Papaya King

There are two hot dog places in NYC that serve this foamy or frothy cold papaya drink. Gray's Papaya and Papaya King. Last night's food journey started at the Papaya King. I have eaten Gray's many times but only a small handful of times from the King. So, we each had two hot dogs with mustard and onions (the kind that's cooked in red sauce). They were piping hot which sorta surprised me. They're cooked on a griddle (not a grill). And I have to say, they were quite delicious. Yum - I'd eat it again in a heartbeat. To continue our journey, we took two steps out of Papaya King and into Sassy Sliders. Okay. Ya'll know what sliders are, right? Little burgers. Think of White Castles'. *deep breath*. Sassy sliders were approx. the same size as the Castle's. However, their meat patties were quite different. White Castle has a thin layer of meat with holes and it's cooked (steamed) on a bed of cooked diced (fine) onions. Then they hit it with cheese (if you want), a pickle and ketchup. So Sassy's: Their patty was really small. I mean, remember that's commercial with the little old lady asking Where's the Beef? That's how I felt. We both felt that way. For real, the patty (apparently hand formed) took up like 1/3 of the burn. And they don't do cooked onions, they do raw. And it's got cheese, pickles, and ketchup. I have to say, they weren't too bad. They were quite good actually. And their fries were just short of awesome. I really enjoy handcut fries with the skin on. But I like the Castle's crinkle cut fries as well. So, afterwards we shuffle around the neighborhood feeling quite full. Then Steve got thirsty and decided to get another papaya drink from Papaya King. He took a little while. Apparently the guy went nuts with my diet soda and spilled it all over the place. Anyway, as I waited, I thought to myself. There's no way Steve's waiting on that line for so long without buying more hot dogs. And I was right. He came back with our beverages in one hand and two hot dogs in the other. The first had chili and mustard on it. It was good. The chili was mild and had a some beans. The second was interesting. It was called 'southern comfort'. They put chili, raw onions and get this, cole slaw on it. As I said, it was interesting but it didn't make me want to eat it again. It wasn't that it was so bad, but you have to admit, the combo's a little weird. Are you following me? The journey ended at Crown's Fried chicken & Pizza. Yes, we'd been there the previous night and feasted. We stopped in to buy like five more of those mini sweet potato pies but they only had two left. We devoured them outside. By the way, we were in Harlem again and our jazz concert (after a 1/2 hour of okay music) was rained out. We went down on the motorcycle and got spritzed here and there. It was a little scarey but we got lucky. And explain this. I was full, pretty darn full, after the first couple of hot dogs but I kept going. I was able to suck down sliders cause there was a decent wait for them and I had some down time. And the fries were impossible not to eat. The chili dogs, I could've done without but I ate some of them anyways. And the sweet potato pie? Let's just say, it goes down pretty easy despite how much you've eaten. So follow my lead and Eat something good!

Papaya King

179 E 86th St
New York, NY 10028

Sassy Sliders

1530 3rd Ave

New York, NY 10028