High-End Sacramento Restaurant A Candidate For Big Honor

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The Kitchen is open, with a menu that reads like a Broadway play and an owner who is not afraid of taking center stage.

It's part family reunion, Thanksgiving feast and comedy show.

But no one's laughing at the serious honor this Sacramento restaurant has been served.

It's a James Beard Foundation nominee. Translation: It's like getting an Academy Award nomination.

"Just being nominated. ... It's an extreme honor," executive chef and co-owner Randall Selland said. "It's an honor for us, it's an honor for Sacramento. We're just really, really proud."

The rich honor for this very high-end restaurant ($125 a person not including gratuity) isn't something The Kitchen auditioned for. It just happened.

"We had no idea," Selland said.

Seeing a packed house paying good money on a weekday shouldn't be a surprise. They're usually booked two weeks in advance.

And while there are fewer people opening up the wallet for that extra special bottle of wine, the starving economy hasn't made this restaurant any less hot.

Backstage at The Kitchen, in the kitchen, the crew keeps working hard, knowing in just a few weeks they'll find out if the Oscar goes to them.