King David Dogs closing Downtown Indianapolis location, last day is Nov. 21

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After more than a decade of selling quarter-pound, all-beef hot dogs based on a family recipe and top-notch tater tots, the owners of King David Dogs have announced that the Downtown Indianapolis restaurant will close next week.

King David Dogs, 135 N. Pennsylvania St., serves its last frank Nov. 21. The location in the BMO Harris building has been up and running since November 2011.

From 2006 to 2011, King David Dogs operated at 15 N. Pennsylvania Street.

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"We have loved serving Indy our one-of-a-kind, all-beef, kosher-style hot dogs since 2006, but the time has come for owners Brent and Hannah Joseph to focus on new projects," the owners said in a statement released Wednesday.

Operating a restaurant is difficult as it is, and King David Dogs’ weekday, lunchtime clientele limited the business’ profitability in a burgeoning downtown restaurant market.

“It didn’t make things easier,” Brent Joseph told IndyStar.

Although King David franks will continue to be available at the brand’s Indianapolis International Airport shop, and packs of hot dogs may be purchased from various retailers, and in wholesale bulk from Piazza Produce, closing the café was especially hard on Brent Joseph.

“Anyone can open a hot dog shop, but it was the recipe,” he said.

The King David brand is part of a meat business created by Joseph’s grandfather and great-uncle, William and Paul Hene. The Jewish brothers fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s, eventually settling in Indianapolis.

William Hee, a lawyer, and Paul Hene, a butcher, co-founded Hene Meat Co. in 1941. Originally headquartered on 15th Street, near Methodist Hospital, the business sold hot dogs, summer sausage, liverwurst and other meats under the King David name to delis and grocery stores. Hene Meat Co. closed in the early 1990s.

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When Brent and Hannah Joseph decided to revive the family business, they focused on hot dogs. By then, the Hene brothers had passed, but their wives had not. One of the women gave Joseph the original recipe, handwritten in German on a scratchpad.

The Hene brothers' photo hangs on the downtown King David Dogs wall.

“It took a lot of effort and time and labor and love, and there’s a lot of history from the family,” Joseph said.

The Josephs' downtown menu goes beyond mustard and relish. More than two dozen toppings on the menu include bacon, fried eggs, pineapple relish and mac and cheese. Corn dogs and dogs in baked potatoes are there, too.

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The family meat tradition continues with Joseph’s new venture, a private catering and event businesses known as Mercenary BBQ, which will also offer King David Dogs along with various smoked meats including brisket, turkey, pastrami and what David considers impressive beef ribs, not an easy cut to get tender.

“I don’t like to brag too much, but they’re pretty good,” he said.

Mercenary BBQ resulted from a smoker Hannah Joseph gave her husband a few years ago for his birthday.

“I thought, ugh, this is going to be something else that is going to take up a bunch of time, and, you know, I don’t need another addiction/hobby, something else,” Brent Joseph said of the smoker.

“And that’s kind of what it’s turned into. It’s gotten to the point when I post up on social media, I have friends calling, saying, ‘Hey, what time are we coming over?’”

Joseph has already catered a few parties. He delivered meats without identifying himself to guests, but they tracked him down anyway.

“All of a sudden referrals started popping up, people saying things like, you know, ‘Who did this?’ ‘Where can I get this?’ Kind of like I was this masked guy who kind of showed up and dropped off this big, amazing barbecue.”

Mercenary BBQ takes large orders calling for at least 10 pounds of barbecue. Minimum rib orders start at three racks.

Follow IndyStar food writer Liz Biro on Twitter: @lizbiro, Instagram: @lizbiro, and on Facebook. Call her at 317-444-6264. Call IndyStar reporter Justin L. Mack at 317-444-6138. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack