Michigan flavor in Pasco County

By LANCE ARAM ROTHSTEIN, Times Staff Writer
Published September 21, 2007

Mike and Julie Sawyer in front of their restaurant, M & J's Bar-B-Q Place on Grand Boulevard in New Port Richey.
	[LANCE ARAM ROTHSTEIN | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [LANCE ARAM ROTHSTEIN | Times] This print depicting the Flint Original Coney Island restaurant hangs next to the counter at M & J's Bar-B-Q Place [LANCE ARAM ROTHSTEIN | Times] Coney Island Hot Dog from M & J's Bar-B-Q Place.

This first installment of the Hot Dog Chronicles takes us to an unlikely location: M&J's Bar-B-Q Place, a tiny, yellow and orange take-out spot on Grand Boulevard between Gulf Boulevard and Trouble Creek Road in New Port Richey.

If you have your windows rolled down as you pass by, the smoky aroma will likely cause you to turn around and try the delicious ribs, chicken, pork, turkey legs, or sausage with a side, dessert and drink.

But you might not notice the one thing on the menu that holds a special place in the heart of owner Mike Sawyer: Coney Island Hot Dog - $2.25.

Those dogs feature genuine Koegel's Viennas, a blend of pork, beef and spices stuffed into a firm, natural casing straight from the factory in Flint, Mich., covered by Michigan's "Flint Original" sauce, a mixture of finely ground beef, butter and spices, plus yellow mustard and finely chopped onions - lots of onions - all in a soft, white bun.

"There's nothing New York about this Coney Island," Sawyer said.

It's a Michigan original.

"Even between Flint and Detroit, there's two different styles of Coney Island," he said.

Sawyer remembers moving to Michigan with his family when he was 13. When they got off the Greyhound bus, his father took him directly to the Flint Original Coney Island restaurant downtown.

"It was the first thing I ever ate in Michigan," Sawyer says. "That was back in '63, and I've been eating them ever since."

Sawyer has a print depicting the venerated restaurant hanging just above the plate of banana pudding and brownies at the M&J counter. He snapped it with his cell phone while he was visiting the Koegel's plant in Flint, where it hung on the wall.

The Sawyers normally travel to Flint once every two months and bring back 100 pounds of Koegel's Viennas and meat sauce on the plane with them. That's the weight limit for luggage.

"Sometimes I pay extra for the additional weight and bring 200 pounds," Sawyer said. It's the same recipe the plant has used since 1917, with the same natural hardwood smoked flavor.

Sawyer and his wife, Julie, bought the barbecue business in April 2006 when they moved from a small Michigan town to Florida to care for an elderly uncle.

"Before that my only experience in barbecue was eating it," Mike Sawyer said. "I'd go to cookoffs and eat as much as I could."

He quickly learned his trade secrets from the cook who ran the stove before he took over.

"Hot dogs are really just a sideline to the barbecue," Sawyer says.

But the Coney Island business is picking up.

"I have some days when it seems I'm just a hot dog stand. Just one after another come in and order four and six at a time."

The Sawyers once put an ad in a local publication, with a small mention of the Michigan hot dog.

"That had the most response of the whole ad," Julie Sawyer said.

Some people came in questioning its validity, not believing they could find such a treasured slice of Michigan in New Port Richey.

But then they took a bite.

Sawyer says one of his best customers is a woman who comes in with her husband almost every Saturday. They order four Coneys before they go dancing.

"With her, it's almost like I did this just as a special favor for her," Sawyer says. "To my knowledge the closest other place that carries this Koegel's brand is somewhere in Fort Myers."

He says he has nothing against anyone else's hot dogs, but he doesn't shy away from touting his.

""I've had a little trouble with the Chicago people, convincing them this dog's better than their Chicago dog, but that's two different things," Sawyer said. "The Chicago dog is a great dog, but it's almost like a salad with all the stuff they put on them."

As if to confirm Sawyer's claims, a customer wandered in during the interview.

Giving only his first name, Frank said he was driving past on Grand Boulevard and stopped in M&J's for the first time.

Without hearing any of our conversation, Frank ordered two Coney Islands and left to eat them in his vehicle.

Within five minutes, he was back, this time to ask Mike about the sauce. He had his guesses about the ingredients.

"I'm not going to tell you exactly what's in it," Sawyer said.

"This is one hell of a good hot dog, with that meat sauce on it," Frank said.

"One of the best I've tasted, it goes out beyond a hot dog; it's like a gourmet hot dog. Whoever comes in here and eats your hot dogs, they'll come back and eat them again. I know that for a fact."

If you go

M&J's Bar-B-Q Place

Address: 5032 Grand Blvd., New Port Richey

Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Phone: (727) 845-0852

[Last modified September 20, 2007, 21:27:18]