The original El Rey de las Fritas restaurant in Little Havana had hot dogs on the menu. It was a perro caliente enrollado or a wrapped hot dog.
The hot dogs had a slice of bacon rolled around the wiener and then griddled. When I first wrote about El Rey’s dogs on this blog, the fellas were still on the menu.
In Cuba, bacon-wrapped hot dogs were a thing. In Nitza Villapol‘s (the legendary Cuban cook) cookbook, a recipe for perros rellenos, a brother from another mother of the enrollado, was featured.
Back from Menu Limbo
Hot dogs are back at El Rey de las Fritas after a more than ten-year hiatus. So, what exactly does the revamp include?
They swung for the fences with this puppy. The sando includes two split-griddled all-beef hot dogs topped with frita sauce, cooked diced onions, and julienne potatoes on pressed Medianoche bread.
I couldn’t help myself and requested the addition of a slice of American cheese (Swiss is available, too) and their housemade cilantro sauce. Now, this is the way to get it!
Trust me; I’m a connoisseur of cylindrical meats. So, when you order one, let me know which one you tried.
Of course, no visit to El Rey de las Fritas is complete without a Frita Cubana. Don’t know what a Frita is?
They’re Cuba’s version of smash burgers sold out of carts in the first half of the twentieth century. Few are still available on the island, but its permanent home became Miami in the early 1960s.
More about the Frita Cubana this way 👉 HISTORY + RECIPE
