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New Coney Island serves up famous ‘dogs
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Neighbors | Ashley Luthern The new Coney Island, on the corner of Mahoning Avenue and State Route 46, is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and the drive through is open until 9 p.m.
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Jason Mrofchak, a student at Mahoning County Career and Technical Center, Meredith Baird, a senior at Fitch High School, and Brian Skelton, a junior at FHS, show off some of the famous Coney Island hot dogs and fries. The new Coney Island location is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and the drive through is open until 9 p.m.
By ASHLEY LUTHERN
aluthern@vindy.com
For David Markota, opening his own Coney Island restaurant was a dream come true.
“I’ve always wanted to have my own hot dog shop, and fortunately I was able to get it,” he said.
Markota said one trip to a Coney Island restaurant for lunch convinced him that his shop should be a Coney Island.
“We went ahead and ate there and loved the (chili) sauce,” he said.
The Coney Island is located on the corner of Mahoning Avenue and State Route 46 and opened in the last week of August. Markota’s wife, Marianne, and son, Josh, serve up hot dogs daily. This is Marianne’s first job since she married David in August 1984 and had three children.
“I’m here morning, noon and night,” she said. “My favorite thing is taking orders and working with people.”
In honor of Ohio State University and Youngstown State University, Marianne chose the red, black and grey color scheme for the restaurant, which can hold up to 84 people and has been bustling for weeks.
“I have to keep the doors locked until 11 a.m. or else people would be coming in for a hot dog at 10 a.m.,” she said. “People have come in and said ‘We saw the sign and were waiting and waiting for you to open.’”
It took more than a year for the Markota family to renovate and open their hot dog shop, amid an economy that continued to sink.
“It’s always a risk to open any kind of store,” Marianne said. “We felt that since the economy’s bad, we would do well because a hot dog is extremely economical and we felt people could afford it.”
Popular specials at Coney Island include 50-cent famous hot dogs — topped with mustard, onion and chili — on Mondays, and 10 famous hot dogs for $8 every day, she added.
Fries, 1/3-pound burgers and grilled chicken salads are also on the menu. Coney Island, 31 N. Canfield-Niles Road, is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and the drive-through is open until 9 p.m.