Lipuma’s Coney Island

Metro Detroit takes its coneys seriously, and in downtown Rochester the argument starts and ends at Lipuma’s. Bill Lipuma opened it in 1969 — right on the Paint Creek, where the picnic tables sit close enough to hear the ducks — and it’s been a family operation ever since, now run by his son Tony. The formula hasn’t budged: a proper Detroit coney (beanless chili, diced onion, yellow mustard), chili cheese fries, tacos, and a line out the door that moves faster than it looks. It’s cash-only and cheap, the interior is small and nostalgic, and the whole thing is best enjoyed outside on the deck with the creek burbling past. This is the kind of unpretentious, been-here-forever spot every good town needs and not every town has. On our list as Rochester’s coney of record — the after-the-game, before-the-walk, any-excuse-really institution.