Nika's Culinaria - Eat With Your Eyes

I generally do not take pictures in restaurants for a couple of reasons: I don't go out to eat that much, I live in a desolate culinary wasteland and when we do go out to eat it is not something to take pictures of (as in, Subways, Cracker Barrel, Mc Donalds, too depressing to go on, you can see why we don't go out to eat much), I don't like to lug my camera into restaurants, and finally, I am shy so running around taking photogenic shots of a restaurant runs against my mien.

Nevertheless, I have been itching to give it a try in a location that is NOT Mc Donalds, has some character, is informal, and might have some small amount of interest to you.

Thus, I have a bit of a photo essay of George's Coney Island Hot Dogs in Worcester, MA. This place is right next to Union Music where we rent our musical instruments so when we returned our alto sax for the summer we stopped in and checked out the scene.

Background on George's Coney Island Hot Dogs, from their site, is as follows:

Coney Island has been serving its delicious hot dogs for generations to generations, everyday but Tuesday.

Founded in 1918, George's Coney Island remains in its landmark location at 158 Southbridge Street in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1938, its namesake George Tsagarelis expanded his "store" to include its art deco design, wooden booths, tile floor and all-important counter. In 1940, he added the Romanoff designed 60 foot neon sign. Modeled after George's hand, the hot dog dripping mustard sign has welcomed hot dog lovers and seekers of the secret sauce as well as photographers and artists from all over the world.

Today, George's family continues to serve up incredibly delicious hot dogs that have been acclaimed as Worcester's Best of Best year after year. Taste a delicious part of a Worcester tradition. Most of all experience for yourself the delicious hot dogs at George's Coney Island.

Visit their site for more details and old pictures from the 30s!

Let me just say up front that I rely on my 9 year old daughter, Q, to be my taste guide. This is because pregnancy has given me a permanent bad taste in my mouth so everything tastes like its been drowned in sharp acids (not a pleasant thing, let me tell you).

I got a hotdog with mustard (I can eat mustard on bananas I love it so and I figured I would not be able to taste much dog anyways, why not enjoy some mustard) and Q had one with ketchup and then one with "sauce". "Sauce" is chili poured over the dog. Q loved it! It pretty much turned my stomach but don't let that be your guide!

The dogs are crisped up on a grill so these are not the steamed type which I prefer (I liked the ones I got from dog sellers in downtown DC when I worked for the DOJ, right off the mall, sublime).

Q loved both dogs and said the bun was good stuff. The bun was fluffy enough, did the job.



The service area with just one customer. At times the line grows long but then its gone in a wink. Lots of police frequent this place too.



Behind the service counter



The seating area is huge and OLD! And not meant for rather pregnant women so we had to hunt a bit to find somewhere to sit. This meant going through a door into a bar area where the seating was more forgiving of my growing self.



Tight seating with graffiti



More seating toward the back



The bar area



The dogs in mid-cook



The buns in storage



Q – my taste tester!



My mustard hot dog



Q's dog with "sauce". (It was very dark in the restaurant, this is the best that we could do)



There you have it, our trip to George's Coney Island Hot Dogs. Give it a try sometime if you are in Worcester, MA!