2 All the Way with Coffee Milk
02 June 2014 -- 153/365
North Providence, Rhode Island
Only in Rhode Island will you find this type of cuisine. While not officially the state food, it really should be. What you see in today's photo are 2 "all the way" hot weiners, an order of fries, and - of course - coffee milk. Hot weiners, for the record, are not hot dogs. Hot dogs are made with beef whereas hot weiners are made from veal and pork. "All the way" is the only way a true Rhode Islander will eat them, meaning they have mustard, chili sauce, onions, and celery salt. The buns are steamed. Coffee milk is the traditional Rhode Island drink served with them. It's just what it sounds like - milk with a coffee flavored syrup mixed into it. Again, you'll be hard-pressed to find it outside of Rhode Island. The French Fries are optional, but hey, fries go with everything!
Where in Rhode Island the weiner originated is up for debate. Most will claim that it's the Olneyville New York System, opened in 1946 and still in business today, but there were at least two earlier. (The "New York System" moniker was associated with the weiners to capitalize on the popularity of hot dogs sold at Coney Island in New York, although the weiners bear no resemblance to the Coney Island Dogs.) The "Original New York System" in Providence opened in 1927, and - under new owners - still operates. "Sparky's Coney Island System" in East Providence claims to have created them in 1915, but that claim has not been validated. All three of these restaurants are still in business, though, and each has their own unique flavor of chili sauce. You'll have to sample all three to see which is best.
Post processing started with a classic filter in Topaz B&W FX. I adjusted color sensitivity sliders, adaptive exposure, regions, contrast, boost black, and boost white. A levels adjustment was added in PSE.
