Stephanie Roszko was looking for something simple. Since the 1990s, she had worked as a bartender, including 13 years in the Flathead Valley at well-known establishments like the Lake McDonald Lodge, Whitefish Mountain Resort, and the Jalisco Cantina in Whitefish. However, the demanding and unusual hours of bartending — nights, weekends, and times when most people want to be out with friends and family — meant she didn’t have as much time to spend with her own family, including her son, Finnaghan.
“I never got to see him, and I just got really tired of that,” she said.
So a few years ago, Stephanie decided to quit bartending and go work for herself. But she wanted something simple, something she could run on her own and on no one else’s schedule. She found it in the form of a beat-up old food cart on Craigslist. With a little bit of TLC courtesy of her husband, she was able to get the cart up, running and ready for use. It had a flattop stove, a sink and a spot to plug in a cooler. Now the question was what to make and sell? To answer that, Stephanie went back to that original mantra: something simple. She found it in the form of sausages and, more specifically, hot dogs.
Who exactly invented the hot dog is up for debate. But, thankfully, the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, which is a real organization founded in 1994 and based in Washington, D.C., has a pretty good history on its website. The sausage itself is one of the oldest processed foods, with mentions of it going back to the 9th Century B.C. The popular “Frankfurter” — a thin sausage in sheep’s intestines — was allegedly invented in Frankfurt, Germany, more than 500 years ago, even before Christopher Columbus set foot in North America. The history gets even more vague when trying to figure out who was the first person to plop that meat in a bun, with some tracing that custom to Europe, even as others say it happened over here in the New World sometime in the 1800s. Regardless of who did what and when, the culinary combo that would become known as the “hot dog” would only grow in popularity throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Even today, Americans consume a lot of hot dogs, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, which is perhaps best known for promoting National Hot Dog Month (July) and National Hot Dog Day (also in July). The experts estimate that Americans consume about 20 billion hot dogs every year, which comes out to about 70 dogs per person. Clearly, some folks are enjoying a few extras to make up for the vegetarians and those who gravitate toward hamburgers at summer barbecues.
And so, with that history in mind, Stephanie decided to become the “Sausage Queen” and opened up a high-class hot dog cart. “High-class” because, while you can order a “Plain Dawg,” the heart and soul of the menu is made up of elk bratwursts, jackalope sausage and even reindeer sausage. And these aren’t just pieces of boiled or grilled meat being served on a soggy old bun with a drizzle of mustard. Each “dawg” comes with a well-thought-out combination of toppings. And while you could ask for some substitutions, we recommend you just go along with what the Sausage Queen suggests. For example, the Elk Bratwurst is jalapeno and cheddar-filled and topped with dill pickle mustard, grilled onions and sauerkraut. The Beer Bratwurst is an Amber Ale-soaked brat with pineapple jam, grilled onions and apples.
“We wanted to do something that no one else was doing locally,” Stephanie said of the menu choices.
Over time, the menu has expanded to non-sausage items, including a lamb sausage gyro, a Philly cheese steak and — perhaps most intriguing — an authentic Maine lobster roll. Stephanie said the lobster is flash-frozen and shipped overnight from the Pine Tree State, before being prepared in warm butter and placed in a roll (although native Mainers would note that a butter-forward lobster roll traditionally hails from Connecticut. Mainers are partial to the mayo-based roll). Regardless of what part of New England the recipe hails from, the crustations from the Gulf of Maine are popular with Stephanie’s customers and she has to order about 80 pounds of lobster meat per month in the summer. Stephanie said the Sausage Queen has about 20 different menu items, with some that are available all the time (like the classic Plain Dawg) and others that are only around seasonally.
The Sausage Queen was an immediate success when it opened in 2021, and two years later, it expanded to include a food truck, allowing Stephanie to cover more ground and more events. The truck is dubbed the “Big Queen,” while the cart is called “Lil’ Queen.” Stephanie also hired someone to help her operate both the cart and the truck, splitting duties with Chef John Baca, who has worked at a number of restaurants around the Flathead Valley. Stephanie said that during the summer, the cart and truck are usually out five or six days a week at local farmer’s markets and big events like the Under the Big Sky music festival (for those big ones, Stephanie usually brings on two or three additional employees to help out). There are also plans to expand even further, with the addition of a trailer. Stephanie said that while the truck has plenty of room for her and her crew, it’s getting up there in age and taking it on long road trips is a challenge. Presently, she said the furthest she’ll take the truck is Libby. With the new trailer, however, she’ll be able to cover events in Missoula, Butte and beyond.
But despite those lofty dreams, the Flathead Valley will always be the Queen’s primary palace. For locals and visitors who would like to try the Sasuage Queen’s expansive menu, the best bet is to head over to the Chef Store in Evergreen on Fridays or keep an eye on Facebook (facebook.com/mtsausagequeen) where Stephanie posts her locations every week.
