Detroit's Coney Island: A Rivalry And A Staple | Visit Detroit (2024)

FAQs

What does Coney Island have to do with Detroit? ›

Detroit's famous Coney dog restaurants, American Coney Island and Lafayette Coney Island, followed Todoroff's Original Coney Island in Jackson, Michigan, which dates its beginning to 1914. In 1917, Gust Keros, a Greek immigrant, opened American Coney Island on West Lafayette Street in downtown Detroit.

But why are they all Coneys? Some historians believe the meat of the story began in the 1900's at a Coney Island in Jackson, Michigan. Others say it started in Detroit around that same time period after Greek immigrant Gust Keros came to town, searching for work in the auto industry.

The variety is a fixture in Flint, Detroit, Jackson, Kalamazoo, and southeastern Michigan. The style originated in the early 20th century, with competing claims from American and Lafayette Coney Islands (1917) in Detroit, and Todoroff's Original Coney Island (1914) in Jackson.

Coney Island dogs usually have a beef frank on a steamed bun. Then it's topped with meat (no beans) chili, diced white onions, and mustard.

Coney Island is famous for being an amusement resort – along the beach, you'll find 2 theme parks still thriving today: Luna Park and Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park.

Living in Detroit means coney islands, square pizza, slow roasted shawarma, sliders, and corned beef egg rolls. It's lamb chops and baklava. Vernor's and Faygo, Better Made, and Boston Coolers. In other words, Detroit is filled with iconic dishes that speak to its global influence.

Coney Island Gets Its Name

The Dutch settled Manhattan in 1624 and inhabited Coney Island soon afterward. Since the Dutch word for rabbit was "konijn" and the island had a large population of wild rabbits, many have supposed this fact to have led to the name.

DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) has emerged as one of New York City's best-known arts districts, and Coney Island's oceanfront beach, boardwalk, and amusement rides (including the famous Wonder Wheel [1920] and Cyclone roller coaster [1927]) make it a popular warm-weather destination.

Every National Coney Island restaurant features a menu filled with great-tasting, All-American classics, including traditional Detroit-style Coney Island hot dogs, our world famous chili, fresh salads, premium Angus burgers, delicious desserts like Sanders hot fudge sundaes and breakfast served anytime.

It is composed of a combination of uncured and unsmoked pork, beef, and veal; the lack of smoking or curing allows the meat to retain a naturally white color. White hots usually contain mustard and other spices, and often include a dairy component such as nonfat dry milk.

Are Coney dogs beef? ›

The Detroit-style Coney dog is defined by its natural casing hot dog that is topped with beef heart chili, yellow mustard, and diced onions. In contrast, the Flint-style Coney dog features a dry or loose beef topped hotdog with mustard and onion.

Lafayette Coney Island was shut down yesterday after the health department received tips from residents that rodents were in the building, the Detroit News reports. Why it matters: In a city known for coney restaurants, Lafayette is among the most iconic.

Coney Islands were opened throughout the city by Greek immigrants. Coney Islands have developed a distinctive dining style that is repeated in hundreds of different restaurants throughout the metropolitan Detroit area and elsewhere in Michigan and other nearby states.

It all started in 1867 on Coney Island, New York, when Charles Feltman, a German immigrant and baker by trade, invented the first hot dog as a convenient way for beachgoers to enjoy frankfurter sausages on a long sliced bun without the hassle of plates or silverware.

They might seem like different names for the same style of hot dog, but Coney Island dogs are smothered with a meat sauce that's not exactly chili—plus onions and yellow mustard. Chili dogs can be topped with meat and bean chili as well as cheese or cheese sauce.

In Michigan, “Coney Island” doesn't mean an amusement park, but one of an estimated 500 diners in the Metro Detroit area alone that serve Greek food and “Coney dogs” -- hot dogs smothered in chili or ground beef, plus mustard and onions. There are plenty more elsewhere in Michigan, across the Midwest, and beyond.

"He loved talking with customers and all the people," Keros said. Grace Keros and Chris Sotiropoulos now own and operate American Coney Island. They've grown the business to include locations at the Detroit Zoo and at the D Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Coney Island is also not an Island, but an appendage *almost* an island on the South side of Brooklyn, NYC., AKA “Brighton Beach”.

The Detroit Chili Company is owned by relatives of the people who are the owners of Lafayette and American. The two restaurants are separately owned by two cousins and the Detroit Chili Company is owned by another cousin. Each restaurant doctors up the chili differently before serving it on hot dogs.