THE WINDING PURSUIT OF A CHILI DOG The story starts a year ago, in the chewed-up grass of a high school football practice field. One of the kids I coach starts going on and on about chili dogs and how bad he wanted one in that exact moment. Practice hadn’t even started yet. Ever since that day, I’ve had this weird, unexplainable YEARNING for a chili dog — a food I don’t even love. I think that’s why it took me so long to get one. Deep down, I didn’t feel they were anything special. Coming from Colorado, chili dogs aren’t praised or sought after by ANY means. They’re just something you get from a gas station, where you’re forced under the budget assembly line of questionable chili and cheese (God bless whoever is in that car with you). But apparently chili dogs are a big deal here, right? WRONG. No one corrected me in this past year, and I was living my life thinking a chili dog was a coney dog. Oof. Prior to knowing this, I did tons of research for the best “coney” dog, and it took me to Jackson, Michigan today. After making the hour drive (all for a glizz), I pull up to my destination, Virginia Coney Island, and find the second-most-recommended coney dog place right next to it. I mean, literally, at the other end of the block is “Jackson Coney Island". Both of them were established in 1914, and claim fame to the original coney dogs/coney islands we've all heard about. Detroit didn't do coney dogs till 3 years later so don't let them convince you otherwise. Anyways. Wow. Two titans right next to each other. This is like Michigan vs. Ohio State rivalry. Immediately I knew I had to try both. Virginia Coney Island You ever go somewhere and as soon as you walk in, you feel like you went back in time? And not in a gimmicky way, like one of those underpaid train conductors putting on a show — I mean a place that’s legitimately frozen in time. That is Virginia Coney Island. It doesn’t feel like 1914 (not that I would know), but more like a 50’s diner. And the service felt like a 50’s diner too. Warm, friendly, and a place where you're getting called “sugar/hun/dear” etc. In fact, I had to be SO MINDFUL not to get overly charmed up by the server beforehand because I wanted a pure rating on the food -- not one that was influenced by how nice she was to me lol. I don’t even look at the menu, I just told her to bring me her finest coney. It was $2.50. Can you believe that? I took two sips of my root beer and it showed up. I immediately knew, right in that moment, that a coney dog is NOT a chili dog. There’s no chili involved at all actually. It’s a hot dog, ground beef, finely chopped onions, and mustard. Wow. I later saw a sign on the wall that said something talking down on chili dogs. Oh well, the script was flipped, and show must go on. THE CONEY DOG First bite. Boom. Nothing special. Hmm. Second bite. Still, nothing special. Third bite, stilllll nothing special. Just tastes like a hot dog with hamburger meat and raw onion and a little bit of mustard. The hot dog wasn’t like an all-beef Nathan's hot dog with a bunch of flavor, It was kinda bland and tasted like a ballpark frank. And the beef was dry and didn’t have any much flavor/seasoning. But in the end, for $2.50, how can you complain? I tried another, and got a recommendation from my sweetheart of a server to put nacho cheese on it. That one was better. I don’t know what to give these out of 10 because — like I said earlier — I don’t think the ceiling is that high on coney dogs. For all I know, I could be having a 10/10 coney dog and that's just what they taste like? That said, I still made the 30-second walk to try my next coney dog. Jackson Coney Island This name seems more fitting than Virginia Coney Island. I was laughing on the walk over, just thinking of how this rivalry has existed for well over 100 years. I mean, if you Google “best coney dog in Michigan,” these places will come up. They’re both highly awarded, and they’re maybe a hundred feet apart — on a street that doesn’t have anything else to offer. Wild. Immediately after walking in, you can tell this place had more money invested in the interior. The music was more modern, the colors were less faded, and it just felt “newer” even though the style was still “diner.” The service didn’t feel like an old-timey diner though — it felt more modern, but still trapped in a diner atmosphere. Kinda felt like a employees working at a tourist attraction. Nonetheless, I sit down, and ask for the FINEST of coneys. One original, and one with nacho cheese (I guess this is part of my criteria now?). My order took about 15 minutes, which is 14.5 minutes longer than the last place. When it arrived, in all of its chopped onion and scattered beef glory, it was easy to see that this beef was much greasier than Virginia's. The color of the meat was darker, it looked more “juicy” and had that iconic burnt-orange colored grease pooling up at the ends of the hot dog. We had arrived. First bite, boom. Tastes better. The beef has more flavor. Who would have known grease could do that (besides all of us)? The onions felt bitter(?) but maybe that’s on me. I’ve never really sought out raw onions but has anyone? Anyways, the actual dog was comparable, nothing special. The coney with the cheese did taste better than the original one again too. But if I’m being honest, Jackson Coney Island is the more flavorful option. It’s greasier and it tastes better. Not “overly” greasy, just right. Yet, even though it’s better, it’s not better by much. Not enough to lose sleep over. THOUGHTS REFLECTIONS EMOTIONS I do wonder if coney dogs really had some magic to them 110 years ago. Have we lost that magic through the years? Or was it never really sparkling, and just a really good value? Regardless, I can't shake the fact that the original coney dog has two places you can get it from, and they're within arms reach of each other...with nothing else around them...and they've been there for 110+ years, whipping up coney dogs without much difference between them. Their proximity, and impact on dining culture across the US, remind me of this poem by John Donne: No man is an island, Entire of itself; Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. Maybe they're not so much separate coney islands, but rather, a unified, greasy, and beautiful coney continent. Cheers.   submitted by   /u/zacowen120 [link]   [comments]