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This is a restaurant review from the Toledo Blade by Bill of Fare. I thought I would share it with you!
89 years of breakfast and lunches
In good times and bad, restaurants need to stay competitive in order to attract new customers and keep the regulars happy. That would include offering everything from coupon deals and free desserts to daily discounted specials. In greater Toledo’s crowded dining environment, you do what you can to survive.
On the other hand, a very few restaurants have the savvy, or maybe it’s just plain luck, to thrive for decades without any gimmicks at all. A case in point is the Coney Island in downtown Toledo, which has been serving up hot dogs and a variety of other modestly priced, stick-to-the-ribs food for an astonishing 89 years and counting.
The secret to the Coney Island’s success isn’t a secret at all: Since 1919, the eatery on North Superior Street, between Jackson Boulevard and Adams Street, has drawn many thousands of hungry Toledoans with its above-average chili dogs, served quickly and at a reasonable price, along with fair-to-middling breakfasts, soups, double burgers, chili mac, tuna melts, gyros, and excellent Greek salads every day but Sunday.
Its history, capsulized on the back of the small, crowded menu, is simple enough. Sofokles Constantine - Uncle Gus to all - came here from the island of Cyprus in 1918 and opened Atlantic Hot Dog on St. Clair Street with a cousin. They moved the restaurant to Superior Street the next year, renaming it the Coney Island.
Uncle Gus, a tall, spindly man well-known in the Greek community for sponsoring many Cypriots immigrating to Toledo, manned the hot dog grill until his death in 1985. His nephew, Frixos Stylianides, took over the place and has presided behind the counter ever since. In 1990, he oversaw the remodeling of the narrow eatery, which remains popular as a lunch-hour and carry-out destination.
Hot dogs, $1.50 each and topped with exceptionally good meat sauce, remain the restaurant’s stock-in-trade, along with chili mac ($2.90 small/$3.60 large) and breakfasts all morning. But the double cheeseburger isn’t bad as an alternative, and the price is right - $3.05.
We also doted on the Greek salad ($3.45 small/$3.95 large). Dripping with Greek dressing, it fills the plate with crisp lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, Salonika peppers, and a big slice of feta cheese on top. Also tasty was a $3.15 sausage and egg sandwich on wheat bread with cheese, as well as a gyro ($4.60) packed with meat, tomatoes, cucumber sauce, and feta.
If Mr. Stylianides decides to engage in a little hoopla next year as the Coney Island turns 90, it’s a fair bet that customers from far and wide will want to drop by to toast him - with coffee, iced tea, milk shakes, hot chocolate, or even a foamy glass of beer, which is also on the menu.
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