Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland offers delicious soul food cuisine such as chicken and waffles, gumbo and cornmeal waffles. Owned by chef Tanya Holland with over two decades of restaurant experience and television appearances under her belt; two cookbooks published (New Soul Cooking: Updating a Cuisine Rich in Flavor and Tradition and Brown Sugar Kitchen's cookbook); appearances on several cooking shows, hosting Tanya's Table on OWN Network as well as being part of season 15 of Top Chef!
Holland has overcome many hurdles to keep Brown Sugar Kitchen profitable since opening it on Mandela Parkway in West Oakland back in 2008. Although popular among its clientele for its creative comfort food offerings, consistent success took longer than anticipated - so in 2019 she moved it to 2295 Broadway for increased exposure in Uptown Oakland.
The new location is scheduled to open Wednesday, February 20. It will feature increased seating capacity and dinner service; but the menu remains largely the same with fan favorites like fried chicken and waffles, buttermilk grits, smoked catfish poboys and gumbo being on offer.
This restaurant has quickly become one of San Francisco's premier spots for breakfast, lunch and brunch - even drawing long lines at its original location on weekends to sample its signature chicken and waffles! Now open in its new space which takes over part of what was previously Pican and Ozumo - Wednesday through Sunday hours are planned.
Brown Sugar Kitchen told SFist that their new location will offer the same menu and service, meaning guests should expect to wait in line before taking a seat at their new restaurant, although its larger capacity should allow more people to be accommodated at one time.
At its new location, Holland hopes that her restaurant can remain profitable; but even if that fails to happen, she has other projects underway to expand her empire of restaurants: she plans to launch a counter-service version at San Francisco's Ferry Building later this year and she has begun work on writing California Soul cookbook.
With her national celebrity status growing from competing on Top Chef, she may soon have even more opportunities for expansion in the future. Perhaps one day, she could even become the Shake Shack of soul food!
