Surpassing my quarterly Detroit coney quota
Lafayette Coney Island dog.
I came home the other day smelling like a coney dog. Brian hugged me, backed away and said, “You smell like onions and grease.” Sherman followed me around like I had a hot dog, covered in the meaty, spicy, beanless chili, stuffed in my back pocket.
“I went to Lafayette Coney for lunch,” I said.
My love affair with the coney dog is a passionate one. I prefer mine smothered in the hearty sauce, no onions, and an order of fries with more sauce, and lots of mustard on both. Growing up, my family had season tickets to the Detroit Red Wings and grabbing a coney dog was a pre-game ritual. In high school, my best friend and I ate so many coneys after school, that our cholesterol would have probably put Morgan Spurlock’s “Super Size Me” self to shame. When I was pregnant with Evan, a coney was my guiltless indulgence. Now, I try to limit my consumption to a few times a year.
Evan shares his mother’s love of the coney - Lafayette Coney Island, Detroit.
Two of Detroit’s most famous coney islands - Lafayette and American - are only three blocks from the Free Press, so suppressing the coney urge is hard, and when a former co-worker comes by your desk with a postcard promoting the release of his new book, “Coney Detroit”, it is nearly impossible.
Joe Grimm, former Free Press editor, and Free Press Business Writer Katherine Yung teamed up to write the quintessential book about the Detroit-area favorite. They tell the history of the coney and how its popularity grew, making Detroit the coney island hot dog capital of the world. The book is filled with crave-inducing photos and includes a great guide to the crazy number of area restaurants. On their blog, they are highlighting a 100 different restaurants daily. Even a serious coney lover will discover a new favorite place to grab a dog. All the royalties for the book goes to support Gleaners Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan.
Coney Detroit - Wayne State University Press
The authors claim that it is “not a book to be read on an empty
stomach”, and between attending the book launch and buying the book, I
may have to increase my quarterly coney quota.
