Not impressed, myself. Pink's is better than this place, and that isn't saying much.
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Jonathan Gold Reviews Papaya King
When America’s hot dog traditions are discussed, the Talmudic parsing of the Chicago dog and the Detroit Coney and the Rochester white-hot, somebody will inevitably bring up the New York hot dog, as if it were an entity conforming to a single, Platonic ideal. And when you ask whether she is referring to a Katz’s knoblewurst or the Wylie Dog from Crif, a Central Park dirty-water dog or a Nathan’s dog by the sea, it always turns out that the wiener in question is the snappy, natural-casing dog found at one of the many stands with the word “papaya” somewhere in their names, noshed on the fly with a paper cup of mango drink or coconut Champagne. It makes life easier for restaurant critics there knowing that there will be a decent hot dog on the way home. In some dinner-going circles, a dog from Papaya King or the Greenwich Village apostate Gray’s Papaya qualifies as an appropriate amuse-bouche.
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Papaya King
1645 Wilcox Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
Category: Restaurant > Hot Dogs
Region: Hollywood
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Now Hollywood has its own Papaya King, a haploid from the mother ship on East 86th Street, and although the new Formica has yet accumulated neither graffiti nor grime, the cramped, juice-intensive storefront — hot dogs cooking on movie theater–style rollers, buns crisping on heated aluminum foil, Fort Knox security for the mustard, no real tables or chairs — already feels like a relic from Taxi Driver.
What you get: a hot dog, maybe with kraut, maybe with chili, and cheese maybe with the sugary, orange goop beloved as “New York onions.” Curly fries? Not on your life. Potato knish? Why not. Papaya drink? It’s good for you, the walls say; something to do with enzymes.
Eat and get on with your life. And try not to slug the cop who is in the process of ticketing your car. That sort of thing is frowned upon in California.
PAPAYA KING | 1645 Wilcox Ave., Hlywd. | (323) 871-8799, papayaking.com
4 comments
How does this even begin to qualify as a "review" of anything? Maybe it's "meta" and sailing way over little-old-me's pin shaped head, but would it be too much task for an educated opinion on whether or not the food was, say, good? Or bad? Is that too much to ask, Mr. Jonagold? Is that not what you are being paid to do? Or are you too busy polishing your pulitzer to even give a fuck anymore?
You just can't beat Fab Hot Dogs in Reseda. I hear they are opening a second location in Sherman Oaks
Couldn't wait to try it, but it didn't taste anything like the drink I remember from NY. It was so red and so sweet...sweet...sweet! I remember a slightly sour fresh papaya flavor, totally absent from this drink. Did I get served mango by mistake? What color is the papaya drink in NYC?
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