These wieners are a hot ‘classic’
Don’t call them hot dogs and don’t ask for ketchup.
Those are the cardinal rules at Olneyville New York System, arguably the best-known Rhode Island spot for one of the state’s signature dishes: hot wieners.
“Dish” is probably an overstatement. These are veal, pork and beef wieners slathered with mustard, covered in special meat sauce, topped with chopped onions and celery salt, and served in a steamed bun.
Ordering a wiener with all the fixings is called “all the way.” Many say all the way is the only way.
“They’re so greasy but good,” said Paula Malone of Glocester, who came in one recent lunch hour with a colleague from the Providence VA Medical Center to pick up a big order. As in 33 hot wieners, seven coffee milks — coffee syrup-sweetened milk, another Rhode Island staple — and 10 orders of fries, for a Mardi Gras office party.
Hot wieners got some national recognition last month, when Olneyville New York System was named an “America’s Classic” by the James Beard Foundation.
The $2.15 wieners are small so lots of customers order a few at a time. The grillers prepare them in a way that’s known as “up the arm” — balancing a row of buns and wieners on their forearms, then adding each ingredient in quick, choreographed succession.
The Food Network’s Guy Fieri raved about Olneyville’s hot wieners in a segment of The Best Thing I Ever Ate. “Come for the hot wieners and stay for the show,” he said. “Can’t beat it.”
Last year, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras appeared on the cover of The Providence Phoe- nix’s “The Best” issue behind the restaurant’s counter, grinning with a hot wiener in hand.
As co-owner Greg Stevens says, the place has no demographic.
Bumble Taylor, 38, of Providence, has been coming to Olneyville New York System since 1981. When he was a kid, he used to panhandle in the old grocery store parking lot to make a few bucks, which he would use to buy hot wieners.
“Everybody comes in — they got to have a weenie,” Taylor said.