The corn dog may have been invented on the Oregon coast back in the late 1930s, but a taste of just how far the deep-fried specialty has traveled the world is now available in downtown Medford.

Kulture Kitchen Eatery, which opened late last year at 318 E. Main St., specializes in Korean-style corn dogs and they do it with aplomb.

For the uninitiated, Kulture Kitchen’s decadent east-meets-west concoction brings new twists in batters, fillings and sauces that make the old county fair standby seem plain in comparison. A place where the Venn diagram overlaps between Kulture Kitchen’s corn dog and a carnival dog overlap is larger than life portions.

Those complexities mean that ordering is more complex than saying, “one, please,” but it’s also a lot more fun than ordering at an old Hot Dog on a Stick.

The ordering process starts with the filling. Diners have their pick between mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese and all-beef hot dog — or some combination of the two. Prices start at $7.99 for a half-cheese, half-dog “Mozz Split Stick” to $8.99 for an “All Dog Stick” or a “Cheese Split Stick” with half mozzarella and half cheddar battered and fried.

The five batter choices are where the Asian-fusion fun really begins — that is, provided counting calories are not on your list of New Year’s resolutions. The standard breading is a panko crust Kulture Kitchen calls “The OG,” but for $3 extra the more adventurous can get their dogs covered in potato chunks (crumbled french fries), sweet potato chunks, crispy rice puffs or Flamin’ Hot Cheetos crumbs.

Late last week, Kulture Kitchen Eatery also announced a sixth batter option: crunchy fried ramen noodles added to the batter.

I’ve made two visits to Kulture Kitchen over the past month and I’ve left delighted every time. On my first visit I went for a “Mozz Split Stick” with the potato chunks breading.

It’s hard to criticize freshly prepared fried cheese covered in french fries, but it is worth noting that the batter connecting it skews on the sweet side, closer to something like funnel cake than cornbread. That sweetness is in line with the Korean style, and it’s common to sprinkle it with sugar before serving.

Sugar is just one of the dips and drizzles adding dimension to this far-out treat, and at the restaurant they laid out at least nine choices for diners to doctor theirs up from mild to wild.

There’s ketchup and mustard for the purists, but in my two visits I’ve found that Kulture Kitchen’s own sauces are where it’s at. The standouts include Mustard Cheese, Wasabi Ranch and Spicy Korean, the latter being sort of a hot teriyaki sauce. There’s also squeeze bottles of standard teriyaki, Sriracha and sweet chili sauces to either drizzle on your dog, or squeeze them into dipping cups as I did to find my favorite flavors.

It seemed like the mozzarella half outweighed the dog half on my first visit, so I went for an All Dog Stick with “The OG” panko breading on my second visit last Wednesday. I found the Mustard Cheese sauce to be the perfect pairing with the more savory dog. Wasabi Ranch and Spicy Korean were also sauce surprises that worked far better than I would have expected, both on my All Dog Stick and on my crinkle cut Spicy Seoul Fries ($6.50).

Setting expectations was a dining area that was Instagram worthy in every way. The paint was fresh, the floor was spotless, but the can’t-miss feature is the rainbow of LED lights along the wall as a bassy sound system plays upbeat hits from the likes of Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa.

Kulture Kitchen Eatery is an absolute delight, and a welcome addition to a burgeoning renaissance of novel dining options added over the past few months to downtown Medford.

I can’t wait to try other indulgent treats such as Crispy Mandu, six deep fried bulgogi dumplings ($8.99), Tteokkochi Spicy Rice Cake Sticks or their indulgent Waffle Stick dessert, which offers diners’ pick of topping choices including chocolate sauce, marshmallows, Oreos and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

None of this is health food, but it sure is deliciously imaginative.

Kulture Kitchen Eatery is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and Sundays, and from noon to 11 p.m. Saturdays. The restaurant also offers delivery through the DoorDash app.

For questions or further information, call 541-500-1128, or find Kulture Kitchen Eatery on social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok.