Brown Sugar Kitchen

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’s Top 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.

In Brown 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.