Brands like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC are known around the world for their delicious burgers, hot and cheesy pizza, CrunchWrap Supremes, and fried chicken. But in a league of its own lies the fast food hot dog restaurants. I’m sure you’ve heard of Nathan’s Hot Dogs, Portillo’s, and, of course, Hot Dog on A Stick. With its nostalgia-inspired red, yellow, and white uniforms and signage sentimental menu items, Hot Dog on A Stick is a beloved chain for thousands of customers.
Hot Dog on A Stick was created by Dave Barham in 1946 as a simple food stand on the Santa Monica Pier. What began as a stall to sell ice cream and lemonade, eventually became what we all know and love as Hot Dog on A Stick, thanks to his mother’s delicious cornbread recipe. From there, his product blew up. Soon, he was selling his famous hot dogs at county fairs across the country and later in shopping malls across the West Coast. Today, we know Hot Dog on A Stick as a large scale global corporation with 70 stores in 7 different states.
The Hot Dog On A Stick Menu
Like its sweet and nostalgic backstory, Hot Dog on A Stick has a menu that has stayed true to its origins. If you attend any Hot Dog on A Stick location, the menu offerings include Hot Dog on A Stick — a beef, veggie, or turkey hot dog covered in a cornmeal batter and then deep friend; Cheese on A Stick — a chunk of American cheese or Pepper Jack cheese covered in a cornmeal batter and then deep friend; hand stomped lemonade and frozen lemonade, which flavor offerings include lemon, lime, and cherry, hand cut french fries; and funnel cake sticks with the choice of a chocolate syrup topping or a raspberry dessert sauce.
Popular Food Items At The Hot Dog On A Stick
The small menu says a lot about the quality of food offered at Hot Dog on A Stick. You can get hamburgers and french fries from tons of different fast food restaurants, but how many spots offer hot dogs…on a stick? Although the menu is limited, there are two items that are constantly being shown love and attention: the hot dog and cheese on a stick and the hand stomped lemonade, simply made with water, sugar, freshly-squeezed lemon juice, and citric acid. People on Reddit rave that there is “nothing better than the cheese stick and lemonade” and that it’s “hands down, [the] best lemonade ever”.
The Hot Dog on A Stick fandom runs deep with a number of general and menu reviews on Reddit and Yelp. Customers made sure to share their love with comments like “My sister would hunt them to the ends of the earth. She kept driving states away” or even going as far as to say “it was one of those rare things that lived up to the hype, especially the lemonade.”
Locations
Sadly for hot dog lovers on the East Coast, Hot Dog On A Stick can only be enjoyed on trips and vacations. The franchise has 70 stores in the United States across California, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah and internationally in Korea and China.