Few foods bring upon a tinge of nostalgia like a hot dog on a summer’s day. While it may be the star of a backyard barbecue, the fully dressed frank’s popularity as a year-round meal has diminished over the past several decades. For long-standing Houston restaurant James Coney Island, this is evidenced by the company’s downsizing from 21 locations at its peak in 2013 to just 6 today. But, with its rich history and reliable menu, the brand is tapping into the allure of being one of the state’s great nostalgic destinations.
James Coney Island is among the oldest food establishments in Texas, dating to 1923, when Greek immigrant brothers James and Tom Papadakis opened the first location at Walker and Main Street, in downtown Houston.
The brothers had recently moved from New York City and were inspired by the famous hot dogs of Coney Island. They set forth a plan to open their own restaurant, with James serving as the namesake after winning a coin toss against his brother. James Coney Island opened with a menu of deli staples, including a goose-liver-and-Roquefort sandwich and the original Coney, a Greek-style hot dog topped with meat sauce that would go on to become the restaurant’s signature. The brothers’ thriving downtown restaurant would bring them success well into the mid-century, operating as the sole outpost for four decades.
The Papadakis brothers eventually explored adding new locations across the city. A new generation—Tom’s sons, Jimmy and Peter Papadakis, along with Louis Servos, the husband of their late sister Tacia Papadakis—was laying the foundation for expansion. When James died, in 1968, and Tom in 1974, control of the company was kept under careful watch of these family members. A long-awaited second location opened near Houston’s Town & Country Mall in 1968, and then came an outpost in Gulfgate and a second downtown location in the seventies.
By 1988, James Coney Island was a multimillion-dollar operation that was shilling more than 30,000 hot dogs per day across fourteen Houston-area locations. It appeared the sky was the limit for the family-run hot dog empire, but things took a turn shortly after. As a result of economic hardships in the late eighties, the family made the decision to sell the company to a pool of local investors in 1990.
“All of the current owners are native Houstonians who wanted to ensure the brand stayed alive and stayed local,” says Darrin Straughan, James Coney Island’s president and CEO. “I myself am a native Houstonian. I’ve been with the company for thirty-one years, but the last three have been the hardest, by far.”
The decision to downsize from 21 locations to just 6 in the aftermath of COVID-19 was not simple, but the group was left with little choice. “The pandemic forced us to get to a bare minimum to keep the brand successful,” Straughan explains. “The value of some of the properties was worth way more than selling hot dogs.” To supplement the hit, they put energy into building up the catering division, which quickly became increasingly popular among corporate clients.
Staunch in their efforts to maintain the legacy of the Papadakis brothers, the higher-ups at James Coney Island kept the restaurant’s prized Coney dog’s recipe the same. “The Greek-style hot dog is the hero of our menu,” says Straughan, explaining that twelve gourmet-style hot dogs, such as the New York dog with spicy mustard and sauerkraut and a Mexican-inspired Baja dog, were added over the years to give customers more variety. But the Coney remains the star. “It was the main menu item that sold back then, and it is still the focus today,” he adds.
Often misrepresented as a chili dog, the Coney dog is in a league of its own, topped with mustard, onions, and Coney sauce, which is a stew made with ground beef and spices. “It’s not a chili dog—it’s a Coney dog, with Coney sauce on it,” Straughan puts simply.
Chili has its own place on the menu. James Coney Island touts heaping bowls of it topped with onions, and a Texas chili dog, which was added to the menu in the mid-nineties. The restaurant is arguably just as popular for its Frito pie. The indulgent side combines Fritos corn chips with chili, beans, cheese, and onions. “The Frito pie is still an absolutely huge seller for us,” Straughan says.
While James Coney Island has done a fine job of maintaining all that Texans have loved about it for the past century, Straughan says the dilemma comes from finding balance between old and new. “We want to stay nostalgic but also be up to date,” he says. “We are trying to add more customers in this new century of our life.”
With considerable progress made within the company in the years since the pandemic, James Coney Island has regained its footing and plans to expand in Houston once again. “A few years ago, we thought, ‘Let’s get smaller, let’s get more successful,’ ” Straughan says. “That’s where we’re at now. We are confident that we are strong enough.”
Straughan is actively looking for new locations in Houston and teases that the new stores will be smaller, with less razzle-dazzle when it comes to decor. “We are going back to a more nostalgic aesthetic and will have a small, core menu,” he says. “We feel comfortable there.”
Tapping into comfort no doubt gives the company a leg up. “When you think of Houston institutions, James Coney Island is one of them,” says Johnny Carrabba, a longtime friend of Straughan’s and a James Coney Island loyalist. “I have been eating James Coney Island hot dogs since I was two years old . . . and I’m sixty-five now!”
A Texas legend in his own right for cofounding the Original Carrabba’s Italian restaurant chain, Carrabba still has fond memories of dining at James Coney Island with his father when he was a young boy. “My dad and I would go see the Golden Gloves boxing match at the [now demolished] Sam Houston Coliseum, and afterwards we would go eat hot dogs,” he recalls. “As a young person, I remember it was the same people making the hot dogs. It was very much a family-owned business, and their employees were family.”
With nearly four decades of restaurant ownership under his belt, Carrabba understands the ups and downs of the industry. “All businesses change to a certain degree. All have to evolve,” he explains.
Carrabba and his 87-year-old father continue the tradition of visiting James Coney Island together. The cravings for Coney dogs and Frito pies remain fierce, and the duo visit the Meyerland location these days. “I’m a food guy. I still marvel at how steamy their buns are and how finely diced their onions are,” Carrabba says. “It feels like you’re going home.”
