DETROIT — There’s no such thing as a sure thing in Hollywood. But actor-comedian-director Mike Binder thinks the new 24-hour Coney Dog restaurant he’s opening there this spring comes pretty darned close. And judging from the comments on Facebook, several thousand other folks living in the Los Angeles area think so, too. "As soon as I got out here, I said, ’If anyone ever put a coney island on Sunset Boulevard, it would be huge,"’ said Binder, a Birmingham, Mich., native who came to Hollywood 25 years ago as an aspiring comic. "And as the years went on, I had so many other ... friends say the same thing." To get them all a coney fix — and introduce other people in the entertainment world to Detroit’s most famous delicacy — Binder has had coneys and chili shipped to his home once a year for a huge, all-day hot dog party in his back yard. As many as 400 people would show up, "and they’d all just love it," Binder said. Then one day, he said, he was driving down Sunset Boulevard and saw the perfect location for Hollywood’s first coney restaurant: a new building going up at the corner of Sunset and Clark in West Hollywood, next door to Whisky a Go Go, across the street from the Viper Room and two doors from the Roxy — "in the middle of all the big rock ’n’ roll nightclubs." "On weekends and even Wednesday and Thursday, the street is jammed. There’s nothing like it," said Binder, who has directed movies such as "Reign Over Me" and "The Upside of Anger" and acted in numerous film and TV projects. The white, one-story building with rooftop parking had "this big rotunda window, and the guys could cook in the window like they do in Detroit," he said. Inside, the restaurant will look like "a 2011 Los Angeles version of Lafayette" — the model on which he’s basing Coney Dog. "I got Tim Allen to invest with me, and I got Sam Raimi, and Adam Sandler is a friend, and I called Kris Draper from the Red Wings and Braylon Edwards," who played football at the University of Michigan and is now with the New York Jets. Sandler is the only one without a Detroit connection. Draper said he couldn’t pass up the chance to be involved in a project with his friend Binder in a group that included "names ... like Tim Allen and Adam Sandler. ... There was no hesitation." He also said he’s looking forward to visiting the eatery after the Stanley Cup playoffs. "It would be very cool to walk in ... and know, 'This is my restaurant.'" Binder is planning a grand opening for a Saturday at the end of May or early June, with a guest list that will include scores of entertainers who have had coneys in his backyard or at Lafayette, when they’ve come to Detroit for film projects. "I’ve turned so many people on to coney islands — Tom Cruise, Owen Wilson, Will Smith" and many others, he said. "Kevin Costner came to one of our hot dog parties and called the next day and said, ’Where can I get those hot dogs?"’ Binder’s natural-casing franks will come from Winter Sausage in Eastpointe, Mich., which has been Lafayette’s supplier for decades. Lafayette closely guards its chili recipe, but Binder says his will be close in flavor. He’ll also be serving other Detroit mainstays. "We’ll have all the flavors of Faygo, Better Made chips ... and we’ll be the only distributor of Stroh’s beer on the West Coast." To be sure the food is authentic, his chef and manager will be Nick Vlassopoulos, whose father owns Apollo Coney Island in Sterling Heights, Mich. Faygo and Coke will be served in bottles along with a glass of ice, and the restaurant will be full-service. "You will sit down and people will serve you with silverware and plates. We’re doing it right," Binder said. The menu will be limited to coneys and loose burgers, without the Greek salads and other items typical of suburban coneys. However, there also will be vegetarian dogs and vegetarian chili "because this is Los Angeles." And besides, he said, "my daughter and my wife are vegetarians, so I had to do it."
