The Dine One Six

Ryan Ota of Mecha Mucho

Mecha Mucho roughly translates to “lots and lots.” For Chef and Owner Ryan Ota that means lots and lots of smiles, lots and lots of people saying, “Damn this is good!” and lots and lots of sandwiches sold. 
If you haven’t discovered it, Mecha Mucho is cranking out amazing egg salad sandwiches on Shokupan (Japanese milk bread) with additional protein options from chicken katsu, to spam to sometimes even wagyu beef, out of the little street side window at Osaka-Ya on 10th street. 
Ryan tells us about how he knew at a young age that his heart lied with food and after years of trying to work a corporate job he retreated to learning how to cook working at the famed Shack in east Sacramento, to cooking at Track 7 Brewery for several years to opening his own sandwich spot out of the window where he would line up as a kid in summer for a giant snow cone. 
Listen to hear how Ryan took Mecha Mucho from an idea to a reality in just a few short weeks and how their success has exploded in just over 6 months. 
 
Links: 
 
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Oliver Ridgeway of Camden Spit & Larder

To say Oliver Ridgeway is well traveled is a gross understatement. After getting his start washing dishes in his dad’s restaurant, at 20 years old he got a job cooking on the Queen Elizabeth II cruise liner, which traveled from England to New York city. That ship took him all over the world over two years, and taught him how to cook and how to organize. 
That organization would be vital as he went on to cook for Athletes and VIP sponsors at the Olympic Games in Sydney Australia 2000 and the Winter Games in Utah in 2002. But his cooking travels didn’t stop there, New Orleans, the Caribbean, New York at one of it’s finest hotels, Santa Fe, Oliver honed his skills and his management cooking for the rich and famous in high pressure environments. 
Now he is the Chef/Owner of the upscale but welcoming to all Sacramento haberdashery, Camden Spit & Larder, which serves as a place where you can have a beautiful anniversary dinner just as easily as you can grab a burger and a salad before a Kings game. 
Listen to Oliver’s amazing journey across the globe and how he ended up settling down in Sacramento, making a name for himself as one of the most respected chefs in town.
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Amanda and Chris of Kau Kau

Amanda Bridger started cooking food at home during COVID as a way to pass the time and to comfort herself, her partner Chris and friends. Little did she know that in going back to the Hawaiian flavors of her childhood evenings visiting her grandmother, she would stumble upon a new found talent and passion for cooking Hawaiian cuisine. 
She and her partner Chris Tocchini moved to Sacramento and started a pop up with the recipes she developed and it was such a success that they ultimately opened Kau Kau in East Sacramento. Amanda runs the kitchen and Chris manages the front of the house. 
They tell us how they got their start in the industry, what it’s like working together as a couple and the trials and triumphs of owning and running a restaurant. 
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Billy Ngo of Kru

Billy Ngo of Kru Contemporary Japanese Cuisine got his start at an old-school Japanese restaurant on Broadway in Sacramento, spending hours washing dishes and painstakingly preparing shrimp for the week’s service. After a stint at Mikuni he understood how sushi could become something that mixed his passion for creativity and attention to detail. 
Billy headed to culinary school in San Francisco and came back to work at The Kitchen for a year, where he learned the importance of good ingredients and good relationships with purveyors of fish and produce. 
Then, at just 23 years old, Billy opened Kru on J street, which quickly became recognized as one of the best and most creative sushi spots in town. A decade later Billy moved Kru into its current, much larger home on Folsom Blvd. and it remains one of the hottest restaurant reservations in town. 
Billy fills us in on sushi eating etiquette, talks about his early attempts at a Michelin star, why he loves cooking japanese and french cuisine, how he seeks to let the ingredients speak for themselves and how a burger permanently ended up on the menu at one of Sacramento’s most acclaimed sushi restaurants. 
Recently, his high level of skill and execution, matched with his creativity and drive to please his guests has garnered Billy a finalist nomination for the James Beard Awards “Best Chef in California.”
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Jody Bogle on family history and producing award winning wine in Sacramento

It all started when a disastrous failed potato crop led Jody Bogle’s grandfather, Warren Bogle to try planting wine grapes on the acreage he purchased on Merritt Island. In 1968 he planted 10 acres of Petite Syrah and 10 acres of Chenin Blanc. He got the Chenin Blanc clippings from a guy named Skinny in Lodi!
Today, Bogle has grown to become the Bogle Family Wine Collection, a brand that stretches worldwide, which includes several different labels, styles and price points of wine.
We talk to Jody about how the unexpected death of her father led her to leave her job as an English teacher to come back home to Sacramento and take on a new role with the family business, how she and her two brothers have grown the business into the massive and respected brand it is today, and how family values, small lot wine making and sustainable growing practices are the fuel that still power Bogle’s business today. 
So grab a glass of one of Bogle’s award winning wines and listen to the history of one of Sacramento’s great business success stories.
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Greg Gearhart and Victor Mihalchuk talk about the show Breaking Bread

Greg Gearhart and Victor Mihalchuk were sipping coffee and having lunch with their colleague Cameron Tyler of Moonracer films when they thought, “the food scene in Sacramento is so amazing…what if we filmed it.” That nugget of an idea launched what is now one of the most beautiful celebrations of Sacramento and its food you will ever see called Breaking Bread. 
On Tuesday September 5 there was a very special premiere of the amazing limited series and the next day we sat down with Greg and Victor to talk about how the project came together, their experiences filming it and the amazing food they got to eat. 
Breaking Bread gives you wonderful, open conversations with some of Sacramento’s best chefs and takes you behind the scenes of what makes the culinary scene in Sacramento so special. 
You will laugh, cry, get goosebumps and get that warm feeling of awe and appreciation when you watch this series. It is absolutely stunning, and we are proud to bring you a conversation with two of the gentlemen who made it happen. 
 
The first episode aired last night.
 
You can watch Breaking Bread on KCRA 3 the next two episodes air:
 
Sunday September 10, at 9 p.m. 
Sunday September 17, at 9 p.m.
 
You can also watch on the Very Local app. Download it for free on your phone or streaming device.
 
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Robert Masullo from Masullo’s Pizzeria

Before Robert Masullo became a Sacramento pizza icon, he was the son of a Sac Bee journalist and a stay at-home mom. His mom was a major influence on his life as she taught him the values in hard work and making recipes from scratch. 
His Sacramento food orgin story is epic, with him riding a Vespa to Biba to wash dishes when he was 16. His love of food took him to the CIA in New York and then a little over a decade stop in Minnesota. He worked as a baker, learning the art and craft dough and how to perfect it. 
With dough still on his mind, he found his way back home to family and Sacramento, met his future wife and luckily for us, opened up Masullo Pizzeria. With many awards and much recognition, Robert has crafted his place in Sacramento history. Take a listen to hear this masterclass on pizza. 
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Ben Roberts from Pizza Supreme Being

Ben Roberts grew up in Grass Valley where he loved skateboarding and punk rock. He dreamed of getting out of the small town but had no real plan, but after he met his future wife at a record shop, he followed her to Sacramento as she went to UC Davis and he looked to take any job he could find. That is the perfect recipe (pun intended) for a young kid to make his way into a kitchen. 
He got his start at R15 and then Shady Lady where a mentor showed him the right books to buy and Ben dove in head first. He soon realized that he wanted to cook beautiful, amazing food, and he knew that The Sellands group was a great place to do that. He made his way to Ella, where he worked for several years and became a jack of all trades, including making woodfired pizza for family meals.
Eventually, he left to start his own mobile pizza business with a trailer and woodfire oven. He grinded in the heat of Sacramento for more than 4 years before he got an opportunity to open the storefront he occupies today. His pizza manages to be both classic and unique at the same time, but it’s without a doubt one of the best slices you’ll find anywhere in Sacramento. 
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Chloe Booth - dough maven of Pizzasaurus Rex

Chloe Booth got a taste for interesting food at a young age when her mom went to culinary school. But it was years later as a teenager when her grandmother bulldozed a job path for Chloe at Del’s Pizza in Fair Oaks. There she learned the ins and outs of the pizza business, from interacting with the regulars to managing 20 pizzas at a time in the ovens. 
After a break from restaurants Chloe saw a Facebook post about a new pizza place opening in Midtown. She went in for a stage shift and has never left. Today she is responsible for making most of the dough on a daily basis, sometimes for up to 170 pizzas in a single day. 
Listen to this episode to hear Chloe talk about the unique style of Pizza at Pizzasaurus Rex, the famed “dino sauce” and her hopes that one day there could be a horror themed bakery in Sacramento.
Links:
Pizzasaurus Rex website
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Alison Clevenger talks Ginger Elizabeth, delectable pastries and Doughbot donuts

Alison Clevenger moved from Arizona to Oregon to go to culinary school without ever checking out the campus, her mom just signed her up, drove her up there and dropped her off. That move set her life on a course where she would land in Sacramento and ultimately help build one of the premiere sweet treat destinations in the city, Ginger Elizabeth’s. 
Alison talks about taking naps on giant bags of flour, the growth of Ginger Elizabeth, perfecting the perfect ice cream sandwich (in Max’s opinion,) what it was like to leave her best friend and venture out into the more male dominated culinary world, making pastries for Ella, Sellands and The Kitchen and ultimately how she helped to relaunch a Sacramento culinary cult icon Doughbot donuts. 
Alison has since moved on to her next culinary adventure and we can’t wait to see what she does next but rest assured wherever she lands the creations will be stellar and we will drop whatever we are doing to try them. 
 
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