MANSFIELD — The Wiener King on Lexington Avenue has been a Mansfield landmark for the past 40 years, serving hot dogs, French fries, homemade chili and milkshakes in a back-to-basics setting that’s barely changed since it opened in 1976.
This old-school joint with its distinctive retro-looking sign caught my eye the first time I drove by.
Once inside, I armed myself with a slaw dog plus chili and mustard, fries and a lemonade, and took a good look around. Given the unmistakably ’70s feel, I figured the place must be a true original.
I’d never seen or heard of a Wiener King anywhere else, so a few days ago I went to get the lowdown from the friendly owner Jimmy Smardjeff, who was happy to sit me down and give me the full story.
Back in ’76, Jimmy’s dad Christ (the t is silent) opened a franchise of the then-thriving Wiener King chain, taking over a building that had previously been an Arthur Treacher’s, and before that a sandwich shack called Jacque’s.
At the age of 15, Jimmy remembers helping to get the place ready for business with a crowbar and sledgehammer (adding that there were times over the years when having a crowbar in hand wasn’t a bad idea in any case). From day one he was helping out at what was then part of a popular strip of fast-food options.
“Back then it was bumper-to-bumper out there,” he tells me, describing the hopping, bustling crowds that came by in the late ’70s, adding that at the absolute peak, there were around 40 employees on the payroll.
“On a busy evening, you’d have someone working the cash register, two on the grill, one on the fryer, one pouring drinks, one clearing tables, and another out back cleaning up,” he said.
At lunch, workers from local businesses had their regular booths – “you could point to the booths and say, that’s Westinghouse, that’s Tappan’s … that’s the Foundry, that’s Mansfield Plating …”
Jimmy reckons it was way back then that the mafia rumors started. Ask around, and it seems that this is the one thing everyone in town “knows” about the Wiener King. I even heard it from my wife’s 93-year-old grandmother.
So how did it all start?
Jimmy’s theory is that when some of the flashier local businessmen became regular customers, along with a fair number of cops, this got people talking.
“You’d have Lincolns out there, and Cadillacs, as well as cop cars – and people just started putting two and two together.”
Then in later years, when trade slowed down and the boom passed, the mafia stories seemed to help explain how the place stayed in business.
The truth is it’s been a hard fight to stay afloat during the exodus of restaurant trade from Mansfield toward Ontario. Wiener King is one of the last men standing in a part of Lexington Avenue that once had an abundance of eating choices.
Jimmy recalls the departures as the ’80s rolled on – first Long John Silver’s, then Famous Recipe Chicken. Then Burger Chef became Hardee’s, then Hardee’s left. By the time Wendy’s pulled out in the ’90s Wiener King had become an island.
In the meantime, the Wiener King Corporation had fought a trademark battle with Weiner King Inc. before finally declaring bankruptcy. The chain was dead, but Christ was not prepared to give up either his restaurant or the name.
By 1983 he owned the location outright, and was determined to stick with the brand even as other Wiener Kings either closed outright or morphed into something else.
The elder Mr. Smardjeff retired just three years ago at the age of 87, passing on the reigns to Jimmy – who since then has made sure things stay pretty much as they always have.
“It’s funny,” he tells me, “the regulars bust my chops about how I need to remodel, but the folks who have moved away and come back to visit say, ‘Please don’t change a thing!'”
I’m in the don’t-change-a-thing camp – and that includes the vintage wallpaper. As each year passes, local holdouts like the Wiener King become more and more rare: good food cheap, friendly service and a proper old-fashioned menu with none of the mega-platter, bucket-of-soda upselling.
The fact that Jimmy is still here 40 years on dishing up the same tasty kraut dogs and footlongs is a minor miracle – he’s earned the respect of his dedicated regulars and he deserves it.
Next time you pass that bright orange-and-yellow sign drop in and check out how it used to be done, and thanks to Jimmy, still is being done.
