Coney Detroit

If We're in Flint, This Must be Koegel's

Folks in Flint like their Coneys every bit as much as the people down I-75 in Detroit.

However, while you might find sausages from Dearborn or National in Detroit, you'll have a hard time explaining to Flint diners why you would serve anything but a locally made Koegel.

The Koegel Web site says that the company, started in 1916 by Albert Koegel, now makes about 35 products that are sold almost exclusively in Michigan and delivered to each individual store. A new plant, just off Bristol Road, near Bishop Airport in Flint, is strategically situated near I-75 and I-69.

We have one beef with the Web site. It hosts a number of recipes including chili sauce both Detroit style and Flint style. The problem is that both chili sauce recipes contain tomato sauce, yet we have been told that neither sauce should contain tomatoes.

Can anyone help us out?

          

Tour of West Michigan Got Dog Joints

Grand Rapids Press reporter Troy Reimink continues his insanely suicidal survey of west Michigan hot dogs.

He has just posted reviews of The Fleetwood Diner, Logan's Alley, Gregordog, Froggy's and Mr. Kozak's II. It's like he is on a binge. It's publish or perish, I guess. Maybe both.

Troy eats so that others may understand.

Cincinnati Dog and Detroit Coney

I have to wonder if Detroit and Cincinnati are parallel universes.

I just read how the Cincinnati Coney dog -- sausage, Cinci chili, onions, mustard and cheddar, is being introduced in Nebraska at the Saucy Dawg Cafe in Grand Island, Neb.

The article traces its origins to Greek restaurateurs in Cincinnati in 1922.

That is so Detroit. Well, except for the cheddar and a different style of sauce.

I am wondering just how many places saw Coney Island restaurants of differing styles open up in the 1920s?

Angelo's Coney Island

A big thanks to Adam Isaguirre for this yummy photo from Angelo's Coney Island in Flint.

This Coney Island Delivers

I have seen Coney Island restaurants that are open 24 hours a day, that have drive-through windows and that will send you Coneys in the mail.

I never before noticed one that has a delivery car.

Detroit Coney One Restaurant on Woodward near Mack does.

It also advertises a Coney with saurkraut on it and, in the Coneys section of the menu, a "fish dog."

I have to get over there!

Coney Island Connections

How are Detroit's Coneys connected?

A visit last wekend to Greek Boys Coney Island Restaurant, 154 S. Old Woodward in Birmingham, made me want to go back to one of my Coney haunts, Hellenic Coney Island in the little shopping center that wraps around the gasoline station on the southwest corner of Twelve Mile and Evergreen Roads.

The Raspoptsis brothers -- Tommy, Tony, Tim, Bill and Thaddeus -- were apparently set up in Greek Boys by their father, Tom, an owner at Hellenic. That got me interested in following the links.

At Hellenic, I met John Capsocolis, whose father, Nick, opened the place in 1977. He later took Tom Raspoptsis in as a partner.

John said his dad immigrated to the United States from Greece and got a job -- where else? -- downtown at Lafayette Coney Island in the mid '70s.

When we asked at Lafayette on Friday which businesses they might have spun off, they weren't sure. Hellenic and then Greek Boys are two with Lafayette DNA. (Some of the menu items, such as the Greek Taco, on the Greek Boys menu appear to have been adopted from Hellenic.) Another item at Hellenic, the Coney Island omelet, made with hot dogs, chili and onions, made me think I must have missed it on other menus. It is such a natural.

How many more Coney Islands are rooted in Lafayette and American?

How Many Detroit Coney Islands are There?

That is hard to say.

Maybe impossible.

I just looked up Coney Islands and Detroit on Restaurantica.com. I liked their claim that they post "unbiased opinions."

My search got 303 hits. Some were in Detroit's suburbs, but still.

And none of the 303 has a review yet. Get busy! Make yourself famous!

Flint Original Coney Island Lives Again

Word comes by way of the Flint Journal that the Flint Original Coney Island, which claims roots back to 1919, has reopened with its historic red and blue neon sign, same vintage.

Tom Zelevarovski told the Journal that the restored sign is part of a $400,000 restoration of the restaurant at West Court and Grand Traverse.

Its name name is being changed from Tom Z Original Coney Island to Flint Original Coney Island.

A Taste of Flint

From the Flint TV-12 Web site:

"Travel Michigan and The Flint Area Convention and Visitors Bureau are hosting a contingent of travel writers this week. Aside from touring the Cultural Center, Truck Assembly Plant and Crossroads Village, they're getting a taste of everything from Fenton's French Laundry to Flint's Coney Island Hot Dogs."

Well, that oughta do it.

Traverse City's House of Doggs Has Moved

TC's best Coney joint has completed its move, according to a June 6 press release.

The new location is 120 S. Union St.

The colorful, comical House of Doggs opened in 2006 at 115 Wellington. Owner Nick McAllister says on the HOD's Web site that he was inspired by a place called Yesterdog in Grand Rapids.

The Wellington site featured an eclectic, cluttered design that paid homage jazz, blues, funk, fusion, R&B and disco. The tributes were not just on the walls and the music system but also on the menu, which has items named after all those musical tastes.

One of the best things about TC's HOD is that it is one-stop shopping for people who like to sample different kinds of COneys. There is the Motown, of course, which is a Detroit-style Coney with chili sauce, onion and mustard. Flint's drier sauce is featured on the Grand Funk. You'll also find a respectable Sweet Home Chicago Dog with sport pepper and celery salt among its ingredients.

Owner McAllister has fallen in love with a northern Michigan product, Dog Sauce, and that is available to dress your dog.

As this is Traverse CIty, home of the National Cherry Festival, you can order a HOD brat in three styles: original, cheese or cherry.

Good times.