What Is A New York System Wiener And What Makes It Different From A Typical Hot Dog?

 

 

 

Wandering the crowded streets of New York City, you'll most likely spot a hot dog cart on every corner. Any hot dog fan worth their salt knows that part of what makes New York City-style hot dogs unique is the "dirty water" method and the other part comes from delicious simplicity. However, if you ask a New Yorker where to find one of these New York System Wieners you've heard so much about, you're going to get some funny looks, since the savory sausage isn't even made in the Empire State!

 

A New York System Wiener is a type of sausage made from a mix of pork and veal that's been highly popularized in the state of Rhode Island. It's entirely different from the similarly-shaped hot dogs, which are typically made from only pork (or a combination of pork and beef or chicken). "Hot wieners," as they're sometimes called, are served on a steamed bun with mustard, meat sauce, onions, and celery salt in that very specific order– any other way will apparently earn you a red flag. The meat sauce isn't tomato-based, which means the New York System Wieners are definitely not chili hot dogs and instead more of a grease-based concoction loaded with spicy flavors. The "gaggers" (another affectionate nickname) are never served with ketchup and always served alla arm service, lined up on the cook's forearm as it's loaded with toppings. And no, "wiener" isn't a typo.

 

How New York System Wieners became synonymous with Rhode Island

New York System Wieners certainly make our list of the 11 foods you have to try if you visit Rhode Island, and have been a staple in the state for over a hundred years. Back in the 1900s, when the New York City hot dog was a novelty concept quickly making its way to fame, the name "New York System" was slapped onto specific dogs to easily distinguish authenticity. The style of preparing the meat took on a life of its own and spread into the Greek community of Providence, Rhode Island. It was during this time that the Stevens family opened Olneyville New York System, which became the hottest spot in town for a belly-buster.

 

Olneyville New York System is well-known in the Rhode Island community for serving the best New York System Wieners, complete with all the toppings and prepared properly -– on someone's arm. The restaurant earned an American Classics medal from the James Beard Foundation in 2014 for its incredible hot wienies and proudly serves the gaggers to customers from all walks of life until the ripe hour of 3 a.m. on weekends. If you're itching for a New York System Wiener, you'll have to take a trip to the Ocean State and order a few (because it's customary to eat more than one) or try your hand at crafting this hot weenie at home. However, you definitely won't find it on the streets of Manhattan.

Wein-O-Rama closes

 

CRANSTON, R.I. (WLNE) — An iconic staple in Cranston has reportedly closed.

Wein-O-Rama opened on Oaklawn Avenue in 1962 for breakfast, lunch, and of course – hot wieners.

ABC 6 news crews observed the “closed” sign on the window during normal business hours.

Little Rhody Wieners and Hot Dogs, a Rhode Island manufacturer of weiners, shared a Facebook message today wishing the owners, George and Ernie Sotarikos, a great retirement.

“It was our pleasure doing business with you for all these years,” they stated.

Sad news

 The Weiner Genie will close on Feb. 3.2023

The business noted that the past several years have been very difficult.

Staffing has been an issue, as well as the owner's personal health.

"COVID definitely made things very challenging for all of us. The current work climate has been very difficult to navigate and without sufficient staff and without sufficient support in the kitchen it fell more heavily on me to pick up the slack. I did so but at a cost," the post said. "After after much discussions with our family, we have made the difficult decision to close."

Weiner Genie thanked customers for their loyalty.

Weiners

 

Weiners

 

Countless Celebrities Have Loved This Iconic Rhode Island Diner For Decades

  

Rhode Islanders know good food and, in some cases, they’re responsible for that good food. Like New York Systems, also commonly known as hot wieners, a hot dog topped with meat sauce, onions, mustard, and celery sauce. You’ll find a few places that grill some downright delicious hot wieners, a scrumptious Rhode Island invention. However, this iconic Rhode Island diner has been drawing locals and celebrities since the 1930s.

With locations in Providence and Cranston, Olneyville New York System bills itself as serving the best hot wieners in Rhode Island. However, you’ll really want to judge for yourself by sinking your teeth into one of their New York Systems.

 

One bite into a classic hot wiener, and, well, you might think you’re in paradise. You’ll certainly understand why this diner in Rhode Island has gotten plenty of attention over the years and from some pretty big names.

 

It should come as little surprise, then, that this Rhode Island original has attracted such famous chefs as Guy Fieri and Alton Brown.

 

Some beloved sports figures, including former New England Patriots star Rob Gronkowski, have also stopped by for a famous hot wiener.

 

Whether you’re craving a snack or a meal, you’ll quickly find a hot wiener fits the bill. How many will you order? One or two? Maybe more?

 

While a hot wiener is sure to fill you up, it always pairs well with such classic sides as fries, chili cheese fries, cheese fries, and onion rings. Or how about an order of sweet potato fries?

 

Olneyville New York System is famous for its hot wieners, but that’s not all it serves. You’ll also find other favorites – cheeseburgers, BLTs, and grilled cheese – on the menu, too.

 

If you ever find yourself craving a New York System but can’t get to Providence or Cranston, Olneyville New York System’s got you covered. Stock up on wieners and wiener sauce on your next visit.

Behold the Hot Wiener, Rhode Island’s All-American Classic

 

Don’t you dare call this Providence staple a hot dog.

By

Brian Yaeger (and photos)

Joey Chestnut will attempt to eat 77 mustardless, water-drenched hot dogs this Independence Day, but for the truly patriotic, nothing beats heading to one of the 13 original colonies, Rhode Island, for a few well-appointed hot wieners.

You’d think the name alone would make these meaty morsels a nationally renowned dish, but hot wieners remain the realm of Providence. Don’t you dare call them hot dogs or chili dogs, especially not to Greg Stevens’s face.

Stevens is the great-grandson of Anthony Stevens, who with his son Nicholas founded New York Systems in 1946 (now officially named Olneyville New York Systems) after moving to Providence from New York City. The iconic fourth-generation eatery—which received the James Beard Foundation America’s Classics Award—is actually the second-oldest of the Providence-based “New York Systems” restaurants, but is probably the city’s best-known, even ahead of Baba’s Original New York Systems, established in 1927. It’s a staple for locals and a destination for visitors, but remains largely off the radar of everyone who doesn’t live in, or find themselves in, the nation’s smallest state.

What is a Rhode Island hot wiener?

A wiener is a blend of beef, pork, and veal in natural casing. Visually, the only distinction you’d observe between these wieners and a hot dog is that the wiener is sliced from an even longer, cylindrical, carnal rope with a sheer terminus rather than its own individual tube with rounded ends. Picture a flat circle versus a tapered, semi-sphere at each end. But what really makes it distinctly Rhode Islandish is ordering one “all the way.”

“All the way” means the wiener comes dressed with diced yellow onions, yellow mustard, celery salt (like they use in Chicago), and the real pièce de resistance is the special meat sauce simmered for two and a half hours before being ladled on top. Not chili. Not Bolognese. The unfortunately named “wiener sauce.” A thin ground-beef condiment that, at Olneyville, Stevens personally blends himself with five spices he does not divulge.

“If I get hit by a bus today, we have to close, because I’m the only one who knows how to make it,” Stevens says.

Here’s one-fifth of a hint: it’s got chili powder in it. And Olneyville goes through so much that Stevens buys the chili powder alone in 500-pound increments. The only other Stevens at this Rhode Island landmark is Greg’s sister, Stephanie, but even she allegedly doesn’t know the recipe.

There used to be multiple “New York Systems” as a result of Greek families moving out of New York City and up to Providence. This was the Stevens family path, beginning when Anthony Stevens emigrated in the 1920s, two decades before transplanting to Rhode Island. There’s a Zee’s Wiener System in Austin, Texas that bills itself as “Rhode Island hot wieners” and rightly took it as an affront when, earlier this year, Austin Monthly named it the foodie city’s best “hot dog.”

As for why “Systems” stuck, that’s a little less clear. (According to Greg Stevens’s Uncle Ernie, “No one gives a…”) It’s believed to be the Greek immigrants’ homage to the first American city that took them all in, having initially arrived at Ellis Island among millions of other new arrivals.

Everyone needs a reasonably priced meal to feed their families, and Stevens says that the price of a hot wiener had always been in sync with the cost of gas (pointing out that in 1975, gas was half a buck while a wiener was 35 cents). But while we’re all grousing about gas topping $5 per gallon in 2022, a hot wiener’s currently selling for only $2.99 (if you’re really cash-strapped, a lettuce and tomato sandwich runs $1.20), making it seem as vintage as the yellow and orange formica tables at Olneyville that date back to 1954.

Olneyville New York Systems is open 24 hours a day and does brisk business around 3 a.m. when the bars close. The dive doesn’t serve any alcohol, but customers are allowed to BYO.

That said, perhaps the ideal way to wash down this Rhode Island delicacy is with the official Rhode Island state drink, coffee milk (think chocolate milk but with coffee syrup, which is readily available in every grocery store statewide). And a few wieners are best accompanied by a large plate of fries, especially when ordered as “beef stew.” As the quotes indicate, there’s no actual stew, nor does it contain a scrap of beef. It’s a plate of French fries pre-loaded with ketchup, cider vinegar, salt, and pepper, ordered more as a verb: “I’d also like some fries and can you beef stew that?”

Somewhat ironically, the wiener jockeys are more than happy to put ketchup on your fries, but they just might show you the door if you request any ketchup on your hot wieners.