Smokin' Chokin' and Chowing with the King: Koney King

Friday, June 25, 2010

Koney King

-Exploring NW Indiana

With the one year anniversary of the King of Weird's death coming around your going to see quite a few news stories and such about it. I'm sure to go with that, you'll see a boatload of memorials and plenty more weird people crying that he's gone. So were going to try to go with the flow and so with that today we head to Michael Jackson's hometown of Gary, Indiana to a place I'm sure the Jackson's visited now and then, the Koney King. Like the rest of the town this little popular Coney dog shack is stuck in time back when it was an up and coming U.S city with its steel mills and other urban plants and plenty of work. As you can see according to its sign this particular place has been in operation since 1920 and I'm sure it has some stories to tell.

a locals favorite in Gary, IN

I had read about this place thru LThforum and since I find it very interesting to take a ride thru Gary I eventually passed by it one day while riding thru to Michigan. I had to have a stop in and see what was going on at this last of a dying breed Coney shop in Gary. There was a time when there were quite a few Coney dog shops in Gary much like there are in Detroit and other Midwestern blue collar cities. The inside is fairly simple with a counter and some stools, the menu is also fairly simple and the hot dogs sit on a flattop in the window. The service is very friendly and on our visit there was a group of regulars who had most likely been eating and chatting there for generations.

Koney Kings menu

regular old hot dogs roasting away

After some very friendly dialect between us and the reg's I decided I had to have a dog, burger and cup of chili. You just don't find too many places like this spot anymore and we were quite pleased with the visit. The chili came with onions and crackers and it was a hearty Midwest blend. It wasn't my all time favorite but you could see yourself indulging after a long day of work at the mill in the wintertime. I'm suspecting many people that have lived or still do reside in Gary have been here countless times, its a real neighborhood type spot. The chili cheeseburger tasted old school in that good way meaning it seems like they been making them like that for a long time now.

cup of Koney King's chili

chili cheeseburger

But hey its not called the Koney King for nothing so its all about the Coney dogs. I somewhat surprisingly very much enjoyed my dog and the sum of it as a whole. Sure the hot dog was your standard child's play version but when combined with the chili and cheese and some fresh diced onions it was real chart topper. In case you couldn't figure it out by now I'm not all that sad of the king of pop's death. Quite frankly I think he was straight weird but for those that haven't been to Gary, its a startling place and it's death is more saddening than Jacko's, to me anyway. Luckily there are a few things that remain from when it was a different world and the Koney King and their dogs are one of them.