When did you start in the industry?

In 1985 at 30 years of age, I was actually an artist previously. I went to Amsterdam doing a stained glass art show, which was my medium at the time, I was involved in wholesale producing and shows. It had been my passion and work since 19 years of age. Stained glass was a popular hobby at the time, people were taking classes so the money was good back then. I became increasingly dissatisfied though because of where the trend was going, it had become really artsy craftsy and my interest started to wane.

 My wife Nancy got me interested in cooking about 5 years before this and I enjoyed it, so when I got back from Europe she encouraged me to look into cooking as a profession. I got my first kitchen job at Fat City in Old Sacramento as a prep cook.  A few months later French Chef Jean-Luc Chassereau of the Cookery in Fair Oaks, CA. gave me a call because I had inquired previously about employment. I was hired on as prep/cleaning/peeling potatoes- whatever had to be done-no job too small-guy. Jean-Luc always stressed cleanliness- his motto if bathrooms are clean so is the rest of the establishment. I take that attention to detail in my establishments.

 Kevin Nichols was the Chef de Cuisine at the time for Jean-Luc, it’s interesting when you go in for dinner the French Chef is very nice- when you work for him there was a lot of yelling and throwing of things- it was bad. It was really Kevin that was doing all the work and Jean-Luc would schmooze. Jean-Luc’s management style was bad for morale but I figured I was tenacious and I was going to ride it out. Actually it was Kevin Nichols that was my mentor not Jean-Luc. Kevin was never in the limelight, though now he’s the Executive Chef at Serrano Country Club, but he was the back bone of the operation so when he moved on Jean-Luc could never trust anyone like Kevin so he closed down.

 Kevin took me with him to Koya’s in Folsom, CA. It was the top restaurant in the Sacramento area at the time. In time I became Kevin’s sous-chef and knew I was coming into my own when people thought Kevin was cooking that night but it was actually me who prepared the meal- we’d tell them Kevin just left when they came to the back- it felt good. I always wondered why Chef Nichols took me with him and worked with me and he told me because I had an inherent sense of taste, that you can’t teach.

 I stayed at Koya’s for 3 years. One day Koya insulted my wife and that’s where I drew the line, you can say anything you want to me but leave my family alone, so I left. I went over to Café Donatello, which was Sacramento’s first real San Francisco ‘feel’ restaurant and it was a zoo, we were just pumping food out and it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

 In 1990 Kevin Nichols went to work for Bernice Hagen at Bernice’s Cookery (Jean-Luc owned the name and Bernice reopened with Jean-Luc, but it was her place) so he brought me back on board. Here we were again, Kevin and I working with Jean-Luc at the Cookery but now for Bernice Hagen.  Bernice had a cooking school at the time called Lá Bernice but since she just opened the Cookery the school went dormant. Nancy at the time had a little catering company going on but no real kitchen to work out of so the two came together and now we had a catering company with a professional kitchen. In 1991 Nancy ran the Tower Gallery and they would do art shows and Marcus from Capitol Cellars would do wine tastings at the openings. When Marcus found out that Nancy had the kitchen at Lá Bernice he wanted to do a tasting there because folks could enjoy their wine and the class room setting allowed the food to be prepared right in front of them, we prepped, cooked, served, cleaned up, It was a hit!

  Nancy and I decided because of how popular this tasting was and how frustrated I’d become over the years with waitstaff who couldn’t translate the food  concepts to customers nor did they care what was coming out of the kitchen as long as they maked good money working half a shift. We decided to do what we did at the tasting- prepare the food, cook the food, serve the food, clean up and eliminate the waitstaff- wow what a concept!

 While we were at the initial tasting a friend said Randall, this is like sitting in your kitchen- So the idea of “The Kitchen” was born (1991). In 1998 we moved from the catering business on Marconi Ave, in Sacramento and opened up The Kitchen on Hurley Ave, the rest is history! We prep, we cook, we entertain, we serve, we clean up and we welcome you to our kitchen. We give it every shot to make people happy when they dine with us, if we didn’t I couldn’t sleep at night.

Dinner takes about 3 to 4 hours and is price fixe. We have had maybe one slow night in 15 years!

 In 2001 we opened Sellend’s Market Café. A casual place to come and enjoy a glass of wine, have a pizza and a salad, take home some sweets, buy some cheese- a gourmet neighborhood café and market.

 In July 2007 we opened Ella’s (named after my grand daughter) in downtown Sacramento. Ella’s is a bistro/brasserie concept with the same high quality as The Kitchen but a little less formal with a la carte service.
 

Culinary highlights:
The first day I started as a prep cook at Fat City- I loved it! (Now I’d like to be on a beach with a cocktail and my grandkids.)
 

Three things in fridge right now:
Beer, milk, sparkling water (always)
 

Secret junk food indulgence:
Sidewalk Pizza (Best artificial pizza out there.)

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