Cozy Dog | Corn Dog Kicks on Route 66

Ultimate Corn Dog

Are you a corn-dog lover looking to get your kicks on Route 66? Pull in to Cozy Dog, just south of Springfield. You will realize your corn-dog dreams.

Let’s face it: 99% of all corn dogs don’t measure up. Cozy Dog’s do.

Ed Waldemire created these special pups when he was in the Air Force stationed in Texas during World War II. He called his invention a Crusty Cur. Flyboys at the Amarillo PX loved it. After the war, Waldemire’s wife convinced him that his wiener needed a more appealing name. In 1946, they opened the first Cozy Dog. They invented the name to express the fact that nobody should eat a single, lonely one.

What Makes a Cozy Dog Special?

You don’t have to be a street food connoisseur to savvy the difference between a Cozy Dog and a common corn dog. They are dipped in batter and deep-fried when ordered. So the Cozy’s batter jacket maintains bright crunch. The dog within plumps with juice. This, we dare say, is the Platonic ideal of a corn dog. The menu offers breakfast, burgers, and sandwiches, but it’s corn dogs that command attention. You also want French fries. Family baskets include four cozy dogs and a large order of fries. The fries, cut here, earn their own accolades.

Service is do-it-yourself. When your order is ready, pick up the tray at the counter then head to the condiment bar. Here choose pickles, relish, peppers, and onions.

All About Route 66

Customers find their own seats. A laminated collage of Route 66 ephemera tops every table. Indeed, Cozy Dog today is a shrine to Route 66 and to itself. Mementos, memorabilia, clippings, and old signs adorn the walls everywhere. Anybody in the market for a souvenir of their quest for kicks on Route 66 will find what they want here.

Route 66 between Chicago and St. Louis is now Interstate 55. The Cozy Dog Drive-In is situated where the old Abe Lincoln Motel used to be.