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Got out
of town
holiday
guest?
Take
them for
a
Detroit
Coney
Dog
By BETH
J.
HARPAZ
AP
Travel
Editor
DETROIT
- To New
Yorkers
like me,
going to
Coney
means
hopping
on a
Coney
Island-bound
subway
train to
an
amusement
park at
the
beach.
But on a
trip to
Detroit,
I
learned
that
"coney"
means
something
entirely
different.
In
Michigan
and a
few
other
places,
coney is
a
generic
term for
hot dogs
topped
with
onions,
mustard
and
chili.
Brooklyn's
Coney
Island
has its
own hot
dog
culture
thanks
to
Nathan's
Famous,
which
has been
selling
dogs
there
since
1916.
But
chili is
not a
typical
New York
topping
for a
dog — we
mostly
stick to
mustard
and
sauerkraut.
Still, I
try to
sample
local
cuisine
wherever
I go,
and in
Detroit
that
means
trying
coneys
sold by
two
long-time
rivals:
Lafayette
Coney
Island
and
American
Coney
Island.
The
stores
stand
side by
side on
West
Lafayette
Boulevard
in
Detroit's
downtown,
which is
in the
very
early
stages
of
attempting
a
revival
following
finalization
of the
city's
bankruptcy.
Streets
are
clean,
there's
abundant
private
security,
and
cheap
real
estate
is
attracting
investors
and
entrepreneurs.
Lafayette
and
American
are near
many
downtown
attractions,
including
the
famous
sculpture
of boxer
Joe
Louis'
fist,
the
historic
Westin
Book
Cadillac
hotel,
the
Riverwalk
and
Campus
Martius
Park. It
felt
perfectly
safe as
I
arrived
for my
taste-test,
and yet,
my visit
was
marked
by a
series
of
memorable
moments
that you
wouldn't
expect
at, say,
a
suburban
diner or
trendy
cafe.
For
starters,
in the
foodie
world,
photographing
your
meal is
so
routine
that it
generally
attracts
no
attention.
But when
I began
photographing
my coney
at
Lafayette,
I got a
long,
bewildered
look
from the
pair of
somewhat
scruffy
gentlemen
seated
next to
me. And
when I
asked
our
server
for a
receipt,
he
looked
at me
blankly,
then
tossed
his
notepad
on the
table,
muttering,
"Write
it
yourself."
Believe
it or
not,
this all
added to
the
charm of
the
place.
The dog
itself
at
Lafayette
was a
surprise
to my
palate.
The
flavors
were
stronger
than I'd
expected
— quite
a bite
to the
onions
and
chili.
On the
advice
of my
dining
companion,
a
20-something
Michigan
native
who
recently
moved to
Detroit,
I also
had a
Vernors
ginger
ale, a
brand
that
originated
in
Detroit
in the
19th
century.
It was
fantastic,
better
than
big-name
brands
and
artisanal
sodas.
We also
shared
some
good
french
fries.
But boy,
was I
full
when we
went to
American
for the
second
dog. Our
near-dread
at
another
round
must
have
been
apparent
from our
expressions,
because
the
woman
who came
to take
our
order
took one
look at
us and
said
something
like,
"You're
doing a
comparison,
aren't
you?"
We
nodded
guiltily.
"You
should
have
come
here
first!"
she
scolded,
then
added:
"Actually
it's
good you
came
here
second.
You'll
leave
with a
better
taste in
your
mouth!"
Turns
out this
wasn't
just a
waitress
— this
was
American's
co-owner,
the
brassy
and
dynamic
Grace
Keros,
whose
grandfather,
a Greek
immigrant,
began
selling
hot dogs
from a
pushcart
on the
site in
1917.
His
brother
opened
Lafayette
next
door in
1924,
but
Lafayette
is no
longer
owned by
the
family,
and
Keros
wants it
known
that the
dogs and
chili
are
completely
different.
Everyone
I met in
Detroit
seemed
to
agree,
saying
that by
tradition,
locals
only
ever go
to one
place or
the
other.
But in
the name
of
investigative
journalism,
I had to
try
both,
even
though I
wasn't
really
psyched
for the
second
round.
But a
funny
thing
happened
on the
way to
my
stomach:
I liked
it. To
my
palate,
American's
coney
had a
slightly
milder
flavor,
a bit
more
like the
dogs I'm
used to,
dare I
say, at
the REAL
Coney
Island
in
Brooklyn.
Not that
Lafayette
was bad,
mind you
— and as
a
non-local,
I'm not
pledging
lifelong
allegiance
to
either
place. I
later
learned
that
Anthony
Bourdain
visited
Detroit
in 2013
and
declared
the best
coneys
to be at
a spot
called
Duly's,
but
there
was no
way I
could
handle a
third.
When I
later
circled
back to
take
exterior
photos,
a man
was
pacing
back and
forth
outside
both
stores,
raging
incoherently
at the
skies. I
dared
not
enrage
him
further
by
whipping
out my
camera,
so I had
to come
back a
third
time for
pictures.
It
seemed
like a
fitting
coda to
an
only-in-Detroit
adventure.
___
If You
Go...
AMERICAN
CONEY
ISLAND:
114 W.
Lafayette,
Detroit;
313-961-7758,
http://www.americanconeyisland.com/home.htm
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LAFAYETTE
CONEY
ISLAND:
118 W.
Lafayette,
Detroit,
313-964-8198.
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