102 E. Central AvenueThe days I get sent to Mackinac Island for work are always long, hard days. It’s fun work. I love being out on the Island in the spring. When the sun is shining and there’s a cool breeze blowing in off the lake, nothing beats it.
I wasn’t staying on the Island so when my job was finished a little after 6:00 each night, I headed straight for the ferry docks to catch that 7:00 ferry back to town. I chose not to eat on the Island just because I didn’t want to wait for the 8:00.
When I got back to Mackinaw City on my first full day in town, I headed for the giant hot dog. I wanted something quick and easy.
Wienerlicious is hard to miss. There’s a giant hot dog on top of the building at the corner of Central and Nicolet just off I-75 near the Bridge. If you’re heading north on I-75, you have one more chance to pull off before committing to the U.P. if giant foods on buildings speak to you like they do me.
The small parking lot was empty when I pulled in a little after 7:30 and there was a man dragging rugs outside to clean them. I rolled down my window and asked if they were still open. He said they were despite the fact they had started closing procedure both inside and outside the building.
I walked in to find an order counter at the end of a large lunch counter that wraps around the kitchen. The simple menu hangs above the cash register. One of the two younger employees stopped cleaning up and came over to take my order for a Coney dog, a cheeseburger, and an order of fries.
The restaurant is set up like a 60’s diner. There is stainless steel everywhere. Red leather topped stools are bolted to the ground in front of a long lunch counter skinned with stainless steel tread plate.
The dining room was already sorta closed up as they had the tables pulled out and were sweeping behind them. There was one booth near the door that they hadn’t gotten to yet so that’s where I took a seat to wait. I wasn’t planning on dining in anyway. My hotel was right next door and I was ready to just start relaxing for the night.
It took a little less than ten minutes for my food to be boxed up and handed to me. I made a quick stop at the Marathon Station just down the road to grab a couple of drinks for the night then headed back to the Baymont Inn to watch some TV and eat dinner.
I started in on the Waffle Fries first. I got a large order and they took up a whole Styrofoam container. The fries were really good. They were crispy on the outside and covered in a seasoning salt that was almost addicting. The large order was almost enough to fill me up on it’s own so I had to stop eating because I still had more things to try.
I grabbed the burger which they call a “Burgerlicious” on their menu but I’m just going to refer to as a burger because I feel silly calling it that. The sandwich is pretty simple. It’s two flat top grilled frozen burger patties with whatever toppings you choose. I just wanted cheese so that’s all I got. The burger looked bland when I picked it up but it was actually pretty juicy when I got in to it. The burger is pretty simple but it’s pretty satisfying as well.
I saved the Coney Dog for last because I don’t always like hot dogs…but I stopped at a place called Wienerlicoius…I think it’s law that I had to get a wiener.
The Coney Dog is exactly what you expect from a Coney Dog. The Koegel Wiener is topped with a house made coney sauce, mustard and onions…and they really went all in on the onions. I’ve been trying to eat things as they come but there were a lot of onions and I don’t really like onions so I pushed off as much as I could leaving just a few for the crunchy onion taste that seems to go so well with yellow mustard. The dog was good and a good way to finish off the meal. I was pretty stuffed by the time I got to it so it says something to the tastiness of the wiener that I didn’t take a bite and call it a day.
The bill for my meal was a little over $14 before tip.
I got exactly what I wanted in Wienerlicious. Quick, delicious, and easy. If I was more of a fan of hot dogs, I’d probably be even more excited about this place, but since I’m not I still really enjoyed it and would absolutely stop when I want something quick but don’t want Burger King when I’m in Mackinaw City.