Lafayette Coney Island Reopens 38 Days After Rat Complaint

Downtown hot dog institution Lafayette Coney Island is open once again after closing its doors for more than a month due to a rat infestation. During a news conference held at the famous diner on the morning of Tuesday, March 4, the city’s chief public health officer Denise Fair Razo told reporters that the restaurant was cleared to reopen after passing an inspection on Monday, March 3. “Everything is brand new,” Fair Razo told reporters, according to the Detroit Free Press. “It’s night and day from the new lighting, from the modernized equipment they have in place.” Lafayette shuttered voluntarily on Saturday, January 25, after staff from the health department visited Lafayette when a customer reported seeing rats at the restaurant to the city. According to the Detroit Free Press, Mitigation steps taken include deep cleaning and sanitizing, modernizing equipment, improving food storage practices, training all staff on cleaning protocols, and sealing any potential entries for pests. Sam Seferi, a partner at Lafayette, added that the team has been working closely with the health department and that crews have installed a new floor, painted the lower level, and added a new compressor. The January closure of Lafayette is the second in less than three years. In September 2022, the health department closed the eatery after being notified of a video on social media showing rodents. William “Bill” Keros opened Lafayette in 1924, next door to American Coney Island, founded by his brother Gust Keros in 1917. The most recent closure highlighted a decades-long rivalry between Lafayette and American, under ownership of Grace Keros, Gust’s granddaughter, that typically has involved little more than debates by fans over who makes their chili-laden hot dog the best. Following the second closure of Lafayette, Grace Keros held a news conference inside her restaurant to dispel any confusion. [Media: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02Ubkt1Wve7d5HvGHrE6sUp2fLKPCniwCCkUqLhkK9Qofyz44voqKAYjaNC3RoJZq5l\u0026id=100064714087102\u0026rdid=OJ0CLUyjCOtntKNQ#] “I’m pissed and I’m annoyed [by the] ignorance of people who want to assume that we’re one and the same. We are not one and the same, we’re totally different, and that’s all. So finally, once and for all, I had to clear this up. It’s ridiculous,” Keros told a scrum of reporters at the time. “It’s like Channel 4, Channel 7, Channel 2, CBS… They all group you all in as fake news media. Well, maybe one isn’t [and] one is, I don’t know, but you don’t like to be associated like that, do you?” Meanwhile, Lafayette fired back, saying their neighbor should lift a fellow business, not shoot them down for a problem that they say is bigger than they can handle without city support. “Detroit does have a rat problem. The city needs to help the businesses that keep this beautiful city of ours running. I guarantee there are other places with an infestation,” read a Facebook post published by Lafayette on Monday, January 27. The post also calls out Lafayette’s neighbor for bashing their business. “...The true Detroit Spirit is to help and raise each other up!.. It’s easy for American Coney Island to blame us. But who can really say the rats [aren’t] coming from them to our side?” Lafayette Coney Island, 118 W Lafayette Boulevard, hours 9 a.m. to 3 a.m. daily.