diner

Luke’s Coney Island in St. Petersburg

On my recent trip to Florida, I went to visit Nardo’s Natural World HQ to meet with three of the four Mastronardo boys. They were recently featured on the Shark Tank and were funded by Barbara Corcoran. I planned to interview Kyle Nardo about his Shark Tank experiences, but before we got down to business, Kyle, KJ, Danny, and I decided to grab some lunch.

We went to a new place in St. Pete called Luke’s Coney Island. The joint has only been open for six months or so and was opened by a family from the Detroit area. As the generations systematically escaped the cold Michigan weather and settled in Florida, they began missing authentic Detroit style Coney Island Dogs, so they opened a joint of their own!

Luke’s features Dearborn Franks from Detroit- the same franks used by world famous Lafayette Coney Island in Detroit. They also feature Detroit style Coney Island sauce. The decor is reminiscent of old time hot dog joints and has a Detroit/Michigan theme.

Lunching with the Nardo boys was a trip- at times I felt like I was dining with one of my summer Babe Ruth teams. The guys goofed around with each other as only brothers would and chatted up the staff and patrons. They are committed to keeping their business in the Tampa/St.Pete area, and they like patronizing local businesses too. This was their first trip to Luke’s and, judging from their reaction, it won’t be their last.

I enjoy meeting new people and discovering new hot dog joints, so this trip was an unparalleled success.

After lunch, we headed back to their office where I chatted with Kyle for about 45 minutes. The interview with Kyle about life before, during and after Shark Tank will be published on the Shark Tank Blog. The boys’ episode re-runs Saturday, May 4, 2012 on ABC TV at 8PM Eastern time.

Enjoy the video….

Filed Under: 2012, Coney Island Sauce, Dearborn Franks, diner, Florida, Luke's, Saint Petersburg

Hotdogman meet Hamburgerman at Casey’s Diner

3 Comments

Casey’s Diner is a local fixture in these parts. The iconic little Worcester Lunch Car has been home to the Casey family since 1922. Current proprietor, Pat Casey, is the fourth generation of the family to operate the business which has been in Natick since 1890. There just aren’t many places like Casey’s left in this world, so it is comforting to know it’s there.

Casey’s is famous for their hot dogs, but they serve some of the best hamburgers you’ll ever have too. With this in mind, I invited Richrd Chudy, from the Boston Burger Blog, out to Casey’s for lunch. Richard is on a continuous quest to find the perfect burger. National Hot Dog Month Tour videographer and mommy blogger supreme, Drew Bennet from the Benspark blog, came along for lunch too. He brought me a brand new Kodak HD Video Camera which Kodak generously donated to this year’s tour.

Drew and I met 4 years ago through blogging and we both enjoy meeting other bloggers, so we were psyched for today’s meet up. It also gave us a chance to talk about plans for the National Hot Dog Month Tour.