N.Y.'s Papaya King to open at Penn

In about a month, Papaya King will open its doors at Penn, serving its hot dogs and fruit smoothies outside of New York City for the first time since the 1930s. Replacing the Camera Shop on 40th Street, it will become the first Papaya King to hit a college campus -- and the third new restaurant to line 40th Street since Izzy and Zoe's opened in February. Construction will begin as soon as the operation space secures gas use. Owner Daniel Horan said he hopes to open Papaya King a few weeks before Thanksgiving. "I think this is a perfect thing for college," Horan said. "It's quick, easy and relatively inexpensive." A typical meal at the hot dog joint will be priced at about $4. Franks, which come with toppings varying from sauerkraut to chili and cheese, will cost less than $2 each, and fruit juices and smoothies will run for about $2.50. The restaurant may also be open until 2 or 3 a.m. on Thursday, Friday or Saturday nights, making it one of few late night establishments on campus. Many students applauded the expected low prices, several of them citing Izzy and Zoe's as too expensive. "[Papaya King is] very affordable, and it's more of what we need on 40th Street," said College and Wharton senior Ben Greenblum, who added that many state universities do a better job than Penn of providing student-budget, late-night restaurants. But while happy with the prices, several students questioned the limited menu, which centers almost exclusively around hot dogs. "I think they might want to branch out more," said Wharton sophomore Katie Schottenstein. "I don't know if the market here is big enough for purely hot dogs." "It depends how good [they] taste," added Wharton senior Minchu Cai. College sophomore Jason Chinitz believes Papaya King should consider offering kosher options. "It would serve a great majority of people who already frequent Irv's," Chinitz said. While Horan said that he is thinking about providing kosher food items, he does not plan on expanding the menu, outside of possibly adding a Quaker Dog frankfurter. "We don't try to do things we're not good at," he explained, citing the restaurant's expertise in making hot dogs and fruit drinks. Although students were happy to hear of the late-night hours, none of them think Papaya King will satisfy the demand for an around-the-clock diner. "Late night is not late enough," Engineering junior Jeff Wai said. "We need a 24-hour place. The University should come together and promote that more," Schottenstein said. Horan said he believes the Sundance Cinema, scheduled to open on the corner of 40th and Walnut streets sometime this academic year, will be great for all the businesses along 40th Street. And he claimed that he feels no sense of competition with the bagel shop Izzy and Zoe's and the Mediterranean grill Bitar's. "It's not a zero-sum game," said Horan, predicting that the businesses will benefit from each other's success. Audrea Hedman, a manager at Izzy and Zoe's, said she doesn't think Papaya King will hurt Izzy and Zoe's business at all. "We're a whole gourmet Jewish deli. It's a different type of restaurant," Hedman said.

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