Brown Sugar Kitchen
2534 Mandela Pkwy @26th St., Oakland, CA (West Oakland)
www.brownsugarkitchen.com
Review date: September 2011

This modest diner in the middle of industrial West Oakland has gotten great press ever since opening. On the recommendation of one of our favorite foodie friends, we drove over to arrive just at the time they start serving lunch. 

Breakfast is served all day (they’re open until 3 p.m.), which was perfect because I wanted breakfast and Carlos wanted lunch. It’s great to be retired, because on the weekdays you can actually walk in and get seated immediately, which we understand is not always the case on weekends. This is true for most good breakfast places, understandably.

I’m not a fan of the whole ‘chicken and waffles’ idea. I love fried chicken and I like waffles, but never been enthralled by the two of them together. I’ve had it at Roscoe’s Chicken’n’Waffles when they were still open in Oakland’s Jack London Square, and Carlos tried it at 900 Grayson/Berkeley, Neither version impressed us. But it sounded good to me that day, so I ordered it with maple syrup (an extra $2; normally it comes with apple cider syrup). Adding to the doubt was that it was a cornmeal waffle, which is more difficult to pull off well than the usual wheat flour waffle.

What came was a good-sized round Belgian waffle (also not my favorite kind) separated into two halves. I was pleased to see the fried chicken was bone-in and placed to the side, not on top of the waffle. I smeared the little knob of butter into the holes, drizzled on a little of the Dark Amber “B” grade maple syrup, and took my first bite.

Ooooh……yum! 

Light, crisp, just the right amount of cornmeal – it was superb! So good, in fact, when I gave a bite to Carlos he, too, agreed it was excellent.

The two small pieces (wing and thigh) of fried chicken looked over-fried, as they were very dark. But it wasn’t overcooked, with the batter tasting almost if it had some cheese in it. There were some fresh herbs in the batter, which also contributed to its dark color.

The texture of the meat was very interesting. It was dry but soft, not that juicy, and everything was falling-off-the-bone tender. No pressure-cooked chicken comes out this way; what it most resembled was confit. I have no idea if that’s what BSK uses, but it’s an intriguing idea. We wouldn’t rate this fried chicken as anywhere near the exquisite version produced by SR24’s Chef Woodall, but it’s greaseless and adequate.

Carlos ordered the shrimp gumbo, which was everything he didn’t get at Scott’s/Oakland last month. It was made with what I grew up calling a white roux, which of course isn’t white at all, it’s approximately the color of peanut butter. Darker roux, sometimes called black or mahogany roux, have a stronger caramelized flavor but will heavily color the gravy. The latter also takes more time and careful watching, so you don’t often see restaurants using it (an explanation of making roux and photos of the different stages is at: http://www.southerngumbotrail.com/roux.shtml). 

BSK uses just the right amount of sliced okra, lots of shrimp, and serves it over nicely cooked long-grain rice. Carlos loved it, and although the heat was mild – he prefers his food really spicy – the balance was so good, he chose not to add more Tabasco sauce, although a bottle sits on every table.

One of his other loves is grits, which he eats it with butter and honey – lots of both. BSK only offers cheese grits, but he ordered a bowl just to try it. BSK uses organic white corn grits, and the quality is outstanding. It could be said that anything with that much butter is going to taste good – BSK doesn’t bring butter separately with the bowl; the butter is already cooked into the grits. Some cheese goes into that pot as well, with a little more sprinkled on top. I enjoyed half the bowl, and Carlos wiped out the rest of it.

We finished off with a plain biscuit (you can also get a bacon-cheddar version) so we could try their housemade jam, which looked to be peach. Again, no butter is served with the biscuit, because that would be superfluous even by Carlos’ standards, as every bite tastes of butter. It was a little heavy, though, and cold in the center, indicating they pre-cook it and then heat it back up again. The peach jam was terrific, BTW.

Two people: one lunch entrée, one breakfast entrée, one bowl of grits, one biscuit, two beverages, with generous tip to a superior waitress, was $50.

Brown Sugar Kitchen impressed us (thanks, Barb!), so much so….

….that we went back the very next day, to try the oyster po’boy, another of Carlos’ loves.

Brown Sugar Kitchen, breakfast/lunch redux
Review date: September 2011

This time we had a waitress who was about half as good as she thinks she is, lowering the overall quality of the experience. We arrived five minutes before they started serving lunch, and didn’t especially appreciate her attitude or comment of, “Well, I’ll ask to see if the kitchen has started to prep lunch yet, since it’s still five minutes away.”

If she wanted to infer she was doing us a favor, we were well aware she was not. Any kitchen that hasn’t been prepping for lunch at least two hours prior to serving, not to mention that in less than 20’ of galley they have no less than six cooks and five waitstaff/buspersons, wouldn’t stay in business very long. 

Carlos ordered the po’boy sandwich, which comes with spicy coleslaw inside, and a side of the mac’n’cheese. I ordered the eggs and grits, since I enjoyed Carlos’ grits so much yesterday, along with a side of chicken apple sausage and a bacon-cheddar-scallion biscuit. The wait was substantial, somewhat of a surprise since yesterday’s wait was average length despite the fact we were ordering less food today.

Carlos’ sandwich showed up, which comes on a good-sized French bread roll, crusty but soft enough to be a good match with the tender oysters. The sauce drizzled over is nicely spicy and again, the balance is just right. 

The mac’n’cheese was okay but not fabulous. Pican/Oakland (reviewed back in June 2010), Levende East/Oakland (March 2009) and Bistro 1491/Albany (reviewed April 2011) all do a better job than BSK on this dish of Americana. The cheese is more creamy than cheddar-sharp, and the scattering of toasted breadcrumbs just doesn’t sub for a perfect broiled crustiness that we hold as our ideal. Overall, it’s a bland dish – innocuous, but uninteresting.

My breakfast still hadn’t shown up….because Miss Not-So-Bright had forgotten to order it. Asking me, “Are you still waiting for your eggs?” isn’t the most intelligent question to ask a customer whose fork and knife are still clean next to an empty space on the (very small) table.

Fortunately, poached eggs and grits don’t take long, and such things as side meats and biscuits are pre-cooked at BSK, just heated up when ordered. The grits were not as buttery as before, but the eggs were nicely poached and the dish was pleasant, if not as stellar as the chicken and waffles were the previous day. The two thin sausages were excellent although they didn’t taste like Bruce Aidell’s brand as claimed on the menu. 

The biscuit…well, not so much a success despite being heated through this time. BSK uses all butter, no lard, so the layers aren’t very light. The cheddar is melted on top with a few finely chopped scallions, and the bacon is scattered through the dough. It did come hot this time, but although it has a good buttery flavor, it’s a little too heavy to rank as a great biscuit.

Still, BSK does certain dishes very well. Carlos is very pleased to have found a place where both the gumbo and the po’boy are excellent, and any time he wants to have a little Southern food, I’ll get that waffle and chicken again.

Two people: One lunch and one breakfast, two sides, a biscuit, and two beverages, with tip was $41.