These are lessons he’ll apply as his team turns out a menu he identifies as being influenced equally by the different cities where he has spent time — Chicago, Boston, New York and San Francisco. Specialties include pan-roasted Arctic char filet with creamed spinach; a duo of Atkins Ranch lamb: a mustard-braised shoulder and a pine-nut-crusted rack with fresh pappardelle; and the house-made country pork terrine with golden raisins, toasted pistachios, plum mostarda and toasted farmer’s bread.
Other chefs of some fame who have settled in the valley include 44-year-old François Bouvet, credited for creating the most successful restaurant in Poland and bringing the status of a Michelin star, one of the most influential gastronomical ratings in the world, to Le Louvre restaurant, 2756 E. Bidwell St. in Folsom. Chef Angelo Auriana, a James Beard Foundation award winner, guides the kitchen at Masque Ristorante, 3909 Park Drive in El Dorado Hills.
Following the Money Trail
That outsiders are looking to tap into Sacramento’s perceived potential is no surprise to 49-year-old chef and owner Randall Selland. The force behind
The Kitchen restaurant, 2225 Hurley Way, opened in 1991 and the popular Selland’s Market 10 years later, he thinks the high cost of living in major cities is attracting chefs to this area. “I can do my food, be part owner or chef owner, anything good that happens is because of me, and I can afford to live there,” Selland imagines the chefs say to themselves. “In five years, if it doesn’t work out, I can go back to Vegas or wherever.”
Preparing meals in full view of his patrons, Selland is recognized as much for his animated presentation style as for the intimate dining experience he creates. With dishes such as white Alba truffles, baby chives in roasted wild turkey broth, or Randall’s French onion-apple soup with cave-aged Swiss Gruyère and walnut-and-fire-roasted foie gras toasts, he’s confident the quality of his food is on par with any chef’s in the United States. “My son went to
Charlie Trotter’s (the Chicago restaurant Wine Spectator named America’s best restaurant in 2000) this year. He thought our food was better, but theirs was prettier.”
The money behind Kozen’s Japanese restaurant, 2310 Fair Oaks Blvd., has taken an approach usually attributed to chain groups by retaining, on a consulting basis, the entire team that opened San Francisco’s famed Ozumo. Although none have a financial stake, Chef “Sho” Kamio, credited with introducing a new food philosophy and ethic to that city, along with a pair of sushi chefs and two management personnel, are here on a temporary basis to ensure the concept takes root.
In terms of food culture, Kamio, who opened Ozumo in 2000, estimates Sacramento is lagging about five years behind San Francisco. Bringing his unique style here through the three S’s — seasonal, simple and surprising — he invites those seeking adventure to feast on dishes of green-tea soba noodles, lettuce-wrapped halibut steamed in sake, and grilled saltwater eel with foie gras.
Not surprisingly, he cites a three-fold challenge to the venture: educating customers to a cuisine, increasing the amount spent on each meal to obtain some margin of profitability and putting in a permanent management team that can function at the level found in a big city. Another hurdle is the bewitching hour of 10 p.m., when many folks head home instead of heading out. The lack of a sizeable late-night dining public, Kamio believes, indicates Sacramento has a way to go before it reaches big-city status.
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