Man v. Food
The Travel Channel’s Man v. Food featured American Coney Island.
- Home
- News
In the News
Newsrooms have been writing about this counter for decades. Here is where to read them.
Press
Written by people with editors.
- Where did the coney dog come from?
- Detroit’s Best Hot Dogs
- Grace Keros of American Coney Island talks about the booming business during the NFL Draft
- Chuck Keros, American Coney Island owner, dies at 88
- American Coney Island owner sets us straight
- Coney: The Hot Dog That Fed Detroit’s American Dream
- The History of Detroit’s Famous Coney Dog
- View From The Top — American Coney Island
Every link above was opened and checked on 2026-09-14. We link to the newsroom rather than reprinting its work.
From the archive
Detroit at 300: Birth of an institution
Detroit Free Press, 21 August 2000. American Coney Island has kept this passage on its website ever since.
“Rare is the Detroiter who hasn’t heard the accented order yelled from waiter to a cook 5 feet away: Two-to-go-no-onions.”
“Detroit’s relationship with coney dogs began with Gust Keros, who came to Detroit from Greece in 1910. He swept floors at Kelsey-Hayes Co., pushed a popcorn concession wagon around Belle Isle and ran a hat-cleaning and shoe shine shop at the corner of Lafayette and Griswold before opening the American Coney Island there in 1917.”
“Nickel coneys proved popular and profitable, so Keros brought brother William over from Greece. William Keros learned the business at the American and, when the storefront next door became available, started the Lafayette Coney Island.”
“In Quebec, a coney island is called a hot dog Michigan, or simply a Michigan.”
On television
The camera crews find their way here too.
The Today Show
Grace Keros on the Today show.
HBO’s Hung
The HBO series was partially filmed at American Coney Island.
American Coney Island also credits Food Network’s The Best Of with voting it the best coney island in America, and Michael Symon with picking it as the #1 coney on the planet. Both are the restaurant’s own long-standing claims, reproduced here from their site.
Come and get one
Downtown, on the corner, where it has always been.
American Coney Island has stood at Lafayette and Michigan since 1917. Walk in, order at the counter, eat it with your hands.
Call (313) 961-7758 Get directions
114 W Lafayette Blvd
Detroit, MI 48226
eat@AmericanConeyIsland.com
Hours
- Monday 10am – 7pm
- Tuesday 10am – 7pm
- Wednesday 10am – 7pm
- Thursday 10am – 7pm
- Friday 10am – 12am
- Saturday 11am – 12am
- Sunday 11am – 7pm
Hours as listed on the restaurant’s Google Business Profile. Holidays, game days and downtown events can change them — a quick call on (313) 961-7758 is the surest way to know.