A Tale of Two Dogs: Gray's Papaya & Papaya King (New York, NY)

[ts]
From watching all those Law&Order episodes with Lenny happily buying hot dogs on the street of New York, JS and I wanted to have the same experience.



[ts]
Look! There's a stand, with people waiting in line.


NY hot dog

[ts]
It was a good snack: small and inexpensive. A buck! It was gone in a jiffy.

We decided to go for another New York hot dog experience. We knew it was Papaya something-or-other. So, when we saw Gray's Papaya, we walked right in.



[ts]
We were a little surprised that the place was totally empty.



[ts]
But it had kooky signage and all that, so we figured we got the right place.



[ts]
Since this was just a snack, we ordered one dog to share.



[js]
The hot dog was essentially the same as the street dog, but with a crispier skin. It was an average dog, so we couldn't understand what all the fuss was about.



[ts]
Having "papaya" in the name of the place, we figured we should try their papaya drink.



[ts]
I was quite surprised when I saw this Papaya Milk-type drink, as it was called papaya "juice" on the menu.

[js]
I didn't like the drink at all. It tasted weird.

We thought we had the "Papaya" hot dog covered on this NY trip. Been there, done that.



[ts]
Then, we came across Papaya King!



[js]
Oh! Maybe this was the Papaya King of all the hype, not Gray's Papaya. After all, look at this endorsement:


"The Best Hot Dog in New York." --Julia Child



[js]
Although we weren't really hungry, we ordered their dogs. After all, we were already there!



[js]
Again, the hot dog was okay, not life-changing or anything. It seems to me that these were merely serviceable hot dogs, good for a bite when hungry and not much more.



[ts]
This time, the papaya juice was actually a juice.

[js]
The drink was slightly better this time around, but I wouldn't order these drinks again. It's just not for me.



[ts]
OK, now we can say "Been there, done that" to any sort of Papaya-related New York hot dog.


Gray's Papaya
New York, NY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray's_Papaya
Visited in August 2009

Papaya King
New York, NY
http://www.papayaking.com/
Visited in August 2009

We ate all the food below -- and more -- in 4 days! Insane. See how: NYC Eating Extravaganza (August 2009)

eatingclub vancouver in New York
Rice to Riches
Shake Shack
Grom Gelato
Bleecker Street Pizza
New York Burger Co.
Ess-a-Bagel
Artichoke Basille's Pizza
Katz's Deli
Lombardi's Pizza
Hummus Place
Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Bald Man
Anthos
Momofuku Ssäm Bar
Amy Ruth's
wd-50
Taïm Falafel and Smoothie Bar
A Tale of Two Dogs: Gray's Papaya & Papaya King

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A Tale of Two Dogs: Grey's Papaya and Papaya King (New York, NY)
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