Oakland soul food spot tops Food & Wine's best U.S. restaurants list
Screen grab from Burdell's website.
OAKLAND, Calif. - Wild Steelhead salmon, beef cheek pot roast, and churchman's cod that incorporates house-made bacon. All served in a space where the vibe might remind you of a family gathering at your grandmother's house.
Soul Food & Vintage vibes
Food & Wine magazine has already duly noted Chef Geoffrey Davis' Burdell as the publication's 2024 Restaurant of the year, but the Oakland soul-food restaurant in the Temescal neighborhood has done it again. This time they've taken the number one spot on Food & Wine's Top 15 US Restaurants list, according to experts.
Named after Davis' maternal grandmother, Burdell also serves a heavy helping of nostalgia with their decor, vintage dishware and the retro stereo system Food & Wine picked up on.
According to Burdell's website, Davis' latest venture began in 2022 as a series of pop-ups that centered on local produce and the type of soul food he remembered eating at his grandparents' house.
We reached out to the restaurant owner, Chef Davis, to congratulate him on yet another achievement. In 2024, Davis was a finalist for James Beard Foundation Best Chef: California.
While the restaurant was in service, he managed to take time out of his busy day to shoot us back answers to our questions. Some of this Q & A has been edited for clarity.
What inspired your food? What is your signature dish?
"The food is the soul food I grew up eating at my grandmother’s tables. Soul food is a rich and diverse cuisine and we are trying to pay homage to the history of Black food and merging it with modern sensibility and refined technique. That being said, we don’t have a signature dish. We source our ingredients from multiple farmers' markets every week, so we are cooking what is in season in that moment."
Do you have a soft spot for any particular type of food or dish? What is the most fun to make?
"Our menu."
What does it mean to do your part in helping put Oakland on the map as a food destination?
"Oakland has always represented a place of forward thinking, change, progress for people of color, and we just want to continue that legacy in our food. Oakland is a special place that gets negative attention but really is diverse, beautiful, and has great restaurants and bars and a community that supports them."
Where did you come up with the decor and how involved are you with deciding what goes into the space's look?
"The space is inspired by my grandmother’s homes. I designed the spaces' look and colors from those memories."
Any reason why soul music plays from the retro stereo system? [This may seem obvious but he adds a cool note about finding the origin of hip-hop samples in songs.]
"The music is something that went on in the background during those family gatherings. Also, as a hip-hop head, I love finding the soul samples from my favorite songs."
If you want to check it out for yourself to see what the buzz is all about, you can visit Burdell in the Temescal neighborhood.
It's located at 4640 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland. They are open Wednesday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and for Sunday brunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. You can join them for Sunday dinner from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Andre Torrez is a digital content producer for KTVU. Email Andre at andre.torrez@fox.com or call him at 510-874-0579.
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