I'm really looking forward to this place. It should really light up that corner.
I haven't had the chance to dine at The Kitchen, but everyone I know that has gone and every review I read say it's an amazing dining experience.
Design Global, Eat Local
Another sign of Sacramento’s growing sophistication: When the owners of The Kitchen decided to open a restaurant on the K Street Mall, they turned to an international design firm with an impressive roster of clients to create the new restaurant’s look.
The Selland family hired UXUS Design (based in Amsterdam and Napa) to design their $4 million restaurant, Ella Dining Room and Bar, scheduled to open later this summer. The Sellands are in illustrious company: UXUS clients include Levi’s, Nike, McDonald’s, Comme des Garçons and Oilily.
Randall Selland, The Kitchen’s famously extroverted chef/owner, wanted Ella to have a look of rustic luxury that was “world-class, not provincial,” according to UXUS creative co-director George Gottl.
Located on the ground floor of The Cathedral Building at the corner of 12th and K streets, the 7,000-square-foot restaurant will seat about 200 people in three separate dining areas.
The main dining room will feature an open kitchen and floor-to-ceiling drapery panels that can be used to close off sections of the restaurant for privacy. The centerpiece of the room will be two tables d’hôte, or host’s tables, next to the kitchen.
There will be a small private dining room and a communal table in the bar.
With its muted color scheme and understated lighting, the space promises to be “pale and brooding,” says Gottl’s partner, architect and creative co-director Oliver Michell. (A third partner, Erika Gottl, acts as general manager.) “It’s very postmodern,” George Gottl adds.