Coney Quest III: "the Minneapolis Mile", coming to Washington Avenue on Wednesday, November 9th

[A pair of "Saint Paul" coneys in Minneapolis.]

It's a little known fact that Minneapolis also has coney dogs.

Yes, it's true that Saint Paul is famed across the land* for its renowned and distinctive coney style. But even in little 'ol Minneapolis, a coney backwater if there ever was one, the dogged and curious can find a decent coney.

In fact, there's quite a coney concentration to be had in the city's old "dive district," a.k.a. Washington Avenue, a.k.a the last remnants of the working-class immigrant downtown that weren't torn down by the moralistic modernist Minneapolis powers-that-be. In fact, if you connect the dog dots, you find a straight line down Washington linking all the links. Yes, Virginia, there are three distinctive coney dogs within a walkable mile in Minneapolis, beginning at the Five Corners coney hotbed and ending all the way at Grumpy's bar, where the self-described "Saint Paul-style coney" finds its Westernmost outpost.

[Coney correctly demarcated. The "schmucks" in question are at Uncle Franky's]

Wait, what is a coney?

It's a style of hot dog, served a Greek meat sauce, that hails from Michigan. And I have it on good authority (mine) that a distinctive vernacular style of coney can be found right here in the Twin Cities metro.

In fact, I've been obsessed with local varieties of coney dogs for a while now, fueled true and false nostalgia and fascination with historical remnants like the "Original Coney Island" still preserved in amber in downtown Saint Paul.

Over the last few years, I've been mapping and eating my way through the regional coneys and have watched as patterns have emerged. You'll find coney warrens along West 7th Street, in downtown Saint Paul and again here in Minneapolis. That kind of agglomeration makes sense because coneys tend to reproduce; for example, the coney recipe at the Corner Bar is the original recipe from Bullwinkle's across the street before it closed and was replaced with a new coney.

And that's the magic of coneys!

So let's explore the so-called Minneapolis coney with open minds and open mouths. See you at the recently re-opened Bullwinkle's Bar on Wednesday!

[Do kids these days even know who "Bullwinkle" is any more?]

What: Walking and eating tour of three (3) coney dog purveyors on Minneapolis' Washington Avenue
Where: Meat at Bullwinkle's Bar
When: Wednesday November 9th at 6:20 or so
Why: Well, meet for meat on meat = meta-meat meeting
Who: Anyone. Bring money for coneys and beer

[Facebook invite here.]

[Arrow denotes Minneapolis coney warren. Link to map.]

See also: Saint Paul Coney Quest (2014) and Coney Quest II: The Search for More Coneys (2015)

* "the land" = the East Metro