Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
At Five Star Bank,
community is at the heart
of what we do.
Every day, we strive to
have thoughtful solutions
for our customers and
help our communities prosper.
Honest dialogue about the
issues affecting the region
is vitally important
to that prosperity.
We are proud to be a part of
the conversation
and hope you'll join in.
♪♪
Sacramento is now known
as the nation's
farm to fork capital.
And good eats in Sacramento
are really nothing new.
As our relationship with
good eating goes all the way
back to John Sutter.
For many of us,
some of the best memories
are the meals we shared
in restaurants with family,
on our first dates,
or even celebrating a
special event.
The mention of a favorite
burger joint or the family's
favorite ice cream parlor
can bring a secret smile or
a shared laugh at the memory
of a good time.
Sister and brother Maryellen
and Keith Burns are
the authors of "Lost
Restaurants of Sacramento"
and join us to share their
journey remembering the cafes,
the restaurants, and the
drive-ins that are an
unforgettable part
of our history.
So, what inspired the book?
>>We have been eating out since
we moved to Sacramento in 1954.
We might not have a lot of
money, but we could explore
all the places we grew up,
on Broadway especially,
from the drive-ins to the
Chinese restaurants.
If you've ever been on Broadway,
there's just dozens and
dozens of restaurants.
And our father worked in the
Jim Denio's Auction, so we
used to go out there to...
>>Really? In Roseville?
>>And it's one of Keith's
favorite places and restaurants.
So we wanted to share the
joy we had of eating out
with others.
>>And Keith, you guys grew up
in New Helvetia?
>>We grew up in
the brick projects.
Before that, we grew up in
the wooden projects so we -
the interesting thing -
>>This is off Broadway in
Sacramento, right?
>>Right.
And the brick projects are
still there.
And what's interesting about
them is because it was such
an interesting mix of peoples,
that we ate at everyone's house.
So you'd get black food,
Mexican food, white food,
Korean food, and interesting
about that is everybody in
the world eats.
They may not drink water,
but everyone eats.
And you go somewhere and they
say, "Where'd you eat?"
Instead of, "What did the
Eiffel Tower look like?"
they'd always mention first,
basically, "Where'd you eat?"
>>Yeah, you're right.
>>And some of the cultures,
the first thing that you see
in Chinese cultures is
"Have you eaten?"
>>So tell us,
who is this book written for?
Really, who did you write
this for?
>>When we were looking at it,
we didn't see it just as a
pure nostalgia piece.
We really thought that there was
nothing quite like it
in Sacramento.
We've long been interested
in food history, in general,
but there really weren't any
stories about the places
that we really remembered,
so we wanted to be able to
connect with people that
shared the same kinds of
stories and enthusiasms that
we did.
>>Well, there's a quote in this
book that I just found
fascinating that I just want to
share with you.
And it says here,
Samuel Noland, in an article
in Gourmet in 1952 wrote,
"We remember certain restaurants
not because of the food
or the taste,"
kind of goes to
your point Keith,
"or the ambience of the room,
or convenience, or any other
of the twenty reasons that
people list for choosing
a place to eat.
We remember the places that we
have a strong emotional tie to,
where we had our first date,
proposed to our wife,
experienced our first taste
of something exotic.
We celebrate the moment,
not the place,
but the place and the moment are
intertwined forever."
>>I love that quote.
It's one of my favorite quotes.
>>Well food has
one of those interesting -
because you taste it,
goes into your memory,
and you smell the food,
you see it,
it's one of those things that
almost involves every scents.
So food becomes the little
thing that works so well.
Because you can have a
memory of some place,
but food actually gives all
those memory places and
tastes and looks and works
that well.
>>And to go back to
earliest memories,
you go back all the way
to John Sutter.
>>He was the first
restaurateur in town.
>>John Sutter
was a restaurateur?
>>1839, 1840, that was a
stopping point, literally
for everybody that was
coming from the East or
from any direction and that's
where you went to eat
so he had bars, saloons,
the first distillery.
>>He was making liquor too?
>>Oh, you better believe
he was making liquor.
>>And some of the first
grapevines in the area.
>>And for John Sutter,
it wasn't just Sacramento.
Hawk Farm, which was right
outside of Marysville, was a
demonstration agricultural area
so he was developing
new strains of
fruits and vegetables.
He has a peach
that's named after him;
new waves of livestock and
chicken, so he was really
a great agriculturalist.
And that's where he thought
the future of Sacramento
was going to be.
His ability to be able to
take that and then
export it someplace else
and getting it down to
San Francisco.
>>Isn't it ironic that today,
that's the conversation
that's being had today?
Wow, we've discovered
agriculture.
>>Well the interesting thing
about that is, is that you
could actually use it as,
from 1839 until now,
farm to fork.
>>Hey there you go, that's true.
So, as you all were
researching this book,
I'm amazed at the pictures and
the information.
How did you extract
all this information
out of places that some of
them have been closed for
over half a century?
>>We have a lot of luck
in Sacramento.
We have tremendous archives and
libraries, so the Center for
Sacramento History has over
six million photographs.
The Sacramento Bee donated
photos to them.
Our favorite place to
research was actually the
Sacramento Public Library.
>>Really?
>>We have a big call out
to them.
The Sacramento Public Library
not only has the
best collection of books
on Sacramento,
all the city directories,
so you can look at a
particular address,
all the ads for
the old restaurants,
but the librarians there have
actually been duplicating
stories from newspapers
from about 1907 on,
so you can just walk into
the library and say,
"I'd like to find out more
about Coral Reef,"
and there's a good chance that
they can just pull a file...
>>Coral Reef, I have not heard
that name in years.
Remind us of what was
Coral Reef.
>>The Coral Reef was on
Fulton Avenue at a place called
Restaurant Row.
If you were to survey, and we
found that this was corroborated
in our research too,
it's the number one place
that everybody remembers.
>>Really?
>>Polynesians started in the
50s after the war.
Seven rooms,
you did banquets there,
anniversaries there,
it's the one place-
a lot of places on Sundays
people would go there.
Best pineapple spare ribs,
paper-wrapped chicken,
Cantonese food...
>>Incidentally, the pineapple
spare ribs, you've got that
recipe in the book.
>>It's in the book. Yes.
>>Absolutely, although that's
not everyone's favorite.
>>There is actually a barbequed
rib that we have not been able
to get our hands on the recipe
we're still searching for.
And you know when people -
it's funny because when
people talk about these
restaurants that are gone,
they remember the time and place
but they also remember the food
and they're like,
"Man, nobody makes it like
that anymore."
>>Nobody.
>>You know so those recipe -
collecting recipes, I mean,
that's a treasure all in itself.
>>So, when you guys were
researching this book,
who were some of the
personalities that were the
most fascinating to you?
>>Keith and I were talking
about this earlier,
we think the most fascinating
personalities are the people
who came forward,
who used to work as chefs
or as cooks or as servers
or family members.
>>Tell us about some.
>>Do you have any stories you'd
like to share specifically?
>>Go ahead. You have them.
>>One of the things is we did do
a launch at Time-Tested Books
and we're delighted to say
standing-room only crowd.
>>The most exciting part is,
and I can't remember
Augie's last name,
but a young man came
whose father was the owner of
Robert's Fish Grotto.
And he brought original photos
and told stories, and
we opened it up for people to
be able to share their stories,
so we had a waitress that
had been at Aldo's Restaurant
for over 20 years
that came through.
And lots of people that shared
their stories from a Reece Reed,
we interviewed over
fifty people and almost all
their stories are in the book
and we're continuing to
collect them so we have had
Aldo Vivera from Aldo's that
wants to now tell their stories,
the widow of Machiavelli's,
which is one of the
finest Italian restaurants
that was in town,
want to come forward.
So we're still collecting
these stories because
everybody's got a story of
their favorite restaurant or
what it was like to be a son
or a daughter of somebody
who owned one.
>>Alright, and as a former
employee at the Tower Theatre,
I just have to ask
did you all ever get to
the drugstore back when
Tower Records was...
>>Oh yes.
I still have memories of
the record room.
I'm five years older
than Maryellen, so I remember
going back and taking a
record off, going into the
little room playing the record.
And Maryellen remembers
the soda fountain.
She would go get ice cream...
>>I could see that you both
have different priorities.
>>But what I really liked was
the penny candy because
Clayton Solomon who was the
owner of it, would...
>>Clayton Solomon?
What relation to Russ Solomon?
>>So Russ Solomon's father
actually started it, and
he had a penny candy counter
and so you know, usually,
they had wonderful things,
I don't think Keith remembers,
the wax lips and you got
penny candy that was on dots
that you could eat.
But if you were really
flirtatious, even as a five
year old, he could give you
an extra piece of candy.
>>Really?
You know I never -
I didn't realize that
Russ Solomon's father was
actually the person
that started...
>>He actually started it.
>>Wow.
And that's one of a number
of worldwide phenomenon
that came out of this region.
Another one that you mentioned
in this book is A&W Root Beer.
>>Right.
>>What's that story?
>>Well A&W - Sacramento had an
interesting collection of
root beer stands.
There was A&W...
>>A&W was the first.
They actually started in Lodi,
close to one of our
favorite places -
Richland Dairy.
And so it started there
in 1923, but they just had a
root beer stand and
Sacramento did at that point.
There were root beer stands
from the 1880s where people
would create sarsaparilla or
something else.
>>Really?
So we were big in root beer?
>>Root beer was
a temperance drink.
In fact, that was one of the
early advertisements for
Hires Root Beer.
The temperance drink because
Sacramento- well California,
it was one of the most
important prohibition states
because people don't realize
that prohibition started in
the 1860s, 70s, 80s, and
before the whole country
went prohibition,
California was very big.
So there was the idea to get
people away from liquor,
you offer them something
without liquor,
which was root beer
because you had all these
flavors that theoretically
gave people that kick of alcohol
without the alcohol.
>>It's interesting, a couple
months ago we had J-E Paino
from...
>>Ruhstaller.
>>From Ruhstaller Brewery,
excellent stuff.
The- on the show, and I
didn't realize what a big
beer town this was.
>>So we were a big beer town
and a root beer town.
We had big breweries here.
And root beer was very big.
Going back to A&W,
what we also were was a
big franchise area,
so what A&W did
that was different was,
is that they started a
franchise of their root beer,
and they had root beer stands
but they started one
of the very first drive-ins,
probably the second drive-in
in the United States from here
and then started franchising
all across the country.
And you know, drive-ins were
a big deal here.
We had some beautiful, you know,
from an architectural
standpoint, some beautiful
drive-ins.
>>One of them in your book,
Stan's...
>>Stan's drive-in.
>>Yeah, just an
amazing drive-in.
>>Now that was downtown on
the corner of 16th and L or...
>>It was 16th and L or
16th and K, which was one of the
ones that everybody remembers,
very iconic.
But there was also one in
Del Paso heights.
There were five in Sacramento
and you ask what
the joy of discovery is.
We always assumed that
Stan's was a totally
Sacramento drive-in.
He was all up and down
California so there were
stands in Fresno, Los Angeles,
and twenty-five other places
across country and
that's why I said
Sacramento is a test market.
Keith brought it up.
He wanted to franchise and
have stands go national.
Now, you know, when one of
the interesting things that
you all did in this book,
which was unusual, was that
a lot of times
when you talk about history,
it's very separate.
When you talk about
this community
or that community or other,
but you have a chapter
in here talking about
the most diverse city
in the world and how all
these different food types
were available.
But you talk about
the Chinese community
and the Hong Kong Cafe which
unfortunately recently closed,
the Mexican community
and the tamale phenomenon.
The African American community
where clubs like the Zanzibar
had Duke Ellington and
folks like that.
How - you're approach on this is
very unusual, what did it say,
what did all of
those food choices
say about our region?
>>Well, we were the most diverse
in the very beginning,
from the days of the Gold Rush,
25% of everyone who came
to Sacramento was foreign-born
and we've been foreign-born
outside of the - what was then
the continental U.S.
which wasn't that big.
And that diversity
remained with us.
What surprised us is that
I always made the assumption
that the Chinese were one of
the first cooks in Sacramento,
but it was actually
African Americans.
>>Really?
So by 1863, that's who the
stewards were,
the cooks in the restaurants.
So the black population came
very early and there was
waves of immigration who
would be the people
behind the scenes in
these restaurants.
>>You made an interesting
comment on prejudice and food.
What was that?
>>Well,
everyone in the world eats,
and the interesting
thing about prejudice is,
because we were
raised in projects,
and everybody had
the same economic structure, and
because you had black people,
Mexican people, Asian people,
white people - we ate at
everyone's place.
And one of the things
about prejudice is,
if you hate a people, you
don't eat at the restaurants,
so you miss all
these wonderful tastes,
because everyone in the
world eats,
they may not drink water,
but everyone shares
that similarity.
Right.
You know there are sometimes
restaurants - lost restaurants
are kind of like investigating
an archaeological sign, or
something like that.
So, for instance, one of the
things that have always
puzzled me for years,
driving down 80 up to
San Francisco is I'd see
the sign that said "Milk Farm."
And I'm sure I'm
not the only one -
what was Milk Farm?
>>That was Keith's favorite
restaurant, I think.
>>Well, we would go to
a swap meet in Napa
almost every weekend, and
Milk Farm was a place,
when we went there in
the 50s and 60s, they had a
counter and scrambled eggs
which were not very good and
bacon, and you went and you
got your food.
And it was very inexpensive,
the expensive place is up
the road in Nut Tree.
That's where the tourists went,
that was like almost
a Sacramento version of
Knot's Berry Farm.
But the Milk Farm was
for everybody.
Great fried chicken.
Keith, I remember he said
different kinds of things, so
it was around from the 30s,
it was very popular
when somebody by the name
of Duncan Hines,
we've recognized him
from the cake mix,
but he was one of the
first entrepreneurs on the
road restaurants.
>>Yes, recommended by
Duncan Hines.
>>Yes, recommended.
So that was one of the
places that was recommended
by Duncan Hines.
It was right outside the
town of Dixon and
literally made Dixon
a tourist destination.
People all across the
country would come to the
Milk Farm...
>>I should know this, but is
that sign still up?
>>The sign is still up, there
were actually three signs total.
One of the signs is in a
field not too far from there
so there's the sign and my
husband remembers that there
was also because it's
"Hey *** *** the Cow and
the Fiddle" and he remembers
a third sign being there as
well that was on the fence.
So there was three signs
total and you passed by that.
>>And you just mentioned
the Nut Tree.
What's the story of the Nut
Tree, what happened there?
>>The Nut Tree had an airport
and a large food area and a
tourist shop.
So you walked - I mean it was
more for tourists-
we went in maybe a couple times
a year maybe that much.
He went in
a couple times a year.
Me and my mother used to
go a lot.
We'd sneak off.
>>Oh I never knew that.
Oh, learn things every day.
>>Yeah, my mother and I would
do road trips quite a lot.
What happened with the Nut Tree
is why a lot of restaurants
close and that's
the original people who
owned it pass on and it went
to a large family,
huge family dispute
and literally could not decide
how they were going
to move forward and
they ended up selling
the land rather than
continue the restaurant.
>>When I was a little kid,
I used to love to get those
little loaves of bread.
>>Those were fantastic.
>>I don't know why they tasted
so good but you know.
>>We have the recipe, not in
the book but we'll get you
the recipe for those loaves
of bread.
>>But it's uh- actually
yesterday I was, just by
happenstance, I was talking
with the current owner of
the Nut Tree and he was
talking about how important
it was for him to preserve
what was left of the
artifacts of these rides and
stuff like that.
And the interesting thing is
that one of the concepts
that was bandied about
but didn't work out was
to actually try to re-create a
Knot's Berry-like Farm
experience right before
the recession hit.
>>Oh gosh.
>>So...
>>The recession took out a lot
of restaurants.
They were going to do the
same thing at the Milk Farm
by the way.
There were investors that
had purchased the property
who intended on doing the
same thing with the Milk Farm
as well.
And the recession affected a
lot of restaurants.
Since we started writing
this book, we estimated
what, at least 30
restaurants have closed that
are some of our favorites,
some just in the
last few months.
Really?
Like what's closed recently?
La Boheme has, a lot of the
restaurants from midtown.
Our favorite which is in
the book, Market Club, which
has been around since 1933.
>>That was the little place that
was in like an industrial area.
It was in- well off of 5th
street, it was in the old
Fruit Market.
And it was wonderful,
it looked like an old place but
they had the greatest
fried chicken and it was
wonderful food,
but the man who owned
it had a heart attack and
nobody else wanted to run it
and it closed down, and
that's the problem;
either rents go up because what
happens is restaurants go in,
the district either gets
really popular or the
restaurant gets popular and
the landlord raises the rent
and they can't pay the rent.
And that's one of the reasons.
No discussion of old restaurants
would be complete without
mentioning politics and you-
>>We did a whole chapter of it.
Yeah and so the watering holes
from the Senator Hotel
to some of these other places,
what were the ones that really
stuck in your minds?
>>By the time we were around
Posey's Cottage was probably
the number one-
>>The derby club!
>>Yeah, the derby club.
The reason it was called the
derby club was...
it had a derby restaurant on
their sign.
There were lunch clubs that
would be at every one of the
restaurants so Frank Fat's
had it's- there was one,
not at Beddles, but at some of
the other restaurants.
So each one had their own
and political lobbyists
would get together over lunch
and have private meetings,
this was before the political
reformat in private rooms.
>>That awful proposition.
>>That awful proposition.
'90 would go,
Antonini's was another
place that was very popular,
the Tamale Cafe was another
and they would be able to
get together.
Beddles is actually the most
fun one.
It actually closed before we
were ever able to go there
but a very influential type
of place and you would be
able to conduct business in
a way that you can't today.
In fact, I think that if
more people ate out in the
Senate in the Congress we
would find that solutions to
a lot of these really
intractable problems would
get solved, that's how it
got solved in Sacramento.
>>That's ironic that you
mention that because I read
last week that the Senate
dining room, it used to be a
popular place where the
Senators would get together
in the collegiate atmosphere
and stop fighting for a
while and share a meal,
it's virtually empty because
neither side wants to actually
sit down with each other.
>>Kind of a sad state of
affairs but that really goes
to the point that's in this
book about the importance of
meals and food toward
relationships.
>>What does it that you think
really comes across in this
book about that?
>>To me, food is the one place
that you can have
common ground, literally.
And that you can talk about
almost anything.
Around our table when we were
kids growing up that's where
you did your conversations,
that's where you talk
about your day.
Restaurants and the coffee
houses, which we don't get
to talk about much in these
places, that's where we go
now to connect with your
neighbors and other
community people and you
share this common kind of story.
You know, one of the
restaurants you mentioned
here that closed was Fuji's
and Fuji's was right near
the Buddhist Church where
there's that great festival
every year.
And so, both of those places
end up being a place where
all kinds of different
people- because everybody
went to that, you know-
would connect with each other.
Food, to me, the Bazaar,
which is 67 or 68 years old now,
was most Sacramentans
introduction to Japanese food.
I'm sure.
It started there.
A place like Fuji,
the Rickshaw, which is also gone
which was one of my favorite
places that was on 10th Street,
that are gone, we wouldn't
have this profusion
of sushi restaurants now if
it hadn't been for the festival.
Literally at that church.
>>What is it that's not in here?
What got left on the cutting
room table that should've
been in there?
>>Keith's favorite chapter,
all you can eat.
>>All you can eat.
The smorgy which is
interesting because people
assume that smorgy is where
you pile the plate.
The truth is original bars,
in order to bring people in,
they served lunches,
which is a smorgy.
And the idea behind them is
instead of piling the plate,
you select a food.
And it was great - Okie Frijole
which became Ole Frijole
because of- whatever- prejudice.
But you had- there was one
over on Arden Fair that I
remember because-
The Whole Foods Circus.
The Whole Foods Circus but
there was a smorgy there and
I went to the smorgy and I
get a little food on each
plate and I went back for
the third time and the owner
grabbed my plate and said,
"No, I think you've had
enough. You've come back
three times."
and I said "No."
So I brought back the
Sac State football team the
next week.
Forty five members...
>>Oh you got your revenge.
I'm assuming I did well
because they closed
a few weeks after.
>>Well folks, maybe they'll
be a part two.
>>We hope so.
>>Well, thank you both.
>>Well thank you so much.
>>And lot's of good eating.
That's our show and thanks to
our guests and thanks to you
for watching.
For Studio Sacramento,
I'm Scott Syphax.
See you next time,
right here, on KVIE.
♪♪
At Five Star Bank,
community is at the heart
of what we do.
Every day, we strive to
have thoughtful solutions
for our customers and
help our communities prosper.
Honest dialogue about the
issues affecting the region
is vitally important
to that prosperity.
We are proud to be a part of
the conversation
and hope you'll join in.
All episodes of
Studio Sacramento,
along with other KVIE programs,
are available to watch online
at kvie.org/video.