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Dining at The Kitchen is intended to be an experience, says owner and head chef Randall Selland. It's an expensive experience, and can be a lengthy one, but it's worth it, he says. So many people agree that to get a Friday or Saturday dinner reservation at the restaurant at 2225 Hurley Way, you'l probably have to wait until January.
If you get a reservation, keep that address handy, there's no identifying sign outside. There's the street number, and that's all.
Dinner at The Kitchen is about as upscale as you can get in Sacramento. A five-course meal runs $115 - there's one sitting a night, a set menu and wine is extra.
"It's not inexpensive," Selland acknowledges, "but (the price) enables us to offer the kind of food we want to provide in the way we want to provide it."
In addition to preparing the food, Selland presents "a dog and pony show" to his customers. "I tell people what they're eating, tell them about the food, where it comes from, why it's praised, why we buy what we buy. I tell some jokes ... Presentation is crucially important, and the show is part of the presentation. We think it helps people feel comfortable and relaxed."
Two years ago Selland and his wife, Nancy Zimmer, opened a second restaurant, Selland's Market Cafe, at 5340 H St. It offers, Zimmer says, "Hand-crafted quality food for lunch and dinner, plus hot and cold food that you can take home."
BACKGROUND
*Age: 48
*Education: Community college
*Residence: Sacramento
*Native of: Fresno
*Family: Wife, Nancy Zimmer, stepchildren, Tamera and Josh; grandchildren, Ella Simone and Jackson
GGETTING STARTED
Marconi rental: "We started in 1991, renting a place on Marconi. My wife, Nancy, had started a little catering business downtown ... and this was an opportunity for her to become involved in more of a commercial operation, so we moved the catering business to the Marconi location. And that's all we did for several years.
"And then one day a friend of hers asked if she could put together some appetizers for a group of about 18 people. We did it at The Kitchen and some of the people said we should do more of it, so I put...