Brown Sugar Kitchen is more than a restaurant. This soul-food outpost is 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. The restaurant is a friendly beacon on a tree-lined parkway, nestled low and snug next to a scrap-metal yard in this Bay Area rust belt. Out front, customers congregate on long benches and sprawl in the grass, soaking...

"80+ comfort-filled recipes that trace the roots of modern California soul food to the Great Migration that brought African American culture to the West Coast-from the acclaimed chef and author of Brown Sugar Kitchen"--