Sunday, August 21, 2011

Papaya King: The Ten Year Old Perspective

When I lived in New York, I used to eat at the papaya hot dog places, so I was excited to hear about Papaya King moving to Hollywood (though I was more of a Grey's Papaya guy). I fully intended to get there and review it, but my ten year old daughter got there first, so I thought I'd let her review it and compare it to her other favorite hot dog spots. Here she goes:


As a hot dog lover myself, I heard about Papaya King, a new hot dog place that sold hot dogs and juice. I thought that I should try it because I love hot dogs and juice, but I found it quite a disappointment.

We were the only people there (not that there was any space for anyone else), and they gave us the wrong food, and they don't have onion rings, only curly fries in enormous servings.

The food was not special. The hot dog was plain and dry. It tasted skinless. The bun was warm and crispy so it was okay, but it is very hard to mess up a bun. The chili was not the hot dog chili I am used to having. It was juicy and full of whole beans and there was hardly any meat. Juice and whole beans is not what you want on your hot dog. You want a big, chunky, meaty, greasy chili.

The curly fries were good. They were greasy, curly and good.

We got strawberry and pina colada juice. The pina colada juice was good. The strawberry was a little bit too foamy but it tasted good, like strawberry, sugar and foam.



After Papaya King, we went to Pink's and Carney's to compare [Eds. note to Department of Children & Family Services - this was not all on the same day!]. They were as good as always and Pink's is defending its title as my favorite hot dog place. The chili is big, chunky, meaty, greasy hot dog chili. The bun was not as crispy, just the way I like it. The onion rings and fries were also good. It was yummy!

Carney's also had good chili but the fries were as ordinary as any fries you would get at any place like McDonald's. Carney's has the best actual hot dog, but if you put everything together, Pink's is the best.

At Pink's and Carney's, you can get most things and be eating very good food. At Papaya King, if you go there, you really only want to get the fries and the pina colada juice.

6 comments:

oddlyme said...

Your daughter rocks!

What a great smart review : )

And now I know I don't have to check out Papaya King...

Anonymous said...

In the tone of a westside SAHM: this is soooooo cute.

I only need 9.5 more years for this to happen on my blog space. Also, one'd think a 10YO can't appreciate an emigre's nostalgia for Papaya King/Gray's Papaya?

sku said...

Thanks oddlyme!

Yeah sinosoul, she doesn't have the NY nostalgia (she's LA born and bred and never even been to NY), so I'll have to visit and see if that's enough to redeem to the Papaya Dog.

sam k said...

Very, very well done!!

lynn said...

i was much more of a grey's papaya hot dog eater when i lived in nyc too. but i still wanna go!

U.V. said...

Does your daughter write for the LA Times under the pen name Thi Nguyen?