THE: How has this changed your palette?
E: It definitely broadened my palette. You know, I mean, the technical part, I think, was the biggest, uh, part. Because, you know, I grew up around home cooks, and so really, you know, learning the precision of, you know, timing and cooking more, uh, you know, A La Minute, uh, au, you know, à la-à- in real time, and like stir-frying and things like that as opposed to braising and slow cooking. Uh, yeah, and I’m just learning more in-depth about French regional cuisine.
THE: Surprising. So you go back to the United States.
E: Right. Go back to the-
THE: And-
E: Yeah, I spent 10 years on the east coast first. Um, because I’m from the East Coast, I really wanted to do it in New York. I thought, you know, I’d be like the first black female chef at the restaurant there. Uh, and I went to [inaudible 00:12:03] in Boston. And really, uh, you know, I found it very difficult to find the funding and the support, uh, and the support to open my own house there.
So I decided to try, you know, another great chef’s suggestion there, like as a woman, he said, “You should leave New York.” And, uh, in California, thinking I was done with restaurants, I was going to teach and do food writing. And then I had the opportunity to… you know, I had people who were interested in funding me to open my own restaurant.
THE: After the break, how Tanya’s restaurant became the center of a community. If you enjoyed this episode of Women Who Travel, one of the best ways to support the podcast is to leave us a review. We would love to hear from you.
E: So, start working on a business plan, find spaces, and, uh, open my first restaurant here in 2008.
THE: It was Brown Sugar Kitchen, which I understand was a true community center, in addition to being an incredibly praised and successful restaurant.
E: Yeah, it kind of became that without such an intention. I don’t know, I mean I… I knew the community needed, uh, you know, an amenity like a restaurant, there was nothing around. Um, but I never could have imagined how much of a draw this would become and become a foodie destination.
THE: What did Oakland’s culinary landscape look like in 2008? And why did you feel like there was nothing like what you were doing at that time?
E: Um, yeah, when I came to Oakland in 2000, I think it was. ‘3 or ‘3 is when I moved here. I noticed there were mom and pop type ethnic restaurants, and then there were upscale, uh, established, uh restaurants. And there was really nothing in between. So I wanted to open like a bistro. And then I couldn’t find the right place that made sense for this concept, so I found this place that was an old restaurant and, you know, I came up with the name Brown Sugar Kitchen.
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