118 West Lafayette Blvd · Downtown Detroit
The Spot
For Coneys
A counter, a griddle and a pot of chili. Same block since 1924 — and since 1991, owned outright by the people standing behind it.
Call (313) 964-8198 See the board
Open 7 days 9am – midnight · till 2am Fri & Sat
One with everything
A Lafayette coney is a natural-casing hot dog in a steamed bun, under beef chili, a stripe of yellow mustard and a heap of chopped white onion. That is the whole argument. You can have it heavy on the chili, or heavy on the onion, for a quarter.
Order two. Nobody orders one.
At the counter it sounds like this — “One of each on one, light onion.” One loose hamburger and one coney, on a single plate.
Owned by the people
behind the counter
William Keros opened this room in 1924, next door to the one his brother Gust had opened seven years earlier. William’s son George took it over in 1970 and worked out the chili recipe in the basement.
Then in 1991 George handed the restaurant to the people who worked in it — transferred, not sold, “without them paying a penny for it.” It has been theirs ever since.
Written about
- Metro Times Lapointe: Is Detroit’s Coney feud more than a food fight?
- Crain’s Detroit Business Coney connoisseur George Keros, who created recipes at Lafayette, dies at 87
- Deadline Detroit One With Everything: Former Lafayette Coney Island Owner George Keros dies at 87
- Hour Detroit A Long Day’s Coney Into Night
Walk in
118 West Lafayette Blvd
Detroit, Michigan 48226
Mon–Thu 9am–12am · Fri & Sat 9am–2am · Sun 9am–12am