People have been recognized to journey for a whole bunch of miles, deep into rural Curry County, to strive a delicacy that may solely be discovered right here in Langlois, Oregon: a scorching canine.
But it’s no abnormal canine. The city’s solely grocery, the Langlois Marketsays its house-made candy mustard and specifically peeled frankfurters are what make their dogs “world famous.”
For greater than 40 years, the recent canine has been the star of the Langlois Market, the place it’s featured on branded hats, T-shirts and bumper stickers. Employee McKayla Self-Blethen mentioned the shop sells a whole bunch of scorching dogs day by day.
“It’s about 175 hot dogs per box,” Self-Blethen mentioned, “and we go through multiple boxes a day, even in the slow season. In the summertime, we probably go through between five and eight boxes a day.”
This is all of the extra spectacular once you notice one field incorporates as many scorching dogs as there are residents of Langlois.
The origins of the well-known Langlois scorching canine date again to 1981. At the time, Langlois – situated between Bandon and Port Orford on the southern Oregon coast – was home to a sawmill that employed about 30 employees.
“We had a delivery guy that brought pre-made sandwiches, and we sold them to the mill guys, and he quit his route,” mentioned the market’s former proprietor, Leland Pestana. “We didn’t know what we were going to do. And my mother-in-law said, ‘Hey, why don’t you start selling a hot dog? Because people love my mustard at the Fourth of July picnics.’ And everybody liked the hot dogs better than the sandwiches.”
In truth, the Langlois scorching dogs outlasted the city’s sawmill, which closed within the Nineteen Nineties.
Today, Leland’s son, Jake Pestana, runs the shop, and he estimates his household has offered “well over 1.5 million” scorching dogs by means of the a long time. It was Jake who leaned into the corniness of all of it, including a “hot dog” gross sales counter to the market’s web site and branding the meal as “world famous.”
The “world famous” descriptor is a little bit of a operating gag within the community of Langlois (which locals pronounce both as “Lang-less” or “Lang-loyce.”) The story goes that in 2014, group members have been making an attempt to get the velocity restrict alongside U.S. 101 lowered by means of city. But the Oregon Department of Transportation questioned whether or not tiny Langlois had sufficient of what they known as “road culture” to encourage drivers to decelerate.
So, a committee of locals determined to drum up some “road culture,” and so they installed signs along the highway that learn “Welcome to World Famous Langlois.” Surely that might get drivers’ consideration.
The well-known scorching dogs are simply another reason to cease in Langlois. The dogs themselves come from Hill’s Meat Companya family-owned farm in Pendleton that processes a particular run of frankfurters completely for the Langlois Market in order that they’re simpler to peel off the casings. Peeling the dogs prevents them from getting a troublesome exterior whereas on the rotisserie.
“We had a gal who worked here for over 10 years, and she was our fastest hot dog peeler,” Jake Pestana mentioned. “I bet she might have peeled a half-million hot dogs.”
The traditional method to order a Langlois canine is with pickles, diced candy onions and the family-recipe home mustard, which is so in style the market began promoting it by the bathtub.
“It’s mustard powder, sugar, vinegar and eggs,” Leland Pestana mentioned. “That’s it. We don’t tell the people what proportions there are, but people have the recipe.”
Nate Radcliffe, a part-time worker and seemingly full-time hype man for the Langlois Market, is an enormous fan.
“The hot dog is a good dog, and the mustard kicks it up to the all-pro level that it is,” he mentioned.
Over the years, the dogs’ reputation has primarily unfold by phrase of mouth.
“Our favorite brand of advertising is the person that’s pumping gas in Roseburg that is talking to somebody who is coming over to Langlois,” Radcliffe mentioned. “Or it’ll be somebody you’re sitting next to on your Horizon puddle jumper from Seattle to Coos Bay that says, ‘Oh, do you know about the Langlois Hot Dog?’
“It’s the three guys that come up on their Harley Davidsons from Crescent City specifically to ride their bikes three hours, and their stopping point is the market to get a super dog and just spend time with each other.
“It’s the person that comes in and says, ‘I came in here when I was a kid with my granddad, and I totally remember the Langlois hot dog.’”
For many years, a scorching canine was simply 99 cents. Today, you possibly can nonetheless take pleasure in a Langlois canine for the cheap, inflation-adjusted cost of $3.75.
Next 12 months, Jake Pestana is seeking to broaden his retailer and capitalize on his scorching dogs’ reputation by opening the Langlois Market Annex in an adjoining building. The spot can be open within the evenings and supply seating for individuals who wish to take pleasure in their scorching dogs on website.
And the huge, wood-carved statue of a scorching canine he’s planning to put in exterior the brand new place? Now, that’s highway tradition.
Langlois’ “world famous hot dogs” will be discovered at Langlois Market, open day by day at 48444 U.S. 101, Langlois. langloismarket.com
— Samantha Swindler, [email protected], @editorswindler
