How the Oregonian Pronto Pup Became a Midwestern Legend | Eater Portland

"Along the side of Highway 101 on the Oregon Coast I found the Rockaway Beach Pronto Pup stand — a small white-and-black hot dog shack capped by a giant 30-foot fiberglass corn dog with a zigzag of yellow mustard — packed on a Saturday in May with tourists in tennis shoes and ball caps. Kids climb onto a mechanical corn dog mounted with a saddle outside the front door, visitors tap their feet on black-and-white tiles by a merchandise display selling shirts that scream “I rode the corndog” or “You can’t beat our corndogs,” and people sit by the window biting into cornmeal-crusted hog dogs with pickles and cheese while sharing Tater Tots. Behind the counter employees dunk all-beef hot dogs and sausages in a batter mix, then fry each coated frank to a hazelnut brown, producing a juicy, snappy dog in a thick, fluffy crust. The Rockaway stand uses the Pronto Pup batter — a savory blend of cornmeal, wheat flour, and rice flour that’s intentionally less sweet and airier/crisper than some Texas-style corn dogs — and sold 29,946 original Pronto Pups in 2023; the location isn’t a formal franchise but is allowed to use the Pronto Pup name as long as it exclusively uses Pronto Pup batter." - Brooke Jackson-Glidden