![\"Exterior](\"http:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/eatingoutwithadesigner\/files\/2013\/05\/IMG_0067.jpg\")
<\/a>Exterior of Coney Island Wiener House<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Exterior Signage for the Milwaukee Wiener House<\/p><\/div>\n
I have eaten at Milwaukee\u2019s five or so times since I began attending school at Morningiside three years ago. I had not eaten at, nor even heard of Coney Island before this class. In fact, there is another hot dog place, George\u2019s #1 Hot Dogs, which I had not heard of until this class, either. A few friends suggested Milwaukee\u2019s to me and I was never informed that there was other places available. I think a lot of this is that these types of restaurants are the places that get a lot of repeat customers from people who went there as kids, and they only go back to the same places and order the same things. I think it\u2019s safe to say that restaurants that specialize in one particular type of food like these hot dog places are considered good if they have consistency over the years.
\nThat said, I think the Milwaukee Wiener House benefits from a few things that Coney Island is missing out on. One of the first beneficial things is their location. Milwaukee\u2019s is a self-standing building that is noticeable, on a busy street, with easily accessible and available parking. With a giant logo on the side of the building, Milwaukee\u2019s is noticeable from a distance. Coney Island on the other hand, is a little further into downtown Sioux City, squeezed in between a block of buildings, without any really noticeable signage. Parking isn\u2019t as easy as at Milwaukee\u2019s, so I\u2019m assuming most people that eat at Coney Island enter as foot traffic. Milwaukee\u2019s is also benefiting from much more publicity online through reviews on Urbanspoon and Yelp. I think this leads to more notoriety to attract those who are not from Sioux City, like myself.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Interior of Coney Island<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Inside the Milwaukee Wiener House<\/p><\/div>\n
I think Milwaukee\u2019s is also benefiting from their overall branding and appearance at their restaurant more than Coney Island. Both restaurants have an authentic vintage feel, but I felt that Milwaukee\u2019s has stood the test of time better.\u00a0 Walking into the place, you feel like you just stepped back into 1960. It\u2019s the type of place you expect to see Don Draper from Mad Men to grab a bite to eat at. That vintage look is really popular today, in part because of shows like Mad Men, and seems to translate better with most rather than other time periods. Although Coney Island, has that same feel, and in part, that same appearance, it just feels more old than classic. The entire experience at Milwaukee\u2019s gives that vintage feel: the plastic booths, the logos and illustrations, the paper hats, and even the pop in the glass bottles. Coney Island doesn\u2019t have that same feel throughout the entire experience. Although, the storefront looks vintage and could be used as a backdrop in a Wes Anderson film, the inside doesn\u2019t quite have that same feel. Perhaps it\u2019s just that pop culture has made the era\u2019s restaurants look more like Milwaukee\u2019s than Coney Island, but I still feel that Milwaukee\u2019s has stood the test of time in this area. On a related side note, recent news has said that Milwaukee\u2019s will be moving to a new location because of the Hard Rock Casino being built in downtown Sioux City. I wonder if they will attempt to keep that classic vintage look they have now, or try to modernize. My gut tells me they will keep the same look, but I truly hope they don\u2019t try to mix two different looks and lose what they have already.<\/p>\n