Ted Velman, center, with his son Johnny and grandson Ariston at Ted’s Coney Island West in Urbandale. (Photo: Duane Tinkey)
By Mary Jane Miller
When immigrants settle into their new homes, their cooking usually evolves to make use of the ingredients at hand and the new flavors they encounter. Their homeland favorites aren’t forgotten, but they often change.
So the gyro you enjoy here in Des Moines, with its tangy tzatziki sauce, is different from the pork-stuffed pita you’d eat in Greece, but it’s just as delicious. The overstuffed pita sandwiches at Ted’s Coney Island are a testament to that.
The original Coney Island was founded in the early 1950s by Ted Velman and his brother John Economos. The menu’s centerpiece was a Coney Island-style hot dog topped with housemade chili, mustard, chopped onions and a pickle nestled to one side. Many other Greek Americans opened similar Coney Island shops across the Midwest after World War II.
Here in Des Moines, the first Coney Island opened downtown at First Street and Grand Avenue, then later at Fifth and Mulberry streets. Every day it filled up with a mix of shoppers, office workers and lawyers from the county courthouse across the street. Ted, in his white shirt and tie, held court behind the counter while waitresses circulated among the booths. Instead of writing down orders, they just shouted them to the cook. It was a convivial place, and Ted built a number of lifelong friendships. (He still remembers my dad.)
So Ted struck off on his own. He moved the business to a former IHOP in an A-frame on Ingersoll Avenue, added his own name to the sign out front and updated the menu with nods to his Greek heritage, including gyros and salads. (Back then, gyros were still rare in Des Moines, but you could find them at the Iowa State Fair.) The pita wraps caught on with ’80s appetites, so Ted added other options — and, eventually, a second location. In 2005, Ted’s son Johnny opened Ted’s Coney Island West on 86th Street in Urbandale. Ted’s other son, Stacy, now owns the shop on Ingersoll.
At both places, the gyro meat is a blend of beef and lamb that’s seasoned to appeal to Midwestern tastes. The tzatziki is still made in house, with half a case of fresh cucumbers in each batch. Ted’s version is unique because he adds a touch of sour cream to the yogurt, with plenty of garlic and onion.
As with many successful family businesses, the other key ingredient is hard work, which seems to be in the Velman genes. When I stopped by a few weeks ago, Ted’s grandson Ariston teased him a bit and noted that, “grinding the cucumbers was his favorite job growing up in the restaurant.” Ted himself cut every dill pickle into the familiar slender wedges until 2019. He even worked for free for his last 25 years on the job, coming in every morning to enjoy a cup of coffee with his son before getting to work. He’ll turn 90 in April and still pops in from time to time, just like old times.
More than 70 years after the first shop opened, the business still serves Coney Island hot dogs. But with 10 pita sandwiches, a big Greek salad and pastry case full of baklava, the Greek influence on the menu is as impossible to miss as Ted’s gentle accent.
