PROVIDENCE,
R.I. Don't call them hot dogs and don't
ask for ketchup.
Those
are the cardinal rules at Olneyville New York System, arguably the best-known
Rhode Island spot for one of the state's signature dishes: hot wieners.
"Dish"
is probably an overstatement. These are veal, pork and beef wieners slathered
with mustard, covered in special meat sauce, topped with chopped onions and
celery salt, and served in a steamed bun. Ordering one with all the fixings is
called "all the way." Many say all the way is the only way.
"They're
so greasy but good," said Paula Malone of Gloces¬ter, who came in one
recent lunch hour with a colleague from the Providence VA Medical Center to
pick up a big order. As in 33 hot wieners, seven coffee milks — coffee
syrup-sweetened milk, another Rhode Island staple — and 10 orders of fries, all
for a Mardi Gras office party.
Hot
wieners got some national recognition last month when Olneyville New York
System was named an "America's Classic" by the James Beard
Foundation.
The
$2.15 wieners are small, so lots of customers order a few at a time. The
grillers prepare them in a way that's known as "up the arm" —
balancing a row of buns and wieners on their forearms, then adding each
ingredient in quick, choreographed succession.
The
Food Network's Guy Fieri raved about Olneyville's hot wieners in a segment of
"The Best Thing I Ever Ate."
"Come
for the hot wieners and stay for the show," he said. "Can't beat
it."
Last
year, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras appeared on the cover of The Providence
Phoenix's "The Best" issue behind the restaurant's counter, grinning
with a hot wiener in hand.
Rhode
Islanders love their weenies. As co-owner Greg Stevens says, the place has no
demographic. It's just as likely you'll see a state politician at the counter
as you will a police officer, a student or a foodie. A guy driving a Bentley
once asked him for a New York System bumper sticker.
According
to Stevens, who with his sister Stephanie took over the restaurant two years
ago when their father died, the state's first hot wiener restaurant — Original
New York System — opened in Providence in the late 1920s.
His
family, then with the surname Stav¬ria¬na¬kos, came to Rhode Island in the
1930s in a wave of Greek immigrants from New York, one of the hot dog capitals
of the world. Olneyville New York System opened in 1946 around the corner from
its current location.
There
are plenty of places to get wieners in the state, like Sam's New York System in
North Providence, Wein-O-Rama in Cranston and Moonlight House of Weiners in
Woonsocket.
Not
much has changed at the Olneyville spot, and that's by design. The booths are
throwback yellow and orange, and the tables are 1950s Formica. Jimmy Saccoccio,
now the general manager, has been working there since 1968. The hot wieners are
pretty much the same, too.
"You
don't fix what isn't broken," Stevens said.
During
a recent lunch hour, a couple from Boston sitting in a middle booth are easily
identified by the counter staff as "weenie virgins." It's not
uncommon to get a playful, or embarrassing, shout-out: "Virgin in the
house!" Stevens says he can spot someone who's never had one as soon as he
or she walks in the door.
Call
the wieners hot dogs and you'll be corrected immediately. And ketchup is
strongly discouraged. A sign on the wall warns, "It Has Been Said That
When You Put Ketchup on A Hot Wiener, It Is a Sin … Here It Is Against the
Law!'
Bumble
Taylor, 38, of Providence has been coming to Olneyville New York System since
1981. When he was a kid, he used to panhandle in the old grocery store parking
lot to make a few bucks, which he'd use to buy hot wieners.
"Everybody
comes in — they got to have a weenie," Taylor said.
