While the term “soul food” was coined in the 1960s, the style of cooking is way older, passed down through generations.
Originating from slave plantations, soul food recipes were developed when enslaved people applied African flavors to the dishes they served their enslavers and the scrap meat and animal feed (cornmeal) they were given to eat.
After emancipation, Black people further perfected their recipes for dishes like fried chicken, oxtail soup, Hoppin’ John, collard greens, candied yams, mac-‘n’-cheese, cornbread and sweet potato pie, which they brought to church gatherings.
In the 20th century, Black Southerners migrated and settled all over the United States, taking their culinary expertise with them. Which explains how the Bay Area ended up with dozens of soul food restaurants that will fill your belly with rich, savory comfort foods for a reasonable price.
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Here are the stories of just three of our favorites.
CHERIE’S SOUTHERN KITCHEN, Dublin
Cherie Barfield always had a love for cooking. As a kid, it’s how her family came together and “showed love,” she recalls. But it wasn’t until her son wrote her a business plan – while still a student in high school, no less – that she decided to quit her corporate job and open a fast-casual restaurant in 2023 in her hometown, Dublin.
Today, the tables are usually filled to capacity with locals and their families (especially during Sunday brunch) who’ve come to enjoy Barfield’s take on Southern cuisine. The head chef’s influences include her father, who was raised in a small Louisiana village, and her mother, who had Mississippi and St. Louis roots.
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The crispy, flavorful fry on her popular catfish testifies to those soulful connections. So does the shimmering, chocolate-colored roux in the seafood-chicken gumbo, which she learned to make during family summers in Beaumont, Texas. Steel crackers that accompany the stew are for the generously portioned Dungeness crab legs, so much more swole than the traditional Gulf bugs.
Soul food restaurants live or die by their sides, and her kitchen crew (including line cooks from Pleasanton and South Carolina) make a three-cheese mac-‘n’-cheese that rests in the upper pantheon. Cornbread is notable for its supreme moistness, and stewed cabbage and collars are piquant and satisfying. Smart customers know to leave room for dessert, which Barfield whips up herself, from caramel cake and peach cobbler to banana pudding with ever-crucial vanilla wafers.
Details: Open noon-3 p.m. and 4-8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays and noon-3 p.m. and 4-7 p.m. Sundays (special brunch on the first Sunday of each month from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.) at 4920 Dublin Blvd., Suite 220, Dublin; cheriesouthernkitchen
JACKIE’S PLACE, San Jose
The aroma of Texas-style barbecue hits you as you walk up to the door of Jackie’s Place. Just inside sits the bakery case of homemade Southern sweets. Already, you know you’ll be ordering dessert — you’re just not sure if it’s going to be the banana pudding (rich enough to share), key lime pie or peach cobbler.
Other decisions have to be made first. Soul food or barbecue? Or a combination?
A wall of painted-word poetry tells the back story of San Jose soul food queen Jackie Jackson’s menu. There’s “Hondo, TX,” the birthplace of Jackson and so many family recipes. And “(408) BELIEVE,” for San Jose. Words to live by: “Don’t Be Eye Candy, Be Soul Food.” Tributes to her mother and grandmother. And over it all: “It’s a family thang.”
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Jackson opened her first brick-and-mortar in 2018 after many successful years as a caterer. She still specializes in catering; after all, she came from a large family and she raised eight children. As she said when she moved to this large North First Street space, “I don’t think I know how to cook for less than six people!” (She has since opened a second restaurant, on South First.)
Cooking for big gatherings translates into generous portions. Besides the bestselling fried fish and barbecue ribs and brisket platters, the menu features oxtail stew, bowls of gumbo, wings, nachos and chicken and waffles topped with strawberries, peach cobbler, maple bacon or even mango habanero sauce.
Among the notable soul-food specials is the Smothered Chicken, one of Jackson’s pride-and-joy dishes for the memories it brings back. A large, moist breast is fried, covered in onion gravy and served with rice, cornbread and two side dishes from the list that includes black-eyed peas, mac-‘n’-cheese, candied yams and more. Make one of your selections the collard greens, which are simmered with smoked turkey and flakes of chile pepper, resulting in an incredible pot licker.
With that spread, you may be taking home leftovers. See, room for dessert!
Details: Open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, until 7 p.m. Sundays at 840 N. First St., San Jose. The SoFA district location is open at 11 a.m. the same days, until 7 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and 9 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays at 321 S. First St. jackiesplacesj.com
BURDELL, Oakland
Geoff Davis’ homage to his grandmother’s cooking has turned into so much more. Opened in 2023, the Oakland eatery won Food & Wine’s Restaurant of the Year in 2024 and, that same year, Davis was nominated a James Beard finalist for best chef in California.
Burdell hasn’t lost any steam since then, continuing to produce the homey-yet-refined dishes that make critics turn all gooey. Trained in a Michelin-awarded kitchen, Davis now has the Michelin Guide praising his “own fresh personal take on soul food.” There’s also plenty of food for thought on the menu, which reflects the chef’s interests in Black agricultural history, farmers’ markets and foraging, and stellar and honestly made wine.
Southern staples receive an elevated touch like miso with the boiled peanuts and caviar with the smoked pork jowl and hush puppies. A family-style dinner is centered on an aged Liberty Farms duck, and the pork roast is a thing of beauty – a Paul Bunyan-sized collar served with crispy fat, mustard greens and turnips. And for dessert, there’s a cast-iron apple crisp big enough for two, with buttermilk ice cream and brown-sugar caramel. It’s maybe not like your particular grandma makes, but who’s going to argue?
Details: Open 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays and 11 a.m.-2 p.m. (brunch) and 5 p.m.-8:30 p.m. (dinner) Sundays at 4640 Telegraph Ave., Oakland; burdelloakland.com
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