Coney Island Hotdogs in Detroit Rock City

A couple weeks back, we went to see Kelly Clarkson at the Detroit Fillmore (she totally rocks out, no signs of her American Idol self anywhere!). We decided to head down early and see a bit of the city and to sample a "Michigan" - a Coney Island hotdog. Yes, I'm sure you - as I once did - thought of a Coney Island as a hotdog from New York. Which it is, but not quite. A Coney Island hotdog means two things. One, a spicy hotdog served in western NY state, bare or with mustard and two, a beef hotdog with mustard, chili and onions - developed in Michigan during the early 1900s by an immigrant from Greece (who had passed through Ellis Island and sampled a Coney Island hotdog there). Greek dude works hard and is eventually able to opens up a store downtown serving hotdogs and chili and at some point mixed the two together, inventing the second Coney. He calls his store American Coney Island. Eventually, he brings his brother over from Greece and helps him open a Coney joint, right next door! (talk of portfolio diversification not that prevalent then, I guess!). That place is called Lafayette Coney Island. Three generations later, both places are still open, having seen the ups and downs of the city (properity during the auto industry's heyday, the crash and burn and the subsequent attempt at a renaissance (still happening, slowly). Native Detroiters have been debating which is better for decades the same way New Yorkers debate pizza and Texans debate BBQ. Everybody has a preference sometimes due to family habits, not actually comparing the two! So we picked Lafayette, which was sold to the employees a few years ago. Probably because it hasn't changed in almost 100 years (American has expanded the space and menu - and refurbished much of the furniture) and we dig all things old. I was too embarrassed to take pictures of food but this guy did it all for me. Bottom line, yummy, cheap food that is not so good for you. Maybe once a year, if that. But still, very tasty.

Next, we headed out to the Henry Ford which is a big complex that Henry Ford built - seems like mostly to preserve his legacy. We didn't have time to do the whole thing, so we visited the Henry Ford museum, ". . . the history museum that brings the American experience to life." It's pretty much a HUGE (and I mean HUGE) collection of all things cars, planes, trains and peripheral stuff in between. I wasn't expecting much, but I was pretty blown away. Very cool museum. From one of the two Allegheny trains to JFK's car (in which he was assassinated) to the bus that Rosa Parks sat in, there seems to be one of everything, even the theater chair that Lincoln (that would be Abe) sat in when he was assassinated. Most random thing to me was the Dymaxion house but it definitely had some competition (I guess it's not that random as it was built to have been built from aluminum in old airplane factories post WWII). I would definitely recommend a visit, but don't think anyone will be in the area any time soon! However, if you ever visit, I'll buy you a Coney at Lafayette!