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Posts Tagged ‘Cyclone Cafe’

White Castle Sliders Coming to Coney Island

Posted in Food, Food & Drink, tagged Cyclone Cafe, hamburgers, Luna Park, sliders, White Castle on May 23, 2014| 8 Comments »

White Castle, the legendary burger chain founded in 1921 in Kansas, will soon be serving their sliders in Coney Island’s Luna Park. On Thursday, samples of the little burgers were being given away in anticipation of the opening of what’s called White Castle Express. The food demonstration rep said the burgers would soon be available at locations in Luna Park including the BBQ trailer on Wonder Wheel Way. (Update: White Castle burgers were available this afternoon at Luna Park’s Cyclone Cafe for 95 cents including tax.)

Earlier this year, the White Castle slider was named Time magazine’s most influential burger of all time in a poll of hamburger historians and experts. How will it fare in Coney, where Boardwalk mainstays Nathan’s, Tom’s, Ruby’s, and Paul’s Daughter have burgers on their menus, and Burger-Fi and Johnny Rockets are said to be on the way? Can a hamburger eating contest be far behind?

White Castle is a family-owned business based in Ohio that owns and operates more than 400 restaurants in 12 states including more than a dozen in New York City.

UPDATE May 24, 2014

White Castle Express was open in Luna Park on Saturday at both the Cyclone Cafe and in the former Luna BBQ trailer on Wonder Wheel Way near Stillwell, one of five new businesses and exhibits opening over the weekend. Please note that these are seasonal stands which are open when Luna Park is open for business and not year-round restaurants.

Luna Park’s White Castle Trailer on Wonder Wheel Way at Stillwell Avenue, May 24, 2014. Photo © Tricia Vita via flickr

Surf’s Up for CAI Foods in Coney Island, Sodexo Is Out

Posted in amusement park, Food, Food & Drink, tagged Boardwalk, CAI Foods LLC, Coney Island, Cyclone Cafe, Place to Beach, PTB Bar, Sodexo, Zamperla on March 31, 2013| 4 Comments »

Surf’s Up on Coney Island Boardwalk, March 24, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita

Surfboard parked on the Coney Island Boardwalk? Not exactly, it’s one of the signs that was about to go up on Zamperla’s new Place to BEach Bar (the capital “E” is a pun). The surfboard signage and other finishing touches, including tables and a deck, were being put in place this week at the new bar and Mexican grill on the Boardwalk at Stillwell Avenue.

Adjacent to Scream Zone, the location was formerly Steve’s Grill House and Beer Island, whose owners were evicted after the 2011 season. Valerio Ferrari, CEO of Zamperla, famously told the New York Times that he wanted something more “refined, cleaner. A little more year-round, if it’s possible, with sit-down restaurants and sports bars.” It’s happening. Last year, the facades of the remaining Boardwalk businesses got a sleek redo and Tom’s proved that a Boardwalk restaurant can stay open through the winter.

The new “Place to Be” was expected to open Easter weekend along with the Cyclone Cafe and food kiosks inside Luna Park. These venues will be operated by CAI Food LLC, the new food division of Zamperla’s Central Amusement International. An additional CAI restaurant will open in the B&B Carousel Pavilion at Steeplechase Plaza in May.

The opening of PTB Bar and the other CAI eateries marks the amusement park operator and ride manufacturer’s first foray into the food business in Coney Island. Until this season, food service giant Sodexo was Zamperla’s partner for “On Site Service Solutions.” The French multinational, the world’s 22nd largest employer, paid a rental fee to Zamperla. Sodexo kept such a low profile in Coney Island that the only sign we’ve ever seen with their name is the piece of paper at the bottom of this post. It was put up to direct trainees to their restaurant. Yet it was their staff who operated the Cyclone Cafe and the food kiosks since Luna Park opened in 2010.

At the time, Ferrari told ATZ that Sodexo was investing $1.4 million in a new sit-down restaurant, which was expected to be year-round and feature waiter service. As it turned out, the Cyclone Cafe was open the same hours as the park and its food offerings were what you’d expect from a corporation with a completely centralized purchasing system, which requires clients to choose from a list of “Right Products.” Sodexo is known for its cafeterias and individually branded restaurants at schools, hospitals, military bases and prisons, but nationally branded subtenants are also brought in under franchising or licensing agreements for the appearance of variety.

Sodexo’s departure had long been rumored and is something to cheer about. According to the partnership agreement, after 3 years either party was free to terminate the lease, with CAI having to reimburse the remaining value of Sodexo’s initial investment, with interest. A Sodexo manager who was working on site with cleanup after Sandy confirmed to ATZ that her company was leaving Coney Island.