We have our fingers crossed for the ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Awards. “Coney Detroit” is up for regional book of the year in the Regional Books category. Winners will be announced at the American Library Association annual conference in Chicago, June 28th.
Detroit Harmonie seeks new coney island hot dog recipes
Detroit chefs and foodies are turning the city’s signature food inside out in the $10,000 Top Chef Coney Detroit Challenge sponsored by Detroit Harmonie.
The group’s third International Experience challenged competitors to reimagine the coney dog with an international twist. The finals will be at 8 p.m. March 23 at the Carr Center, 311 E. Grand River Ave., and tickets are available online for $20.
To see the 20 semi-finalists at work, click on any photo you like. Use “next” and “previous” to flip through them, use your + or – keys to resize them. View their creations on a coney dog concoctions page.
All photos by Joe Grimm, co-author of “Coney Detroit,” who felt called to judge the semi-finalists and, on March 23, the finalists.
Coney dog recipes strain the imagination — and the belt
Twenty competitors in Detroit Harmonie’s Top Chef Detroit Challenge threw everything they had at Detroit’s classic coney island. I and the other semifinal judges ate beef, pork, lamb, rabbit, veal, corned beef hash and seitan dressed with onions, garlic, chili peppers, coriander, cumin, cilantro, jalepenos, cukes, daikon, purple onion and chocolate mustard served on brochen, naan, plain old hot dog buns, johnnycake and hallah.
To see the 20 creations, click on any photo you like. Use “next” and “previous” to flip through them, use your + or – keys to resize them. You can meet all 20 coney challenge semi-finalists here.
—Joe Grimm, “Coney Detroit“
American Coney Island opens in Canton
Detroit’s iconic American Coney Island keeps growing.
Today, it opened a 50-seat coney island at 44532 Michigan Ave. in Canton. The grand opening featured a free coney for each of the first 50 diners.
The hours are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 7 a.m. to midnight Thursday through Saturday.
American has been on a deliberate expansion track lately.
In 2012, American announced it would be part of The D, Las Vegas’ newest casino hotel, and it went into Ford Field.
In 2011, American collaborated in the launch of a 1,250-square-foot “café-style eatery” at the Detroit Zoo.
That’s four places to get your American coney islands, besides the original location on Lafayette Boulevard downtown You can also have them shipped to you.
‘Coney Detroit’ in Detroit News gift guide
What a dandy idea! “Coney Detroit” for the holidays!

The Dec. 11 Detroit News features “Coney Detroit” as one of 12 holiday gift books for 2012.
Two of our friends have books in the guide: Dan Austin’s new “Forgotten Landmarks of Detroit” and Michael Hodge’s “Michigan Historical Railway Stations.” All three books do a good job with both writing and photography.
Check out the News’ holiday gift guide.
All author/photographer royalties from “Coney Detroit” go to the Gleaners Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan.
Bolivian hot dog in coney country

Michael Martinez, business and finance intern at The Detroit News, has a handful with this Bolivian hot dog.
The occasion for this baptism was a party for the Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. It was held at Cafe D’Mongo’s Speakeasy on Griswald in downtown Detroit.
The D’Mongo’s variation of what some South Americans call a “completo” was built on a skinless all-beef hot dog and (at least) mashed potatoes, french fried potato sticks, sauce, peas and corn. It was accompanied by little condiment packets so that I could dress it further. Others toss on mayo, ketchup, mustard, tomatoes, onions, Parmesan and fries. And maybe chicken, cream cheese, ground meat and olives.
I never would have been able to pick the thing up if it had all of that.
One must appreciate D’Mongo’s and the Brazillians for their enterprising ways.
Detroit gift? ‘Coney Detroit’ on sale and has free shipping
Michigan holiday gift giving could mean a copy of “Coney Detroit” for out-of-town friends and relatives who miss our signature coney island hot dogs.
This Coney Special runs through Jan. 13 and has the book on sale for $20. Shipping is free.
Order through the Wayne State University Press website.
Ho-ho hot dogs!
Detroit’s best coney islands — a shocker
Local 4 television viewers have voted in a best-of-Detroit coney contest which has some astounding results.
The usual suspects are not on this list — anywhere. Although we have been to or heard most of what we estimate to be about 500 coney islands in the Detroit in the course of writing and promoting “Coney Detroit,” several were new us.So be shocked — and learn about some new coney islands — by checking out this unusual list of top-five coney islands in the Detroit area.
A new coney in town
It is a big place just across Ford Road from Plato’s Coney Island.
Few people welcome rivals who move in right across the street, but coney competition has proven to be a recipe for success in plenty of places, starting with the neighboring coneys in downtown Detroit and Jackson.
Big Bite offers a big menu and a $1.99 coney island.
Big Bite Coney & Grill
42400 Ford Road
Canton, MI 48187
734-981-6877
www.bigbiteconey.com
Coneys and star power
Actor Matthew Fox, out promoting the screen adaptation of “Alex Cross,” filmed in Michigan, and talked with Examiner reporter Lori Melton, and she cut to the heart of the matter: Coneys.
For the role, Fox had to limit his daily diet to 1,200 to 1,500 calories. The hardest part of that? The small of coney dogs grilling. He told Melton, “I would walk by these places for like, the last two weeks of shooting and look through the door and sort of longingly watch them make these beautiful chili dogs and just the smell of it. So that’s what I was prepping for. On my last day I went there and scarfed like three of them.”










































