Marty After Dark - Almost Live...From New York

Entries in The Cowsills (1)

Tuesday

Apr052011

April 5, 2011

One of my favorite blogs is Jeremiah's Vanishing New York. It's an insightful and knowledgeable blog about New York's ever-changing landscape. Today I'm honored to have a guest entry and photos there. Check it out here: Back To Show Follies.

Okay, time for another battle royale in the Papaya Wars! For those of you keeping track, and I know in my delusional mind that there’s plenty of you out there keeping score, this will be battle number eight. Last week we saw the original Papaya King dramatically jump from last place all the way to the first place position in the all-important standings. Tonight, my Canadian friend Lex has requested that I try the one near the Port Authority bus station in Times Square. She and her in-laws, Morley and Mary Ann made a stop here during their visit last summer after attending a party at the Rum House hosted by Karen and Jon from Grade “A” Fancy. And so, with a bullet in my front pocket, let the battle begin, Barney Fife style, like I even know what all this means.

It's closing in on midnight, I had to work later than usual and i'm a little beat. We'll walk straight up 9th Avenue, 12 blocks to 42nd Street and get this shit over with let the battle begin!

This fellow was trimming flowers outside of a 9th Avenue deli and posed for a photo.

The Papaya Dog on 42nd Street. Let the battles begin...KHAAAAN!

Let's go in and check it out.

Lots of dogs on the grill, but I opted out for a corn dog...

And this fellow served it up. There weren't any large containers of mustard (so much for the patented ebony and ivory shot, strike one) but he offered up this behind the counter container.

And here it is in all its mustardized glory.

I took a large bit and discovered it's barely warm, in fact it's borderline cold. Ecch.

Fuck! I forgot the vodka, no patented Screwdapaya this week. This drink is sickeningly sweet. Let's take a look around here.

The menu hangs on the back wall.

They are the first Papaya place I've seen that serves fish and chips.

They also have a cracked window which can only lead to...obligatory cracked window shot!

This sign reminds me of the fact I forgot the vodka. They really know how to twist the old knife in here. I think it's time to leave.

Am I paranoid or is this truck staring at me? Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.

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This Week's Papaya Wars Standings. As always the rankings go from worst to the best.
7. Hell’s Kitchen Papaya: Because it’s not there anymore.
6. Papaya Dog in Times Square: They don’t have beer and I forgot to bring vodka. Plus my corn dog was borderline cold and they have a cracked window in there which can only mean bad luck to all who enter.
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.

Papaya Dog
578 9th Ave. (@42nd St.)
212-629-0632