Dog Days

"The Best Beach in Tulsa" is how Coney Beach describes itself. Driving south on Memorial, when you think you left Tulsa long ago, the first siting of Coney Beach is the signage on the northeast corner of the 111th and Memorial intersection.

Beware of drifting sand on the road. That's when you know you are getting close to the river.

A liveliness and upbeat feel is present when walking into this Coney Beach concept, which offers retro décor designed to bring to mind a relaxed seaside setting. (Let's just say it's a decent rendition for Arkansas River beachcombers). There are touches of distressed wood, surfboards and other beach items hanging. Photos of Coney Island, NY, blanket one wall.

While the dining room is small, many tables are packed into it, a little too close for this diner's comfort. More space between other diners and myself would be ideal.

The menu features all-beef natural casing hot dogs, gourmet Black Angus hamburgers and Polish sausages. Fresh buns, loaded fries, chili and all the trimmings accent the menu to craft a variety of coneys and burgers.

Some of the $4.50 dogs include The Beach Comber, a dog with coleslaw, melted mozzarella cheese and shredded cheddar cheese; the Junkyard Dog, a dog with Coney chili, cheddar cheese sauce, coleslaw, black beans, onions, salsa and jalapenos.

Then there's the Tijuana Dog, a wiener smothered in BBQ sauce, split and grilled, then topped with crispy hickory-smoked bacon, pico de gallo, black beans and guacamole. Da' Chicago Dog, a dog with mustard, sweet relish, onion, tomato wedge, pickle spear, sport peppers and celery salt looks authentic. (Also, customers are welcome to sub a turkey dog for a traditional beef wiener at no extra charge.)

Burgers are priced from $4.75 for a classic burger to $8.25 for The Double, and unfortunately very common to fast-food establishments, meat patties are required to be prepared well done--requests for anything other are not possible to fulfill.

Beverages include fountain drinks, $1.50-$1.75 for 16-ounce and 22-ounce sizes, and domestic import and locally brewed beers.

I lunched here with a friend, and we sampled from both the dog and burger menus. I chose the Junkyard Dog just because the name caught my eye. My dining pal chose The Boardwalk burger ($6.25). We also shared an order of the Bacon Cheddar Fries ($2.95).

Once we placed our order at the designated counter and received our drinks, we selected a table, and soon our order was ready to pick up. The name given my dog was perfect--it was filled with all sorts of toppings I would not consider putting on a dog. While the combined toppings of chili, cheese sauce, coleslaw, black beans, onions, salsa and jalapenos made this something to eat with a fork, I must say it was interesting.

The Boardwalk burger came with Swiss cheese and sauerkraut, smothered in Thousand Island dressing. This was also piled with toppings, making it difficult to eat. But, my friend enjoyed the combination of tastes. The sauerkraut paired with the dressing was different.

The Bacon Cheddar Fries came smothered in cheddar cheese sauce and bacon bits; they were good, but the processed cheese sauce was not that good--a little bland.

On the way out, I grabbed Vanilla Malt ($2.95), which was a nice treat to complete this lunch.

Coney Beach

11089 S. Memorial Dr.

394-DOGS

Hours:

Sun.-Sat. 11am-9pm

Rating:

Atmosphere ***

Food ***

Service ***