Weenie Royale
There is a restaurant in Sacramento called June’s Cafe. June’s Cafe is a small cramped coffee shop with 4 tables that can each seat 2 people max. However, most of the customers sit at the coffee shop counter on barstools in front of the cooking area. Most of the customers are old Japanese American men (niseis – 2nd generation Americans of Japanese ancestory). June is an immigrant from Japan. June does all of the cooking and works the cash register. Her husband Dennis cleans the tables and provides the water, Miso soup, and Macaroni salad that accompanies each entree but doesn’t help with the cooking. When the restaurant is busy, you’ll see June dealing with 10 orders and the cash register at the same time. She cooks one entreee at a time. The menu is split between Japanese rice dishes (Chicken Curry, Teriyaki Beef, etc.) and American grilled sandwiches (hamburgers, grilled ham and cheese, etc.). Most people come for the rice dishes. The restaurant’s feature dish is Weenie Royale. Weenie Royale is a mixture of fried egg, onion, soy sauce, and sliced hot dogs over steam white rice.
I always wondered who came up with Weenie Royale and why. Was it June’s creation? Or do others also make Weenie Royale. Today I learned there is an interesting history behind the Weenie Royale.
An oral history can be heard here.
The recipe and a written history can be found here.
I took Megan to June’s this afternoon for lunch. We shared a Beef with Tofu over white rice. Megan inhaled the macaroni salad and the tofu in the miso soup (both served individually before the entree). She ate about a 1/4 of my Beef with Tofu over rice (and the entree was huge. More than enough for the biggest appetite)!
June’s Cafe is the best. If it is crowded there can be a long wait. Some folks phone in orders but I never have. It used to be the best value in town, but the prices have caught up and are now just reasonable.