The Dine One Six

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.”
Visit the podcast website at dineonesix.com
Follow us on Instagram
Comments, questions or suggestions? Email us at max@dineonesix.com or neill@dineonesix.com

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.
Visit the Bogle website
Visit the podcast website at dineonesix.com
Follow us on Instagram
Comments, questions or suggestions? Email us at max@dineonesix.com or neill@dineonesix.com
 

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.
 
Visit Moonracer films website and Instagram 
 
Visit the podcast website at dineonesix.com
 
Follow The Dine One Six on Instagram
 
Comments, questions or suggestions? Email us at max@dineonesix.com or neill@dineonesix.com

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. 
Visit Masullo's website
 
Visit the podcast website at dineonesix.com
 
Follow us on Instagram
Comments, questions or suggestions? Email us at max@dineonesix.com or neill@dineonesix.com

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. 
Visit Pizza Supreme Being's website and Instagram
 
Visit the podcast website at dineonesix.com
Follow us Instagram
Comments, questions or suggestions? Email us at max@dineonesix.com 

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
Visit the podcast website at dineonesix.com
Follow us on Instagram

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. 
 
Visit the podcast website at dineonesix.com
 
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram
Comments, questions or suggestions? Email me at max@dineonesix.com

Matt Brown loves to cook. That may seem obvious given he’s spent the last 20 years as a chef. But many chefs don’t cook between shifts…not Matt. He loves nothing more than cracking open a cookbook, a bottle of wine and spending a day off grilling in the summer or roasting in the winter. 
 
Matt got his start at pizzeria as a teenager and spent time at several other spots in Sacramento that are no longer in existence (Matt swore their closing wasn’t his fault.) After moving to Idaho for five years to work as a chef and a stint in Napa he returned to Sacramento to work at 58 Holding Co. and then The Golden Bear where he made a name for himself cooking some of the best food in town at the unassuming Sacramento favorite. 
 
Today Matt is a part owner and head chef at Bodega Kitchen and Cocktails where he has dived deep into research and cookbooks to find all sorts of Puerto Rican and Caribbean inspired recipes that he and his team could put their own spin on. They have termed it “California Pan Caribbean” cuisine, and it’s delicious. 
 
Check out Boega’s website and Instagram
 
Visit the podcast website at dineonesix.com
 
Follow us on Instagram
 
Comments, questions or suggestions? Email us at max@dineonesix.com or neill@dineonesix.com
 
 

Taylor Lovelace is the head chef at J.J. Pfister Distilling Company but her love affair with cooking started when she interned at The Kitchen while in culinary school. It was actually years before when she would chauffeur her parents to the famed restaurant that she got to try the food when the staff would feed her the menu in the back of the restaurant while her parents dined. 
 
Taylor went on to hit Sacramento hot-spots like Localis, Echo and Rig and Camden Spit and Larder before landing at J.J. Pfister as the head chef. Now she spends her time elevating sandwiches and salads into saucy flavor bombs. 
 
We answer many important questions in the episode from which is better: waffles or pancakes? What does M.C.B. stand for? And what makes a good sandwich?
 
Check out JJ Pfister’s website and Instagram
 
Visit the podcast website at dineonesix.com
 
Follow us on Instagram
 
Comments, questions or suggestions? Email us at max@dineonesix.com or neill@dineonesix.com 

In place of a usual episode, Max and Neill take turns asking each other food questions to give you insight into the minds of your favorite local food podcasters!
What food are you embarrassed to say they don't like?
What's the one meal you would make to impress someone?
If you could only eat one cuisine for the rest of your life what would it be?
And more!!
This episode is in place of an episode that was supposed to be with Polo Adamo of Adamo's Kitchen but the audio was lost during a computer crash. Please go and try Adamo's for some of the best Italian food Sacramento has to offer!
Adamo's kitchen
Visit the podcast website at dineonesix.com
Follow us on Instagram
Comments, questions or suggestions? Email us at max@dineonesix.com or neill@dineonesix.com