Weird Island

5. WEIRD FOOD: Hot Wieners, Coffee Milk and Del’s

Episode Summary

Rhode Island is home to some pretty unique and iconic foods. From Hot Wieners (NOT hot dogs) to Coffee Milk to Del’s Lemonade, the history of these iconic eats is as interesting as the tasty treats themselves. This is part 1 of a two-part episode. Tune in next week for more food history! To Visit: Olneyville New York System: 18 Plainfield Street, Providence, RI Del’s Frozen Lemonade: Everywhere in RI - Visit their site for a location nearest you

Episode Notes

Episode Source Material:

Hot Wieners:

Coffee Milk:

Del’s Lemonade:

Episode Transcription

Hi, I’m Sara. And you’re listening to Weird Island. Each week, I’ll be sharing with you some of the strangest stories I can dig up from my tiny little state of Rhode Island. This week, I’m talking about the odd and iconic food defining the Ocean State. Get ready for a deep dive into the history of hot dogs (or hot wieners, as they’re known here) and the stories behind how some of Rhode Island’s famous foods got their start.
I’ll let you in on a little secret about me--I’m not originally from Rhode Island. I came here for college, and on the day of my graduation, while we were killing time before the ceremony, my parents asked where we should go to get some food. It was then that I decided they were finally ready for the quintessential Rhode Island meal: New York Systems Hot Weiners and coffee milk. In retrospect, this was a super weird decision, because graduation ceremonies are long, hot and uncomfortable under ordinary circumstances, and New York Systems Weiners make your fingers smell like armpits for three days and three nights. That’s the penance you pay for enjoying them. I’m not sure my parents have completely forgiven me for making them sit in the shoulder-to-shoulder packed convention center for three straight hours smelling like they’d forgotten deodorant, especially because they keep reminding me of that day every time they visit. The two people sitting next to me probably haven’t forgiven me either.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then I’m guessing you’ve never had arguably the most iconic Rhode Island food of all time. The New York Systems Hot Weiner is a confusing phenomenon. It’s the most Rhode Islandy meal, but it has New York in the name. New Yorkers would probably have no clue what I’m talking about, unless they’ve come here for a visit, and really the NY System hot wiener as we know it today was introduced by Greek Immigrants. It’s a confusing melting pot.
This week’s episode is going to be part 1 in a two-parter about all of the most iconic and odd Rhode Island foods, and the history behind them. From hot wieners to coffee milk to Del’s lemonade, this episode will make you want to go out, eat food and pretend it’s a history assignment. And because Rhode Island has a pretty big list of iconic local foods, considering how small the state is, I’ll be back next week with more!
There’s only one place to start. Olneyville New York Systems.
First things first: What is a hot weiner? Well, they’re veal, beef and pork blend wieners (not hot dogs, we’ll get into that). And the only way to eat a hot weiner, is “all the way,” as in “all the way up the arm,” because the cook will (hopefully, if it’s done right) prepare them by stacking the wieners (in their buns) all the way up their arm and then balancing them while quickly applying all the toppings, which include onions, yellow mustard, celery salt, and a seasoned ground-beef sauce that defies definition. Is sauce really the right word? It looks almost like a ground beef chili, like what you would put on a sloppy joe, but with just meat. You do not eat them with ketchup. That’s mandatory. In the Olneyville New York Systems restaurant, they even have a sign that says, “It Has Been Said That When You Put Ketchup on A Hot Wiener, It Is a Sin ... Here It Is Against the Law!”
Hot Wieners are generally cut short--around 4 inches, and they’re slow cooked all day and served on a steamed bun. Almost all Rhode Island hot wieners are served with Homestead Baking Company buns, made in East Providence, which are simple and sweet, with a recipe including just water, flour, yeast, and a bit of sugar.
But why the name New York Systems? Well, it all has to do with the history of the hot dog, which was surprisingly controversial. First, there’s the history of the dog itself. Sausages have been around forever, and were even mentioned in the Odyssey. According to the History Channel’s The Food that Built America, historians believe the sausage may have been popularized by the cook for the Roman emperor Nero, when one day a roasted pig was served without having been properly cleaned out. When he stuck a knife into its belly to see if it was edible, it’s said the intestines popped out, empty and puffed from being cooked, and he exclaimed, “I have discovered something of great importance!” (I have no idea how they would know that). He then stuffed them with ground meat, and the sausage was created.
Later, Frankfurt, Germany and Vienna, Austria would both claim to be the original birthplace of the hotdog. According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, Frankfurt is traditionally credited with inventing the hot dog in 1487, 5 years before Columbus set sail for America. But Vienna claims the name as their mark of authenticity. The city is called Wien in German, like weiner.
It’s just as hotly contested who pioneered the first hot dog as we know it today, in a bun. There are multiple origin stories, and none have been definitively proven true, although it’s generally agreed that German immigrants to New York were the first to sell wieners, from a pushcart, in the 1860s, and many point to a German immigrant who sold them with milk rolls and sauerkraut in NYC’s Bowery as the original.
Hot dogs hit their stride in the 1920s when Nathan Handwerker, a Jewish immigrant from Poland, and his wife Ida opened a stand in Coney Island. Nathan had previously worked at another hot dog stand, sleeping on the kitchen floor and eating nothing but hot dogs until he had saved enough to open one of his own. And when he did, he undercut his previous boss, selling his hot dogs for half the price his old stand charged. Nathan’s Famous hot dogs were born, and they launched the hot dog into their position as an American classic.
And right about that time, the hotdog, or wiener, was making its way to Rhode Island. The name New York Systems emerged in the 1900s when hot dogs were still new, as a marketing strategy. Rhode Island vendors wanted to be associated with Coney Island, the birthplace of the hot dog. So when two Greek immigrants, Augustus Pappas and his son Ernie, opened Rhode Island’s first hot wiener restaurant in Providence in 1927, they called it the Original New York System. But by the 1940s, “New York System,” which started as a mark of New York authenticity, came to describe something entirely different: a hot wiener prepared in a way that was completely unique and ownable to Providence’s Greek community.
While Original New York System was the first, almost all Rhode Islander’s consider Olneyville New York System the most authentic spot for a hot weiner.
The Stavrianakos family moved to Rhode Island from Brooklyn, NY in the 1930s. At the time, Augustus Pappas, owner at the original spot, fell ill, and his son Ernie asked his cousin to help run the restaurant. Anthony Stavrianakos and his son Nicholas stepped in to help until Ernie could manage running the restaurant on his own. And when Ernie no longer needed them, the two opened their own restaurant, Olneyville New York System, around the corner in 1946. For the first 22 years, they served hot wieners 24 hours a day. The original owner Anthony passed away at 97, working until his last day at the restaurant. His son Nicholas later changed the family name to Stevens, and today, his grandchildren, brother and sister Greg and Stephanie Stevens, still run the restaurant, staying true to the original recipe and preparation of the New York System Hot Weiner. In 2014, the restaurant was awarded the James Beard Foundation’s American Classics medal.
There’s one last question we have to clear up before moving on to the next RI food: Why are they called Hot Wieners and not Hot Dogs? Well, as far as I can tell, the difference appears to be in the dog itself. A sausage is usually called a wiener if it’s made of pork and beef with a natural casing. Wiener in German basically means from Vienna, so these are Vienna Sausages. But all you need to know is that if you’re going to order one from Olneyville New York System, order a Hot Wiener not a Hot Dog.
While as of this moment, with Covid, the restaurant is operating for take out only, the best way to enjoy a New York System Hot Wiener is seated at their 1950s formica tables or counter while sipping on a cold glass of Coffee Milk.
What is coffee milk, you ask? Well, it’s a drink made by mixing coffee syrup or coffee extract and milk together. It’s similar to chocolate milk, just coffee flavored. And when I was a kid, even though I went to school in neighboring Massachusetts, we had the option at lunchtime of either regular milk, chocolate milk, or coffee milk, in those little cardboard cartons. The kids that drank coffee milk seemed just a little more adult than the other kids. Because, it’s basically coffee, right? At least that’s how I felt at the time. At school, I had coffee milk. At home, I went for strawberry milk--because it was pink! And I called it shaky milk, because I’d make it in a sippy cup with a lid and shake it to make it. So you can tell how cool I really was.
The fact that I thought coffee milk made kids seem more adult may speak to the original positioning, as a drink targeted towards children, while their parents drank hot coffee. Kids liked it because it tasted good, and parents liked it because it was a way to get their kids to drink milk, especially during the Depression when milk was thought of as a sort of wonder food.
Coffee milk was and continues to be a uniquely Rhode Island trend. Of course, it exists in other states, but here it’s a big deal.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, approximately 55,000 Italian immigrants traveled to Providence, quickly becoming Rhode Island’s largest immigrant population. And they brought with them culinary traditions that would define the state. Of course, Italians are known for high quality coffee, and they brought with them a habit of heavily sweetening their dark brews. According to Nancy Verde Barr, in her history of Italian-American food called “We Called it Macaroni,” children drank what their parents did, and the tradition of heavily sweetened coffee continued in Rhode Island.
Additionally, Rhode Island was known for high quality dairy products in its early days. While the state is small, and heavily forested, the open pasture land was rich and fertile, and quickly filled with notable cattle farms. By the mid 18th century, Rhode Island’s dairy was so renowned for its quality, it was considered “the best in the country.”
Combine high quality dairy and a growing Italian population, and then tack on top of that the rise of the soda fountain and the diner, and you get coffee milk in the early 1900s. The concoction spread from household kitchens to diner menus. It’s thought that the first coffee syrup in Rhode Island was created in a diner or drugstore, when a worker sweetened leftover coffee grounds with milk and sugar, creating a molasses-like mixture that would ignite demand for coffee syrup.
By the way, in Rhode Island, this mixture of syrup and milk is known as a milkshake. So, I was onto something with my shaky milk. What would normally be called a milkshake anywhere else--milk, ice cream, and syrup, is called a cabinet here. And that’s a whole other story.
There are two big names in Rhode Island coffee milk: Eclipse and Autocrat. Eclipse Food Products was founded in 1914 by Alphonse Fiore in Warwick, RI. In 1938, the company began marketing coffee milk syrup by conducting in store demonstrations. And they came up with a pretty catchy slogan: “You smack your lips if it’s Eclipse.”
In the 1940s, Autocrat Coffee followed with their own coffee milk syrup. The family-run company, first started in 1895, came up with their own slogan: “A swallow will tell you.” Not quite as catchy.
But today, Rhode Islanders still do believe a swallow will tell you. Even though Eclipse and Autocrat are now both owned by the same company (Autocrat purchased Eclipse in the 1990s), they’re both still sold as separate brands with their unique recipes, and locals can taste the difference. Which one’s better, well, that’s a matter of preference.
But one certainty is that Coffee Milk still is Rhode Island’s preference. Some diners have reported that they couldn’t continue to stock chocolate milk because it just wouldn’t sell like coffee milk. And Greg Stevens, owner of Olneyville NY System says coffee milk still outsells every other beverage on the menu combined.
While Coffee Milk itself is very much a local phenomenon, it’s legacy reaches far outside the state. You’ve probably had a Starbucks frappuccino at some point, right? Well, in 1992, a Cambridge, MA specialty-coffee shop, Coffee Connection, was looking for a way to increase sales during hot summer months when they were inspired by Rhode Island coffee milk and started playing around with iced cappuccino concepts. They settled on a formula using ice, espresso, milk, and coffee syrup--provided by Autocrat--and settled on the name frappuccino. In 1994, Starbucks acquired Coffee Connection and the recipe for the frappuccino for $23M, and you can now find this coffee milk inspired drink all over the country.
Right around this same time, in 1993, Rhode Island declared coffee milk the official state drink. But this was a contentious decision! Some felt it should have been another Italian import, and one of Rhode Island’s most iconic brands--Del’s Lemonade.
If you’re from Rhode Island, you know to “Stop at the sign of the lemon!” Just seeing the yellow and green Del’s sign, that features an ice-covered lemon, is enough to put a smile on your face. Del’s frozen lemonade is a slush-like drink made from water, concentrate and real lemons, and you can buy it all over the state from one of the many trucks, carts or stores. It’s so iconic, it’s been featured in RI based movies, like “There’s Something About Mary,” and “Me, Myself and Irene,” as well as in an episode of Family Guy (if you didn’t already know, the show is set in a fictional town in Rhode Island call Quahog).
It’s no surprise Del’s is so popular in the summer months. No drink is quite as evocative of summertime as lemonade--and there’s a reason for that extending beyond nostalgia and lemonade stands. Lemonade is particularly satisfying on a hot summer day because of the tartness. Sour flavors stimulate salivation better than other flavors--and when you take the tartness of lemons and make an ice cold drink, it gives the impression of hydration, even after the drink is gone.
Like so many other things, lemonade made its way to America via Europe sometime in the 1700s, following its modern debut onto the culinary scene in Paris in 1630. Made of sparkling water, lemon juice and honey, Parisian lemonade was sold by street-corner vendors who would wear big tanks of the liquid strapped to their backs. It became so popular, that the vendors incorporated to form a union, and lemonade might have even helped Paris fend off the bubonic plague. Where lemonade spread, discarded lemon peels followed, and they may have killed off some plague infested fleas.
Interestingly, the lemonade we’re familiar with in the United States today differs a little from the modern iteration of lemonade in most of Europe. We drink a lemonade known in other countries as “cloudy lemonade,” or Old Fashioned Lemonade. But in Europe today, Lemonade refers to a clear, lemon-flavored carbonated drink more like 7-Up or Sprite than the drink we’d think of.
Two trends helped popularize lemonade in America. The first was the temperance movement in the early 1800s. Lemonade was promoted as a great alternative to alcohol. Sunkist even used the slogan: “Goodbye to liquor, here’s to lemonade.” The second trend was the rise of the circus. Because the temperance movement had popularized it as the perfect drink for both kids and adults, most circus concession stands sold large volumes of lemonade. And as a growing number of people attended these shows that traveled around the country in the late 1800s and early 1900s, lemonade rose in popularity as well.
So this all brings us to the mid 1900s, with lemonade known as an American classic and one brand about to become a Rhode Island classic.
Del’s was founded in 1948 by Angelo DeLucia - Del’s was a shortened version of the founder’s last name. But the earliest Del’s Frozen Lemonade was actually made in 1840 in Naples, Italy, by Angelo’s grandfather. In the winter, he would carry snow into local caves and insulate it with straw. When summertime came, he would mix fresh, local lemon juice with the stashed away snow, add sugar and sell the mixture at local markets.
When Angelo’s family came to the US, they brought the recipe with them. And Angelo got to work, opening up his very first… Bowling alley. He didn’t know at first how marketable his family recipe would be. Initially the bowling alley was enough. But soon it became clear that during the warm summer months, people just weren’t bowling as much as in the winter. Angelo thought maybe he could increase revenue during the slow months by opening a little frozen lemonade shack, featuring his family’s secret recipe, immediately beside the bowling alley. In time, he realized this business could be more profitable than the bowling alley, and he got to work developing a machine that would allow him to consistently produce larger quantities of the great tasting product.
This consistent quality and Angelo’s vision of selling Del’s all over the state via mobile storefronts--repurposed pie trucks--popularized the frozen drink, so much so that Del’s now has over 150 trucks and carts and almost 30 stores, including some out of state in Las Vegas, Miami and Venice Beach, California. And while the company has definitely grown since it’s early days, it’s still a family run business--with Angelo’s son Bruce and Bruce’s daughter Stephanie at the helm these days.
But if you’re thinking of coming from out of state to try this delicious drink, there’s one thing you should know first. There are very specific rules about how you should drink it. You can get the full step-by-step instructions on Del’s website, but here’s an overview. No straw or spoon is offered. You should hold the cup so the heat from your hand slowly melts the ice, and sip right from the cup, shaking it periodically to disperse the ice and liquid. According to the Del’s site: “Using a straw is a dead giveaway you’re either not from Rhode Island or that it may be your first time with a Del’s lemonade. Plus, straws aren’t good for the environment. So it’s a win-win.”
And when it comes to choosing a flavor, you’ve got options beyond just lemonade these days! Choose from lemon, lite lemon, watermelon, peach-mango, blueberry, cherry, grapefruit and blood orange. There was even once a coffee flavor, but it’s no longer offered. Maybe that’s got something to do with the bitter taste left by that 1993 rivalry over the state drink. Who knows? But it turns out the odds might have been stacked in coffee milk’s favor--of the 30 states that have declared a state drink, 22 of them are some sort of milk or flavored milk. And 1993 also happened to be the first year the “Got Milk?” ads started airing. So, maybe Rhode Islander’s had milk on the brain.
It turns out I can talk non stop about food (I mean, I kind of already knew that, but this only proved it). So join me next week for part 2, where we’ll talk more food history, from pizza strips to quahogs to a unique pancake called the Johnnycake, and more!
I’m truly thankful for every person who has listened to this podcast! If you’re enjoying it, please leave a rating or review, or you can send me a note at Weird Rhode Island at Gmail.com. And if there’s a topic you’d really like to hear about, let me know! See you next week as we dig up more stories about all things weird and wonderful in the little state of Rhode Island. Until next time!