a “BLTB” with bacon, lettuce, tomato and balsamic mayo; and the “Bolly,” which comes with house mango pickle relish and Indian spice mix.

Patrons will also be able to order milkshakes and floats, in addition to sides like pretzels, mac-and-cheese balls, sweet potato tater-tots and red onion rings, the menu shows.

Cinader hopes to serve beer and wine, pending liquor license approval, he said.

The eatery will open in the space formerly occupied by Pita Grill, between West 52nd and West 53rd streets.

As restaurants began serving innovative burgers in recent years, hot dogs fell by the wayside, Cinader noted.

“Throughout the years, burgers and hot dogs were staples at sports arenas and parks… [they’ve] always been part, I think, of who we are as a country,” he said.

“My idea was to… kind of bring [the hot dog] up to par in terms of culinary flavors, and make it a staple again.”