Kitchen 88 is Coming to Kaysville in the Former Winger’s Building
The rumors are true — Kitchen 88 will open in Kaysville, in the former Winger’s building at 260 West 200 North. The popular American Fork restaurant hopes to open its Kaysville location in mid-January, according to Taylor Christensen and Kyle Brown, two of the restaurant’s partners. (UPDATE: The store actually opened on Feb. 13, 2016)
Kitchen 88 is a hybrid format between “fine dining” and fast casual, with a lower-than-expected price point. How low? Full-plate entrees such as tri-tip steak, pork tenderloin and peri peri chicken are $19.
Chef Brandon Clark started Kitchen 88 ten years ago in Utah County as a food truck. On the heels of that success, Clark opened a brick-and-mortar location in American Fork, which has been in operation for five years. The Kaysville store will be its second location.
A few weeks ago I sat down with Christensen and Brown, two of several partners working with Clark, while involved in the remodeling of the Winger’s building by developer Ryan Forsyth. They shared both the history and future of Kitchen 88 with me.
Founder Brandon Clark is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in Napa, Calif. He’s also founder and executive chef of Edna’s Market & Grille.
“Brandon had the idea of serving fine-dining caliber dishes, like a nice risotto or tri-trip steak, that you typically see in a sit-down $80-a-plate restaurant — but out of a food truck,” said Taylor Christensen.
(My opinion here — The concept sounds similar to what Blue Lemon was doing, before it went out of business.)
In Utah County, Clark’s Kitchen 88 food truck was so successful that after five years, Clark opened a brick-and-mortar location in American Fork. And after another five years, the time seemed right to open a second location.
Why Kaysville? Partly for selfish reasons, say Christensen and Brown, because they have ties to northern Utah. Taylor Christensen and his brother Carl, another partner, grew up in Farmington. Taylor lives in Bountiful. Brown and Ken Morgan, who will oversee the day-to-day operations, both have ties to Weber and Davis counties.
“We love this community up here,” said Brown.
What sets Kitchen 88 apart:
Kitchen 88’s business model differs from many other restaurants, in that it doesn’t aspire to become a mega-chain.
“The way we want to grow is not to try to rule the world,” said Christensen. “We run a lot higher food costs, intentionally. We are blending the line of fine dining and fast casual. You are getting fine-dining food nicely plated on real china, with real silverware, for half the price. That’s not something you can put on every corner like a Wendy’s, because of the quality it requires.”
With the fast-casual format, you order at the counter, take a seat at your table, and can usually get your meal within a 5-to-6-minute ticket time. You can eat and leave in 15 or 20 minutes, or relax and enjoy your meal slowly. It’s up to you.
Kitchen 88’s trade secret to quickly serving up steak, pork and chicken that’s consistently tender and juicy? They use a French cooking technique called sous vide (soo-VEED), where the meat or poultry is sealed with marinades in a bag, and then immersed in a hot water bath and cooked slowly. The meat retains its natural juices, so it’s not tough or dried-out from cooking.
“Then when an order hits our screen, the meat is quickly reverse-seared on the grill to get that final texture and flavor,” said Christensen. “There are ingredients we put in our marinade that break down and tenderize the meat. We are a decade in on this operation of fixing the perfect protein, and it’s taken us a lot of trial and error. We have perfected it. That’s what puts us on the map.”
Chicken, beef, pork tenderloin and tri-tip steak are all cooked sous vide. The trout is cooked to order on a broiler.
The top-selling entrée is an 8-ounce Tri-Tip Steak, served with mashed potatoes and broccolini. You can choose your sauce: BBQ, peri peri, sweet mustard, sweet chili, or chimichurri.
“I will put our tri-tip steak up against anybody’s as far as flavor and texture,” said Brown. “All of our sauces are made from scratch and work well with everything on the menu, they’re very versatile.”
But the sous vide method also works magic with pork tenderloin.
“The other day I challenged a lady to try the pork tenderloin,” said Brown. “She loves the tri-tip, and she doesn’t usually order pork because at other restaurants, it’s usually tough or dry. She tried it, and said it the texture was phenomenal. I stand by it, because it’s one of my fiancee’s favorite dishes.”
The pork tenderloin comes with a parmesan risotto, grilled asparagus and a choice of sauce.
Another favorite, Peri Peri Chicken, includes both a breast and thigh, each cooked separately because of the difference in fat content and tenderness. They are served with a wild rice mix and cold cucumber salad.
Kitchen 88 is also known for burgers, sandwiches and salads, including Cobb; Beet & Squash; Mango & Black Bean; and Apple with craisins and Manchego cheese. You can add a choice of protein to make it a full meal.
There’s a bit of something for everyone. “For someone trying to follow a special diet, there are lots of options,” said Christensen. “There are kids’ meals for young families. For teens who just want to come in to eat burgers, we have great burgers. It’s great for a lunch break, business lunch, or date night.”
“When you’re looking about, you see people having a great time, talking and laughing, but not too noisy,” said Brown. Because of the atmosphere, “The American Fork location does a lot of business lunches.”
The company supports local ingredient vendors, including Main Street Meats and Kessimakis Produce.
“We support local as often as we can, even if it costs us a little higher,” said Christensen.“Everything’s fresh,” said Christensen. “We don’t have a freezer, just a fridge.”
The Kaysville restaurant will even grow its own herbs in an indoor growing station.
Service is the other factor for success.
“We really believe that you train and invest in the people,” said Christensen. “Our turnover is three times lower than the industry standard. We are keeping people, on average, 3 ½ years.”
If you’re interested in working at the new restaurant, job-seekers can call Kyle Brown at 801-725-1380 to see about applying. But, they’re very picky about who they hire, they said.
About the name: The number 88 is considered a lucky number, especially in Chinese culture where it symbolizes “double happiness” and financial prosperity. Many Asian restaurants use “88” in their names. It is also a powerful number in numerology, representing abundance and achievement.
Also, Christensen pointed out, it also means fast, since in “Back to the Future,” 88 mph was the target speed of 88 mph required for the DeLorean time machine to initiate time travel. So there’s that.
Meanwhile, we’ve got a couple months to wait and watch as the new restaurant take shape.