Sweet West Oakland

There’s a new restaurant in West Oakland called the Brown Sugar Kitchen, and it’s fantastic. It’s on the Mandela Parkway, in a neighborhood the owner calls “Sweet West Oakland.” I don’t know the origin of the name, but it makes literal sense to me. West Oakland has a number of bakeries and a lot of it really does smell really sweet. This place is no exception. They serve cinnamon rolls that look amazing. The gumbo was great, and so was the macaroni and cheese. I didn’t get to try nearly everything I wanted to, so I’ll have to go back soon. I hope the restaurant does well. It’s kind of out of the way, but it was pretty crowded the day I was there, so clearly people are hearing about it.