How local businessman Michael Martir transformed this longstanding Dennis Port hotspot.

The Dog House, located in Dennis Port, was established as a coffee shop and deli in 1971. More recently, in 2019, Michael Martir transformed it into a foodie’s dream. After 36 years in the fine dining industry, he learned to appreciate quality food, efficient systems, and imagination. So when he took over the operations of the classic Cape Cod lunch spot, he brought those values with him. 

He says, “Like most fine dining chefs, you just can’t help yourself but try and make things better. And so, we rebranded it, tweaked the menu, started changing the offerings.” 

He reinvented their menu to focus on over-the-top hot dogs, appropriately named “show dogs,” you can’t find anywhere else such as local favorite the West Dennis Beach Dog, which comes with macaroni and cheese, crispy onions, and bacon bits all loaded onto a hot dog. 

“Part of the inspiration was taking the ubiquitous common hot dog and having fun with it, just adding fun toppings to it. And just making it interesting.” 

When asked what he recommends on the menu, Martir encourages customers to ask the employees—he trusts they will guide patrons in the right direction. Martir believes in taking good care of his employees so that they feel inspired to treat his customers with the same respect.

 “There’s an old restaurant idiom from the 1970s, where the customer is always right. We always feel like we think the employees are always right; if you take care of your employees, by default, the customer has a better experience.”  ...