August is National Hot Dog Month — and in St. Louis, that’s more Jewish than you think. For over a century, the city’s hot dog story has included kosher carts, synagogue picnics, Jewish Community Center snack stands, deli counters and one very consistent Vienna Beef griddle on Woodson Road. It starts with a Polish immigrant on a North Side sidewalk and stretches all the way to a supervised kosher stand inside Busch Stadium.
This is that story — messy, mustardy and served with “dignity.”
1920s: Esther Schimmel brings kosher to the ballpark
The earliest known Jewish hot dog icon in St. Louis is Esther Schimmel, who opened a hot dog stand outside Sportsman’s Park in the 1920s. A Polish immigrant who kept strictly kosher, Schimmel famously never touched the food she served — using egg tongs to hand all-beef dogs to eager Cardinals fans.
Ushers carried her hot dogs to the dugout. Players bought from her between doubleheaders. She refused to open on Shabbat, but she stayed open late during the week. She may not have had a formal menu, but for 40 years, she was the city’s hot dog queen — long before the phrase went corporate.
1940s–1960s: Kosher dogs behind deli counters
By midcentury, kosher and all-beef hot dogs were a deli staple. Jewish-owned markets like Platt’s Food Shop, Sol & Ely’s Kosher Market, and Eli Platt’s new butcher counter in Olivette stocked brands like Best’s Kosher, Sinai 48, Hebrew National and Abeles & Heymann.
Hot dogs weren’t just in meat cases — they were in ads. The Jewish Light regularly ran promotions for summer grillers and bulk dog specials, tucked between sisterhood notices and synagogue announcements. Some weeks you could track five or six brands available around town. The unspoken rule? You knew where to go, and what time the good buns arrived.
1965: A hot dog contest, and a mystery winner
In the summer of 1965, the Jewish Light hosted what may be its most delicious editorial stunt: a community-wide hot dog recipe contest. Readers were encouraged to send in their best takes — with prizes awarded for originality, taste and presentation. The panel of judges? Entirely made up of the Light’s staff and editorial board, all of whom gamely ate their way through what must have been dozens of submissions.
The grand prize went to a woman only identified — in true midcentury fashion — as “Mrs. Arnold Goldstein.” (We’re still working on recovering her actual first name.)
Her winning recipe: hot dogs baked inside barbecue-sauced biscuits, brushed with egg and sprinkled with caraway seeds. The paper called it “surprisingly elegant.” We’ll call it the most Jewish use of barbecue sauce ever printed in a ever printed in a St. Louis Jewish newspaper.
1977–1990s: The Woofie’s era
In 1977, Charles Eisen opened Woofie’s in Overland, taking over the site of Hamburger Heaven, another Jewish-run eatery from the Shriber family. Eisen added bright colors, footlong dogs and thick-cut fries — and built a loyal following that crossed generations and zip codes.
By 1978, Woofie’s opened a second location inside the Jewish Community Center, offering kosher dogs to kids in swim trunks and parents between board meetings. The stand became a fixture. Its ads ran regularly in the Jewish Light, and Woofie’s became shorthand for lunch, snack and post-service nosh.
One early ad promised:
“Where a hot dog is served with dignity.”
That wasn’t branding flair. It was the truth. Woofie’s catered synagogue events, youth group retreats and summer festivals. It simply was there, dependable and always ready with kraut.
1990s–2010s: Kohn’s goes from deli to dugout
By the 1990s, Kohn’s Kosher Deli in Creve Coeur had become the city’s premier source for kosher meats — including house-made hot dogs that inspired their own cult following. Locals swore by the snap, the spice and the old-world butcher technique behind every link.
In 2013, Kohn’s took the kosher dog public — partnering with the St. Louis Cardinals to launch a supervised stand at Busch Stadium. It was the first time in decades that kosher-keeping fans could get a legitimate ballpark dog during a game. Behind Section 147, wrapped in foil and Vaad-approved, it quietly reset the standard.
By 2017, Kohn’s expanded again — this time with a kosher hot dog cart in downtown Kansas City, serving weekday crowds and curious tourists.
In 1999, Jewish Light Editor Emeritus Bob Cohn launched his own St. Louis hot dog quest — from Woofie’s to Sam’s Club to the cart outside Riverport.
He judged dogs by snap, spice and soul, declaring kosher dogs the most reliable. “It’s not just the dog,” he wrote, “it’s the snap, the bun, the heat, the experience.” Which, in a way, is exactly what Jewish food has always been about.
2025: Stuie’s keeps it kosher at Busch
The modern chapter of this story belongs to Stuart Rosenblum, who worked with the Cardinals to ensure Kohn’s original stand kept serving after the deli closed. Rebranded as Stuie’s, the kosher cart remains in its original spot — behind Section 147 — and under Vaad supervision.
“I’ve been a part of that stand since day one,” Rosenblum said. “While the name has changed, the experience hasn’t.”
Stuie’s serves the same signature lineup — all-beef kosher dogs, pastrami sandwiches, and the fan-favorite pastrami dog.
It’s not just about food access. It’s about presence. For many observant fans, Stuie’s is part of their game day ritual. And for plenty of others, it’s simply one of the best dogs in the ballpark — kosher or not.
More than lunch
Hot dogs may not be in the Torah, but in St. Louis, they’re part of the Jewish story. They’ve been served from carts and counters, in foil wrappers and paper boats, always with a little pride and plenty of mustard.
They fed kids at the J, ballplayers in the 1940s and hungry shoppers in Creve Coeur. They appeared in classifieds and contest winners, on ballpark menus and synagogue buffets. And every August, they give us an excuse to tell a story that’s not just about food — but about who we are, and how we gather.
