FOOD - The Coney Island Dog

So, lets start a new week with something yummy! If you didn't notice on my Primanti Brothers, we're big fans of watching Man Vs Food and if you've ever watched it yourself might have seen Adam Richman eating Coney Island Hot Dogs - more often just known as the Coney. With a name like Coney you might expect such a food to be from from New York/Coney Island - the name merely refers to the hot dog itself, but it's origin is actually one of Greek-American and of Detroit in the early 1900's.

The Detroit Coney is basically a beef hot dog topped in a meat, beanless chili sauce finished off with mustard and diced onions. It's an all in hands on sticky, messy tasty goo of goodness. When visiting Detroit eating a Coney is a must and it's bad showing on my part that it's taken me nearly two years to getting around to trying one, nevertheless they are awesome.

But to add to the fun, there's a bid family story about the Coney Island, one that you could say splits the city in two. In 1903 Gust Keros immigrated to Detroit from Greece and unable to find employment Keros began shining shoes and selling hot dogs topped in chili out of a cart upon the corner of Michigan Avenue and Lafayette Blvd. By 1917, Keros had opened American Coney Island upon Lafayette and shortly after brought his brother to America. However, and rumors and tales are open to exactly why, but his brother opened Lafayette Coney Island right next door using just a slightly different sauce.

Nearly 100 years later, American Coney and Lafayette Coney still sit next to each other in Downtown Detroit, both open and both serving their different takes on the Coney. This time we chose Layette and for $12 you can get 4 Coney's, a plate of fries and two cokes - absolute bargain. The Formica long shared tables, the green tiled walls and being able to eat at a counter if you wish certainly takes you back in time to the diners of old. The mustard sets off the chili just right, it's sloppy, it's messy and the natural casing to the hot dogs gives an amazing crunch. Lafayette is not has big, it's not has loud from the street front but it doesn't need to be - their chili says it all. - next time it'll be the American Coney. But even as Adam Richman - who visited and ate at both in his show, you can't really say which is better.

Have you ever had a Coney Island? Would you?