All New England Books
Olneyville serves a top-notch rendition of Rhode Island's classic hot wiener
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.
Rhode Island's Hot Wiener: Don't Call It a Hot Dog
PROVIDENCE, R.I. March 9, 2014
(AP)
By ERIKA NIEDOWSKI Associated
Press
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 Glocester, 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, 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 Stavrianakos, 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. There's a
sign on the wall that says, "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.
‘CASH MOB’ FLOCKS TO SPARKY’S CONEY ISLAND SYSTEM IN EFFORT TO SAVE STRUGGLING DINER
Journal Staff Writer
EAST PROVIDENCE — Until
George “Sparky” Watts went public with his money worries, he was just another
struggling small businessman.
But if he has many more
lunchtimes like the one he had Saturday, he might have to rename his diner the
Golden Weenie.
A “cash mob” flooded
into Sparky’s Coney Island System diner from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., buying paper
plates full of hot wieners and other food items in a concerted effort to save
his bacon. Most of the wiener sales appeared to be “all the way,” meaning
topped with mustard, meat sauce, chopped onions and celery salt.
Standing behind the
counter of the diner, a fixture on Taunton Avenue near City Hall since the
1940s, he fought to maintain his emotional composure.
Sparky, 58, a Riverside
native who proclaims himself “a Townie, red and white all the way through,”
marveled as his 55 seats filled up and then some.
“I’m making a lot of new
friends,” he declared.
A cash mob is a group of
people who buy en masse from a merchant at a particular time, reminiscent of
another phenomenon of the social media age, the “flash mob.” A flash mob,
recruited through social media such as instant-messaging, generally gathers to
dance in public, or for another kind of performance.
A campaign to save
Sparky began when he confided to a loyal customer, Janis Mooradian, that he
probably would have to close because business had been so poor.
It would be a sad end
for the Coney Island System diner, better known for its former proprietor, the
late civic leader James T. Kanelos, who employed Sparky as a young man.
Mooradian, who lives
“around the corner” and has marketing experience, would have none of it. She
already was a big fan of the Little Rhody wieners from Rhode Island Provisions
that Sparky serves up, periodically shipping a boxful in dry ice to her brother
in Las Vegas.
“I pulled a Gordon
Ramsay on him,” she said Saturday, in reference to the Scottish restaurant
turnaround expert known for his tough-love approach on the TV reality show
“Hell’s Kitchen.”
She had the diner
repainted and began plotting a more extensive re-do, had him begin printing
T-shirts with a wiener logo and pressed him to broaden and upgrade his menu
selections. Sparky installed a new point-of-sale terminal so he could accept
charge cards and expanded his days of operation to Sunday.
“We have to keep
Sparky’s,” Mooradian said. “He’s a neighborhood staple.”
After Sparky complained
about the plight of small business on his Facebook page and when he was
interviewed on TV, he was noticed by Edward Doyle, information technology
director for a manufacturing company. Sparky said that despite his 18-year
proprietorship of the diner, he had been unable to get a loan to provide
working capital.
Doyle, a candidate for
the Democratic nomination for the state representative seat in Johnston now
held by Democrat Deborah A. Fellela, created a bipartisan team with Rep. Doreen
M. Costa, R-North Kingstown.
They made the diner a
cause célèbre on Facebook and cooked up Saturday’s promotional event. The
effort helps someone in need and, secondarily, draws attention from the State
House, Doyle said.
“He’s a symbol,” Doyle
said. “We’ve got to fight to keep small businesses in Rhode Island.
The unfairness of it all
Zagat Names Rhode Island’s
‘Official’ Sandwich
Tracey Minkin, GoLocalProv
Features Editor
We love them, and now Zagat has named them
Rhode Island's state sandwich... the hearty Italian Grinder.
Rhode Island may be best known for
stuffies, gaggas and coffee milk, but now, it's got an official sandwich: the
Italian Grinder. At least that's the pronouncement of Zagat, the well-known
restaurant rating guide.
In honor of August being
national sandwich month, Zagat set out to name one classic sandwich for every
state in the union, and for Rhode Island, the honor fell squarely on the
humble, but never bland, grinder.
Of course, the Zagat editors
felt it necessary to interpret the moniker. "In case you were confused, a
grinder is the same as a hoagie, or a hero, or a submarine sandwich," they
say. "Basically, it’s a long, soft white roll stuffed with thinly sliced
meat, lettuce, tomatoes and condiments. An Italian grinder traditionally
consists of hot capicola, pepperoni, genoa salami, provolone cheese, iceberg
lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise and Italian dressing."
Zagat gives a special grinder
shout-out to Hudson Street Deli in Providence, "where they make their
grinders in two sizes, large or extra large."
What sandwiches were crowned the
state special in New England's other 5 states?
Connecticut: Connecticut-Style
Hot Lobster Roll
"While many consider the
cold, mayonnaise-driven Maine lobster roll to be the quintessential version of
the sandwich, the first lobster roll was actually a hot, buttered one served at
a restaurant called Perry’s in Milford, Connecticut, in the 1920s,"
according to Zagat, sending the curious (and hungry) to Abbott’s Lobster in the
Rough in Noank. "They take the simplicity of the Connecticut-style hot
lobster roll and turn it into an art form."
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