waxing nostalgic

allen levine

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I was watching a TV show called parking wars yesterday while having dinner.
It was taking place in Detroit, and I saw a food business with a big sign in their window, 2 coney island dogs, 2.00

Im thinking, what do people in Detroit know about coney island hotdogs?

I remember going to coney island back in the early sixties, going to nathans, the original nathans, dogs and fries.

that is what, and only what I think of when I hear or see something advertising coney island dogs.

(I remember when I was outside of Kingman Az, couple years ago, in the middle of the desert, a restaurant had a big sign also, coney island dogs, NY pizza...................yeah, sure, ok, )

So I had to run over to coney island today and check it out.

Its not the same. the wooden counters serving right onto the street/sidewalk are gone, its a big corporate syle fast food chain now , with 30 cash registers, all of them banging away today.(a lot of high school kids and beachgoers)

if you never experienced, coney island 40-60 years ago, you missed out, the cyclone and nathans, wow, those were the days.

that was the real deal, no copy, no imitation, although still in the same spot, its not the same.
 

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I can think of several culinary icons around here that have changed for the worse over the last 20 to 40 years. For example, there's a local burger chain called Blake's Lotaburger that's not the same ever since Blake died. Or Sadie's New Mexican restaurant, which was awesome when it was just a little hole in the wall at a bowling alley in a bad neighborhood, but is now just another run-of-the-mill local chain with four locations.
 
originals were always better.

just takes some corporate genius some time to figure out how to exploit the name and try to make huge dollars.

nathans, its not a local name, it might be popular to ny'ers, but the entire world uses coney island dogs to lure in customers.

im sure theres a sign in south America, or Europe advertising coney island dogs.

its the salt water air near the beach, the smell of coppertone, the drive to the shore/beach, its all part of the nostalgia of a coney island dog.

both sets of my grandparents lived 10 minutes from coney island when I was growing up, so my father would load us into the station wagon on sundays during the summer, pick up one set of grandparents, and head over there for a day of dogs and the amusement park, the beach, and when we left for the day, wed stop off at Mrs. Stahls knishes or shatzkins knishes which was next door to nathans back then, and bring home a dozen knishes to store in the freezer.
 
Yes, but remember Detroit gave you the Chrysler 'New Yorker' to get back and forth to your favorite face food places :D

We do have 'Lafayette Coney Island' in and around Detroit that IMO is the only place for a coney{or three ;)}

Lafayette might be ok in Detroit, but you need to get over here and visit the real deal, the one and only.

one thing I found amazing today, parking was all open on the street, all over, considering its a beach place, I found that strange, Usually they are very stingy with parking near any beaches in NY, make you head over to a lot.(meters were 25cents for 15 minutes)

that was nice, I pulled up right across the street, didn't have to look for place to park.

I cant tell my wife I ate there, shed rip my head off. when she asks, Ill just tell her I had turkey on whole wheat with a salad.


eh, the place is in the same exact spot for like 100 years, ya know they gotta be doing something right.
Im sure it didn't hurt them that a minor league baseball stadium was built less than 1/4 mile away from them a while ago.
 
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I've never related the name coney dog to anything special, probably since I've never really had an authentic one, however you say "Corn Dog" and my mind goes to a fresh memory of the corn dogs served at the county fair...yum!
 
When we moved to Thomasville, GA, many people told us we had to try the chili dogs at the Billiard Academy downtown. It's been around since 1949 and is supposed to have the 'best chili dogs anywhere'. We went there one time and haven't been back - some of the worst hot dogs you'll ever have - and they sell them like crazy! 'Nuff sed.....

Personally, the only hot dogs we buy are Nathan's Bigger Than The Bun. My wife is really particular about having only Nathan's and, when we got together and she was so insistent, I could see why! The specific bun doesn't matter a whole lot, but we prefer fresh bakery buns from Publix Supermarket.

As to the origin of the 'Coney Island Hot Dog', I can see reason for confusion. The Detroit business, American Coney Island, was established in 1917. While 'Coney Island' in New York dates to the 17th century in one form or another, it wasn't until 1916 the Nathan's hot dog stand was opened.
 
I can think of several culinary icons around here that have changed for the worse over the last 20 to 40 years. For example, there's a local burger chain called Blake's Lotaburger that's not the same ever since Blake died. Or Sadie's New Mexican restaurant, which was awesome when it was just a little hole in the wall at a bowling alley in a bad neighborhood, but is now just another run-of-the-mill local chain with four locations.

Speaking of culinary icons, a friend introduced me to Durgin Park in the old Boston market many years ago. He said it's been in business since before we lost our American colonies :D and some of the original staff are still there. A good sassing is included with almost every meal. Fun!
 
Speaking of culinary icons, a friend introduced me to Durgin Park in the old Boston market many years ago. He said it's been in business since before we lost our American colonies :D and some of the original staff are still there. A good sassing is included with almost every meal. Fun!

Yup, durgin park takes pride in being the nations oldest restaurant and having the rudest waiters. :)
I used to take customers there all the time years ago.
 
When we moved to Thomasville, GA, many people told us we had to try the chili dogs at the Billiard Academy downtown. It's been around since 1949 and is supposed to have the 'best chili dogs anywhere'. We went there one time and haven't been back - some of the worst hot dogs you'll ever have - and they sell them like crazy! 'Nuff sed.....

Personally, the only hot dogs we buy are Nathan's Bigger Than The Bun. My wife is really particular about having only Nathan's and, when we got together and she was so insistent, I could see why! The specific bun doesn't matter a whole lot, but we prefer fresh bakery buns from Publix Supermarket.

As to the origin of the 'Coney Island Hot Dog', I can see reason for confusion. The Detroit business, American Coney Island, was established in 1917. While 'Coney Island' in New York dates to the 17th century in one form or another, it wasn't until 1916 the Nathan's hot dog stand was opened.

Do you realize that there are dates in this thread that are older than I am? Wow!!

Enjoy,
JimB

Benton's Pie Laguna, Calif.
 
Well Allen you just killed a dream for me. I have wanted to get to Nathans for a hot dog ever since i first heard the word Coney Island.
For me as a foreigner this all comes from Hollywood movies.

But i had the same kind of experience in Boston last year. Having done a lot of travel on my own i wanted to show Linda Faneuil hall market. I sold her on the place as i experienced it in 1981/2 during winter. At that time it was fantastic experience, families had their stall with their specific eats and clam chowder i had there i never forgot.
Oh boy was i devestated to go through the place last year. Thought i was in a shopping center foodcourt in Singapore or Hong Kong. Found a place serving chowder and ordered it desperate to believe it was still possible and what a sorry excuse for food never mind chowder.
So sad all the character of the place was wiped out.
Realized after that you can never go back to places you visited before. Not a great thought, i have been wanting to take Linda to Budapest in Hungry on a romantic trip down the Danube. After the Boston experience i decided on a raincheck on that one too.
Guess we getting old. :(

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
sometimes its just timing that made the visit or food special, i have been different places and had different foods that at the time was exceptional.. sometimes its because we were very hungry or maybe the conversation or the socializing that we may been involved in at the time.. as for not going back,, that isnt a fair shake for the place or time or food.
 
Now I'm confused. When I was a kid in the fifties, we called white hot dogs 'Coneys'. They puffed up and had a lighter tasting filling than regular dogs, almost like the Weisswurst made in Bavaria, but not nearly as good. I'm looking at pictures of Coney Island dogs and just seeing a dog piled up with 'stuff'. Exactly what is a true, just like the old days 'Coney' ?
 
I have had many Nathan's dogs at coney island. My grandparents lived in Brooklyn so we would take the subway over. Allen, you must remember the steeple chase, cyclone and the parachute jump? I think the structure for the parachute jump is still standing but I have not been there in years.
 
yep, been on the cyclone, kinda nice, knowing its a famous piece of NY history.
structures still there, I didn't see if anything is working there, I think theres just another amusement park with other rides.
theres a big ball park right there now.
 
Never had a real Nathans hot dog but we did bulldoze a James Coney Island down here to make way for a 24 story high rise. No love lost there as it was one of the worst hot dogs I ever had!

I was glad to see Captain Harvey s was still in the same location in Baltimore in Logan Village shopping center. They serve one hell of a cheese steak sub there! Looking forward to it again this year!That's a whole sub next to Norma's arm and half a sub on the plate.
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