Unruly Behavior

As I said in a previous post, I made a trip to the Northeast last weekend to hang out with my friends from Clan Easy Frag last weekend.

On Saturday we went into Manhattan and spent the day and part of the evening. For dinner we stopped at Papaya King for what Julia Child called "The Best Hot Dog in New York City." I first found out about Papaya King from the Unwrapped TV show on the Food Network.

So I had my friends Clan Easy Frag take me there last weekend to find out what all the fuss was about for these hot dogs.

So off we went, after a short subway ride and a walk around a park in the rain, we got down the block to Papaya King. For 6ish on a Saturday night, the place was mostly deserted. I opted for two dogs with onions and mustard. Then followed up with a Kraut and mustard dog. I also went with their original Papaya drink and a few of my friend Robert's curley fries.

The hot dogs at Papaya King are incredible. The dogs have a unique flavor and texture that we don't get down in the south for such a treat. The sauted onions were lightly spiced and really complimented the dogs well. But the biggest surprise was the Papaya King mustard. It is their own special blend, kind of a cross between brown deli mustard and Dijon mustard. It was because of this that I went for that third Kraut dog. And the price was pretty reasonable too, I got 3 dogs and a drink for a little under six dollars.

The seasoned curley fries were hot, spicy and damn good, made me disappointed that I didn't order some of my own, but it did leave room for the third hot dog.

Now the Papaya drink was another story. It wasn't good, it wasn't bad. I wouldn't order it again, it just didn't taste like I expected, and I thought it would be served ice cold, and it came out just a little chilled.

The restaurant overall was much smaller than it appeared on TV, but was very clean, and the guys working there were really nice while serving out the food.

So, overall - Hot Dogs 5 Stars - Fries 5 Stars - Papaya Drink 2.5 Stars

I'd recommend Papaya King to anyone out there that likes Hot Dogs.

Labels: dining, review, travel