With the baseball season n full swing, and July 4th around the corner, it seems like a good time to talk about that uniquely American food – the hot dog. I’m amazed to learn that Americans will eat 150 Million hot dogs on July 4th alone! For today, two thoughts are on my mind: First, how uniquely regional the hot dog is; tomorrow, another favorite hot dog story has a few morsels on customer experience.
The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council says that “Americans will eat enough hot dogs at major league ballparks to stretch from Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, the sites of the 2008 World Series.
In my hometown of Detroit, you grew up on some great hot dogs – Ballpark Franks, which, of course, you could get at the ballpark – Tiger Stadium to be exact. What could be better than cheering on my boyhood heroes Al Kaline, Willie Horton, and Mickey Lolich while getting a “red hot” with both the steamed hot dog and the steamed bun from the hot dog guy carrying that cool (or in this case hot metal cauldron that served up red hots the way they were supposed to be served – with French’s yellow mustard, of course. Later, I grew to love hot dogs with skins (or natural casings as they say) – especially the ones made by another uniquely Polish Detroit company, Kowalski. They got crispy and very tasty on the grill – while they were tasty with relish and all the fixings, they were so good with just a bun.
Finally, the Detroit dining scene wouldn’t be complete without the famous Coney Island hot dogs. A favorite food of the downtown lunch crowd as well as the very, very late night post drinking pre-hangover crowd, the combination of a great hot dog with chili, mustard and fresh onions is both addictive and uniquely Detroit.
Of course, we still can’t figure out why it is a Coney Island chili dog, since no one from Coney Island knows what this type of chili dog is. Still, in Detroit we know them as “coneys” and in fact there are dozens of “coney” restaurants scattered around the city. The two most famous are, in fact, RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER! American Coney Island and Lafayette Coney Island have both been Detroit institutions for generations of Detroiters, and immortalized in many a story.
Dueling Neighbors Lafayette and American Coney Island Hot Dogs
You may be thinking this is a funny example of regional cuisine, but indeed these two places inspire fervent proclamations by legions of customers that one reigns supreme over the other. To the casual observer, finding the difference between the actual hot dogs, chili or onions is difficult if not impossible to achieve. Indeed, the loyalty inspired in coney dog lovers comes not from just the food served, but from the unique experience each engenders. In this case, it isn’t some specially crafted process, or careful measured metric of satisfaction. At these restaurants, as it is repeated in scores of ethnic and local diners around the country, good food is served in familiar surroundings. Nothing much changes – from the simple 50’s style chairs, bar stools, Formica tables and counter – to the white aproned guys taking your order and calling out “two on one with heavy onions” across a crowded, bustling dining room.
We come back again and again to places like these because they ARE the same – ALWAYS. It’s always the same, and always good. They inspire stories because they were a part of what we do and the experiences that make up how we live. And, of course, they are “home town” favorites that mean we are with friends and family, local and out of towners we must include in our home town experience. And because of that, we build that experience – the food, the people, the place – into our DNA – and venture back when we have been away too long.
‘Tis the season for dashing through the shopping mall to find the perfect gift, and every item you buy brings an interaction with a store employee. Even during the busy holiday season, the cashiers, clerks, and servers hope you’ll give some thought to who they are and what they believe.
