Spring is Almost Here!
Come to The Kitchen in March and Celebrate with Us.

This month's menu is phenomenal. Randall and Noah are truly pulling out all the stops. In addition to lobster, hamachi, Piedmontese beef tenderloin, house made bacon, blue prawns, fresh goat cheese, homemade pasta, a chocolate caramel tart and tons of fresh fruits and vegetables, the chefs are also starting to experiment and play with our famous Sushi Break, which should be fun. We'll still have the amazingly fresh sashimi and rolls you love, but Randall wants to try some new techniques and flavors as well, so come see us in March and let your palate explore!

Seats available early in the month and for our Sunday Suppers! Seats will fill quickly, so please call for reservations soon.
Reservations: 916.568.7171


The Kitchen
March 2010 Demonstration Dinner



- First Course -

Maine Lobster Bisque Thai Style
with a Coconut 'Crème Brulee'
Fresh Turmeric and Chives

Every year Randall and Noah create a silky rich Maine Lobster Bisque that always proves to be a crowd favorite. This year, they've been inspired by Thai flavors and ingredients to create this surprising and delightful version that will soothe your senses with its bright and complex flavors and aromatics. As always, we thicken our bisques with risotto, which lends richness and depth but not a creamy heaviness. Popular Thai ingredients like lemongrass, coconut, chilies, ginger and galangal root are enhanced by the addition of crisp chives and piquant turmeric, which also turns the bisque a lovely orange color. The crème brulee is savory and slightly sweet and topped with a Parmesan crisp, which lends a nice texture contrast. Of course, we will add lots of ultra fresh butter-poached Maine Lobster meat for you. Feel free to ask for more and get your fill of the soup, the lobster meat, whatever you desire!


- Second Course -

A Warm Salad of House Made Bacon Confit
Blood Orange, Frisée, Arugula
and Croutons

Our house made bacon is the star of the show here, with the supporting players of sweet oranges, crisp frisée, and mildly peppery arugula providing the perfect back up. Randall and the crew are working on the bacon preparation right now, and what we're thinking is we'll start of course with the amazing pork belly we get from producer John Bledsoe, the Woodland farmer who sells his premium local pork products at the Farmers market under the freeway at 5th and X every Sunday. As an aside, you really should go and see him sometime on a Sunday - he's got it all - ribs, chops, bacon, etc. etc., and right next to him is a great beef producer called Happy Dog, the Cache Creek Chickens, the oyster guy and some great fresh seafood. In any case, we'll be taking the pork and curing the whole slab in -house, after which we will poach it in duck fat (yes, duck fat!), and then cut it into little cubes and lightly fry it up to put in the salad. Sinful and delicious! (Ask for more ...). The oranges will come from Twin Peaks out of Newcastle, where they will be picking beautiful Blood and Naval Oranges as well as Pomelos just for us. The frisée will be warmed, while the delicate and mild arugula will add just a slightly piquant touch. A wonderful winter-to-spring salad.


- Sushi ~ Sashimi ~ Crudo -


- Third Course -

Australian Hamachi and Goat Cheese Ravioli
with Crispy Blue Prawns, Lemon 'Caviar'
and a Chervil Hollandaise

This amazing fish is really quite a catch for us and for you this month. The Australian Hamachi, a member of the Skipjack family, has all the wonderful flavor of its Japanese counterpart but with a slightly less oily consistency and less fat content. It is sashimi grade, meaning it's so fresh, pure and of such high quality that you could eat it raw, but we will sear it to about medium and serve it with our house made pasta stuffed with light and airy, freshly made goat cheese from our friends over at Modesto's Nicolau Farms. This is a tiny mom and pop operation that literally makes the goat cheese to order just for us every week or so. The accompanying crustacean, a lovely sweet Blue Prawn wrapped in a crispy dough and lightly fried, is a wonderful preparation that you should definitely ask for seconds on; it's a taste sensation that the chefs are really excited about this month. Finally, our house made lemon "caviar," which are little bursts of lemon flavor suspended in droplets that resemble caviar, add a citrusy pop, while a creamy and rich chervil hollandaise sauce ties the whole dish together and really makes it sing. In this dish it's all about the perfect harmony of textures and flavors.


- Fourth Course -

Beef Tenderloin with a Fresh Horseradish Crust
Small Vegetables, 'Clouds' of Blue Cheese
and Butter Poached Potatoes

This month we are bringing back the crowd-pleasing Montana Ranch Piedmontese Beef Tenderloin. All natural, this Italian strain of beef raised in Montana is superb - tender, juicy and rich without being too fatty. Noah says that all things considered, this Piedmontese Beef is our guests' overall favorite breed, cut, and producer. We'll be creating a horseradish crust made from real, fresh horseradish, which is much more mild than the prepared horseradish many of us are used to. This will be subtle but flavorful, so don't worry if you're not a horseradish fan; this is different. To complement the nice horseradish crust crunch, we'll take local Pt. Reyes Blue Cheese (this is an extremely mild and creamy blue) and make light fluffy clouds of it with our hand mixer, then add delectable little butter-poached potatoes. Lastly, tiny tender vegetables from Nature's Best down in San Diego are visually appealing and taste amazing. Enjoy this fabulous final savory course while you're deciding which courses or ingredients you'd like to re-visit!


- Dessert Course -

Bittersweet Chocolate-Caramel Tart
Strawberry Chantilly Cream
and a Candied Pecan 'Dos Leches' Ice Cream

We're still working on this dessert as of February 23^rd, but we can give you a little sketch, a sneak peek, of what's in store. Layers of bittersweet chocolate ganache and gooey rich caramel in our house made tart shell and topped with an ethereal whipped strawberry Chantilly cream promise to make this dessert absolutely to die for. We're getting the strawberries from a friend at the farmers market on Sundays who gets them from her friend down in San Diego, where they are just starting to come into season. The accompanying ice cream this month is really special. We're doing our own Kitchen riff on a popular Mexican ice cream we tried near Oaxaca last year with nuts and made with cream and milk (hence the Dos Leches). For the nuts we'll be taking pecans and preparing them à la Bobby - candied then crisped - then mixing them into the vanilla based ice cream. Picture, if you will then, the flavors of chocolate ganache, caramel, flakey tart shell, candied pecans and creamy rich ice cream, and then the fresh whipped strawberry Chantilly cream. Now that's the way you end an evening!



We look forward to the pleasure of your company in March!

Best wishes, The Selland Family