March 29, 2011
Okay, time for round 7 of the Papaya Wars! A couple of weeks ago I went to the Papaya King on the Upper East Side. They’re the original Papaya King and have been on the block for close to 80 years. If you’ve been following the Papaya Wars, you’ll remember I came here a couple weeks ago. I thought it was open 24 hours like the rest of the Papayas, but was saddened to find it closed. It turns out they close at midnight during the week and are open till two in the morning Friday and Saturday. The next day I put up a tweet on Twitter saying I was sad that this place was closed when I got there. A little later on in the day, this tweet hit the Twitterverse:
It was the King himself, apologizing! I thought that was nice, so I agreed to give the Papaya King a second chance. I’m getting out of work earlier tonight, so I should be able to make the 12:00 pm deadline. Onwards to the King!
Let's hail a cab and head up to the Upper East Side.
Taxi!
And here we are. Deja vu, let's see if they're open and maybe have a deja chew.
The door's are open, time for tonight's Papaya Wars to begin. Banzai!
"A Tropical Oasis in the Concrete Jungle." Sounds good to me, it's still freezing cold out here.
Okay, tonight we find out if this is just a boast or fact from The King.
The counter here is long and sparkling clean. Let's check out the dogs.
They look good here and the aroma is doggidly delightful in here.
And here Amzad serves up a Papaya drink and a dog. Amzad's the manager here and has worked for the King since 1996. He says it's a great place to work. I have to admit, this is the friendliest Papaya I've been in yet. let's try the dog and the drink. If you recall the last Papaya drink I tried didn't go down too smoothly.
We'll camp out over here, this place really is the cleanest Papaya I've ever seen.
Here's my dog and I ordered the orange drink from advice from my friend and co-worker, Joey D. They don't have beer here, but this time I came prepared...
Say hello to my little friend! I poured this into the Orange Papaya drink and a new drink was given birth to: "The Screwdrapaya." Both the dog and drink were delicious, good call, Joey D! Sorry there's not an ATM shot in here, I'll try tomorrow.
They have some great vintage photos of the place. Here's one from 1955, hot dog history!
Here's a shot of the counter back in 1950.
The King has been in this same spot since 1932. I found out from Twittering with the King that the Beatles ate here on their first trip to New York.
And if you're a Seinfeld fan you'll remember the King was a guest star on one of the episodes.
Here's the script on the counter.
Here's a shot of the Papaya King from the '70's. I wonder if Travis Bickle ever ate here?
My patented Ebony and Ivory Papaya shot, this time with brand names. No generic condiments at the Papaya King!
One last glance out the window and time to end this week's battle of the Papaya Wars.
And I'm happy to testify that yes, they are tastier than filet mignon! Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
This Week's Papaya Wars Standings. As always the rankings go from worst to the best.
6. Hell’s Kitchen Papaya: Because it’s not there anymore.
5. Chelsea Papaya: It’s clean, people were nice in there, but there’s no beer.
4. Gray’s Papaya on the Upper West Side: It brings back good memories and the signage is nice, but there’s no beer here and I don’t know if I’ll ever get that horrible taste of the papaya drink out of my mouth or mind.
3. Papaya Dog at 14th and 1st: The staff is super-friendly, it’s clean and the hot dogs are great there. However, they robbed me of my patented Ebony and Ivory ketchup and mustard shot! War is hell.
2. Penn Station Papaya: They’ve got beer!
1. Papaya King on the Upper East Side: They’ve got vodka...okay, you’ve got to bring it yourself and sneak it in, but still, this is the original Papaya King in New York City. They've been in the same spot on this block since 1932. The Beatles ate here on their first trip to New York when they appeared on the The Ed Sullivan Show. So does this put the King in first place for now? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There’s still a few more Papayas in town to check out in this hot dog battle, so stay tuned to the Papaya Wars here every Monday, exclusively at MAD and see if the King can hold on to his crown!
Papaya King
179 E. 86th St. (Near Third Ave.)
212-369-0648
Further reading and watching: Grub Street, High Beam, Papaya King TV and The King on Twitter.
Six Hot Dog Blogs
The Hot Dog Blog
Hot Dog Blog
The West Virginia Hot Dog Blog
The Hot Dog I Ate
I Am An Amercian And I Eat Hot Dogs
Hot Dog Spot
I swear I'll never give in,
I refuse.
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Bonus Jaws Art!
Jaws sent in his artwork depicting his dream cab. Send that thing out here, Jaws!
29 Comments
Reader Comments (29)
Who / What / Where was the "King" ???
@GENE: The King is the Papaya King, right there at 86th and 3rd.
HA HA HA! Screwdrapaya! That's excellent. Man, oh man, those dogs looked good! And I like the name brand goodness of their condiments. Even though the kid on the Dusseldorf Mustard kind of freaks me out, it still stands head and shoulders (or at least cap and pump) above ketchup. TO MUSTARD! And TO THE ORIGINAL PAPAYA KING! HOORAY FOR HOT DOGS!!
The scredrapaya? LMFAO! Great battle and nice to see the original Papaya King at the top of the standings! Love the Foo Fighters nightcap!
"Our Franks are tastier than Filet Mignon" and "as vital to NYC as the subway", and "made from an exclusive recipe" do you eat these hot dogs or frame them? lots of good old fashion bs, but hey, the place has been there a long time so we should give it a little respect, right?
@MAD ...... I was wondering who the "King" was/is that tweets you from there ?
Did someone call for a taxi? Say I wonder if Everclear comes in those little bitty bottles. Screwyapappa royally...YEEEHAAAAW!!
@Biff: We have to have a screwdrapaya on your next visit! TO MUSTARD! And TO THE ORIGINAL PAPAYA KING!
@Barfly: That's my favorite Fighters of Foo song!
@Al: Yes, the King does deserve respect for lasting so long on the block!
@GENE: The King assures me that he is THE Papaya King over at Twitter. And I'm just delusional enough to believe him!
@Jaws: Yeeeehaw indeed!
@MAD ...... Amzad can be the King then .....
@GENE: Sounds like a great idea to me!
Hell's Kitchen's Papaya may be gone, but luckily, 3 Clinton Starbucks remain open. Meh.
@csp: Aaaah! The dreaded "S" word!
The King will not stand in 2nd place. If he stood in 2nd place he would be the Papaya Prince. He is not the Papaya Prince. He is the Papaya KING. Long live the KING. Heil KING papaya!
Damn I need a hot dog. And yay for ketchup! Now if they only had dill pickle slices to go along, that is how hot dogs should be eaten.
Of course, everybody will hate me with this comment :
Gray's Papaya Hot dog is the most disgusting thing I ate in my life!!!
But I can explain myself ;) I eat only farm food, no food additive or food coloring, almost no meat, and I normally don't eat any food from industrial or supermarket sources! But my family bitched me saying: "What the fuck you are in NYC and we are craving for a fucking American Hot Dog, the same that we can see in movies and you're not going to tast? Just do it for us! pleeeeease"
so... I've been nice and ate a hot dog from Gray's papaya.... And it sounds like it was something very funny for Jason, since he made a video of this eternal moment! You should see my face... Looks like I'm dying!! haha !!
Please Be Advised: The following may not be for the faint of heart, thin skinned or otherwise chicken-live red:
<rant
WTF?...the "S" word—the "N" word—the "F" word—could go on and on—what 23 more times X how many ever words that fit the critique of the first letter —when are "we" goin' get back to "if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it's a duck"..the dreaded (insert here) word...i do not dread any word...could get into what could /should /be dreaded...will leave it w/ a paraphrased "sticks and stones..."
rant>
anyway...papaya king gets a + for MAD's assessmen.. get's a - because it sorta made MAD to adapt to them/iit...i know MAD is much more flexible than 365...but how many times have we 've seen "headed for" and never gave "the for" a second chance"?...naoa knock against MAD or 365...just a thought...
I don't want a movie hotdog, I want a Papaya King hotdog.
—Kramer
rr
Oh la la.
Yo, Zioums...do you like Chinese food? I could stir fry a couple of stray cats that always fight under my trailer home for you..,.no preservatives...seasoned to perfection...oh la la, dinner is served!
- miam yum cat ! pitipitipiti ! com'on here pitipiti
- meeeeeeeeow ?
- "zzzzzzzzzzzzziiiiiiiooooooovvrooooumvroum" (noise of my chainhwang)
- meeoOOOOOW MEOOOOOOW
...................................... scruntch froulz bruifch splatch......
No cat can fuck with my Chainhwang!!
I like chinese food yes ;)
CHING CHANG CHONG
Good deal Zioums, continue to march! Hut...hut...I don't know what I've been told...pussycat stirfry tasts mighty bold....sound off ONE TWO sound off...THREE FOUR...bring it on down...one,two, three,four one two...THREE FOUR!
Jaws...don't know have bee told/ eskomo's pussy...mighty cold...sound off...
rr
Jaws...grandma grandma you ain't sick...all you need is gram pa's dick...
rr
damn...seems like i need a spell check..just sticky keys....checkin' "juggs"...please cut me some slack...see motherfucker...
rr
@Clacky: All hail the King, indeed!
@kari: I let the ketchup comment go, but a dill pickle? I've got to tell the King about that and see what he says.
@Zioum Zioum: You've just been discharged from the Papaya Wars with that comment!
@rr: The difference is the King apologized and invited me back. No bar ever did that. And hey, did you just call me the assman? Or should I say, "the dreaded "A" word." Ha ha ha!
Didn't they remodel this joint? Think they kept the signage and modified the rest. Good post!
@ken mac: They did remodel, but they kept it pretty much the same and just spiffed it up a little. It's a great Papaya place and the original!
That looks like a very clean restaurant and the hot dogs look delish!
The Screwdrapaya - Yum!
@Tiki Bar Susie: They are delish, I'll buy you one next time you're in town. What better place for Tiki Bar Susie than the Papaya King!