Buddy Dog Ma

New owners reviving Dogma Grill on Biscayne Boulevard

Dogma Grill’s bright, retro-looking sign fits neatly with the red chairs, brown umbrellas and long picnic tables below it. The small restaurant at Biscayne Boulevard and 71st Street holds little more than a grill, a beer-filled fridge and boxes of Cracker Jack. Customers order at the window and sit outside.

The size of the place is part of its charm, say the new owners of what was once the flagship restaurant of an ambitious chain. The ebullient Frankie Crupi and his equally cheerful wife, Priscilla, took over Dogma in March, and they burst with energy that far outsizes the joint.

The Crupis live nearby, and pride themselves on running a neighborhood place, greeting customers like old friends.

Priscilla recommends the house-made potato chips they’ve added to the menu and brightly informs patrons that soda refills are free. Frankie’s smile widens when he talks about his new project. Dogma is the kind of place he grew up with in Philadelphia, he says.

“It’s clichéd, but some people drive by a house their whole life and say they always want to buy that house, and some day they do,” Frankie says. “That’s how I felt about Dogma.”

The couple ran the popular Frankie’s Big City Grill 15 blocks north, but road construction killed the business in 2007. They began running Mark Soyka’s Andiamo Pizza at Biscayne and 56th Street, and things were going well there, they say.

Then Jeffrey Akin, Dogma’s previous owner, began calling Frankie about buying the original — and last — location. Dogma Grills in Miami Beach, North Miami and Fort Lauderdale had all closed.

The Crupis weren’t looking for a new venture, but they thought Dogma was the perfect place to revive items from the Big City Grill menu like oyster po’ boys and those handmade potato chips.

When Dogma opened in 2002, its all-beef franks and unconventional toppings like pineapple and avocado were an immediate hit. National magazines like Food & Wine and Bon Appétit lauded it as a great cheap eat in Miami. NBC’s show called it “as hot as SoBe.”

Its success was unexpected for founder David Tunnell. He had dreamed of going on a cross-country motorcycle trip, and had quit his job as an ad sales exec for MTV Latin America. He looked at his savings, figured he could follow the road for a year or two, and decided to open a small business and hire a good manager to have a steady income.

Dogma – Buddy Christ (George Carlin) | George Carlin

Would you believe that the last living descendent of Jesus Christ is a woman working at an abortion clinic in Illinois? And that she’s been sent on a holy mission with two minor characters from Clerks and Mallrats as her guides? Prepare to suspend any and all disbelief as you watch the religious satire Dogma, the fourth film from writer/director Kevin Smith. Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) has been disappointed in life and has found her faith severely tested after her husband leaves her when she discovers she cannot have children. So Bethany is all the more puzzled when she’s approached by Metatron (Alan Rickman), a grumpy angel. Metatron wants her to help him stop Bartleby (Ben Affleck) and Loki (Matt Damon), two fallen angels who were ejected from paradise, have escaped from exile and are heading to New Jersey. If they are able to pass through the arc of a certain church, it will prove God is fallible and the world will come to a swift end. Bethany has no idea what to do or why she’s been given this project, but she heads out anyway, with her assigned assistants Jay (Jason Mewes), an appallingly rude former dope dealer and self-styled ladies man, and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith). Along the way, Bethany picks up more helpers, including a celestial muse named Serendipity (Salma Hayek) and Rufus (Chris Rock), who claims to have been the 13th apostle and that Jesus owes him 12 dollars. Boasting a huge supporting cast — including George Carlin, Jason Lee, Janeane Garofalo, Bud Cort, and Alanis Morissette (as God) — Dogma proved to be highly controversial even before its release. Miramax Pictures, owned by Disney, financed the film, but several weeks before Dogma’s world premier at the Cannes Film Festival, they announced they would not release the picture and intended to sell it to another distributor (which would turn out to be Lions Gate Films). Director Smith, however, has always contended that Dogma is a film about the importance of faith, if not organized religion. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Price: $ 12.