Brown Sugar Kitchen: New-Style, Down-Home Recipes from Sweet West Oakland [Hardcover]

Acclaimed chef, restaurateur, and podcaster Tanya Holland shares recipes and stories from her celebrated Bay Area soul-food outpost that put West Oakland on the culinary map.

Much more than a restaurant, Brown Sugar Kitchen was, for fifteen years, a community gathering spot, a place to fill the belly, and the beating heart of West Oakland, a storied postindustrial neighborhood across the bay from San Francisco.

Since founding the original location, trailblazer Tonya Holland went on to open several dining destination hot spots, appear on Bravo’sTop Chef, helm a show on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, host a podcast, and become a member of the Board of Trustees of the James Beard Foundation.

InBrown Sugar Kitchen, the cookbook, Holland shares 86 recipes for re-creating the restaurant's favorites at home, from a thick Shrimp Gumbo to celebrated Macaroni & Cheese to a show-stopping Caramel Layer Cake with Brown Butter–Caramel Frosting. Soul-food classics get a modern spin in the case of B-Side BBQ Braised Smoked Tofu with Roasted Eggplant and a side of Roasted Green Beans with Sesame-Seed Dressing. Her interpretations also star locally grown, seasonal produce in crisp, creative salads such as Romaine with Spring Vegetables & Cucumber-Buttermilk Dressing and Summer Squash Succotash.

Rich visual storytelling reveals the food and the people that made and make West Oakland what it is today. Straightforward, unfussy but inspired, these are recipes home cooks will turn to again and again.

SOUL FOOD COOKBOOK:Brown Sugar Kitchentruly captures the sense—and flavor—of a richly textured and delicious place. With 86 mouthwatering recipes, there's something for everyone in this beautifully crafted celebration of soul food.

BELOVED AND CELEBRATED: Chef Alice Waters proclaims this book, with "robust, soulful recipes using seasonal and local ingredientsl#$