Brown Sugar Kitchen, Oakland

Have you ever gotten to a restaurant and instantly loved it the second you entered? That's what happened to Greg and me when we got to Brown Sugar Kitchen. The space is friendly, gets plenty of light, and has a very sleek yet homey decor. While I do feel like ultimately the service can be improved upon, I was overall very happy with my experience and cannot wait to go back to try more of the delicious California-inspired Soul Food menu.

We started with coffee and a sticky bun, which was not my favorite, though it made waiting for the main attractions a little easier. Maybe I just have a misconception as to how sticky buns should be but I keep imagining and getting excited for a soft, chewy, sweet pastry and am constantly disappointed (this time was no different) when it's dry and crunchy.

Our main dishes, however, were phenomenal. I had the cheesy grits with poached eggs and a side of bacon. The grits were deliciously creamy, very nicely seasoned, and my poached eggs were cooked perfectly. Greg's egg tart was stuffed with fresh asparagus and a wonderful mix of flavorful cheeses; the accompanying potatoes were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and had great flavor.

My only negative was the service. I don't mind slow service, because all of the dishes are made to order, but I thought that the waitstaff was rather inattentive. They were friendly when we could wave them over, but it was difficult to track down the hostess to get our names on the wait list, and our server never checked in with us during our meal except to bring the check. Just a lesson, don't stand in between two pre-health students and a refill on their morning coffee.

When it comes down to it, though, the blips in service were completely overshadowed by the food. Both Greg and I were very impressed and already have plans to go back.

Brown Sugar Kitchen is located at 2534 Mandela Parkway (yes, you read that correctly, it's in the middle of a bunch of warehouses behind the Home Depot strip mall in Emeryville), between 26th Street and Campbell Street.

They are open Tuesday through Thursday from 7:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m, Friday through Saturday, 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and Sundays 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Website: www.brownsugarkitchen.com

Louisiana Fried Chicken, El Cerrito

No, THIS is the place where you are supposed to get fried chicken. The service isn't anything to write home about (don't expect anyone to multi-task or work fast or be very friendly), but the chicken has always been consistently great!

The fried chicken has a great, thick, crunchy skin that actually isn't greasy; the meat itself is always hot and juicy, even the breast meat. Plus, it's spicy. The first time that Andy and I ate their chicken, we weren't prepared enough. It's a really slow spice that gradually gets hotter and hotter, but we couldn't stop eating the food to be bothered to notice that our mouths were slowly beginning to burn. Andy eventually had to run to the store and get us lemonade while I continued to pick up and eat every single crumb of the leftover fried bits.

We have always gotten the food to go. Normally, I would say that fried chicken to go is a bad idea, but this chicken is so crunchy that it doesn't get soggy, even after it's been in the refrigerator for 2 days (not that it makes it that long without being eaten). When we've ordered a family pack for $15 (I swear not for just the two of us...), we've gotten 8 pieces of chicken, 4 rolls, and one large side, so the food is also very affordable.

My favorite side by far is the greens. They too are spicy, and have slices of pork thrown in to help flavor them. I haven't been impressed by any of the other sides. Andy and I have tried the dirty rice (too dry), the rolls (taste store bought), and the cole slaw (actually pretty good, because I like mine with light mayo and theirs has hardly any). But, my recommendation would be to make some mashed potatoes and rolls at home and then get everything else from Louisiana Fried Chicken. Go here it's so good.

This restaurant is a chain, but I can only speak for the El Cerrito Plaza location. They have a website: http://www.louisianachickenbayarea.com.

They are located at the El Cerrito Plaza, if you are facing Albertson's, it is on your right in the corner. Their phone number is (510) 524-9633.

I have no idea what their hours, are, but I think they close kind of early (around 8). GO!

Angeline's Louisiana Kitchen, Berkeley

Just as I was getting ready to move out of Berkeley, Andy and I noticed advertisements for a New Orleans-style restaurant moving into that graveyard of a building on Shattuck that used to have Eddie Bauer and Gateway. I'm pretty skeptical of anything in that building, but I still looked at the menu online...They have beignets!! How could I resist?!

I've been to Angeline's twice now...The first time I went with my friend Nnekay before going to see Stranger than Fiction (very cute movie!). It was pretty empty when we arrived, since it was only about 5:00 p.m., but the wait staff was very friendly and accommodating. We chose to sit next to the window. Surprisingly, the interior of the restaurant was very cute, but elegant. Pay attention to the gigantic alligator/crocodile thing on the wall, it's made entirely of buttons.

Nnekay ended up ordering the BBQ shrimp and I ordered the jambalaya (both about $12.95). Both of our meals were really filling and incredibly tasty. The shrimp comes with a thick, sweet, brown "BBQ" sauce on it, which is delicious. It is served over rice with veggies on the side. The shrimp was cooked perfectly and was served with just the right amount of sauce. The waitress told us that it was originally just an appetizer but since the shrimp ended up being so popular, they decided to make an entree out of it. If you can, try this shrimp--I was skeptical at first but it really was delicious. My jambalaya was nice and spicy but there wasn't too much heat. It is packed with chicken and andouille sausage, so when I brought my leftovers home to Andy he was super happy and ate them all in one sitting. That's another great thing--the servings are huge! They don't look all that big, but because they are so dense and packed with flavor, I only ate about half of my jambalaya.

For dessert, we each got an order of beinets. They were listed at $3.50, so we figured that we should each get a serving and then sneak them into the theater. Fortunately and unfortunately, the servings are huge. We each got a box that had about six or seven nicely sized hot, non-greasy but fried goodness covered in pounds of powdered sugar. I'd like to say that we didn't eat all of our boxes because we were too full but neither of us could stop eating.

When I went with Andy, we were also going to see a movie, so we again went early. Since we got there around 4:45 p.m., we got the lunch menu. I found that the dinner was pretty affordable for what we got, but the lunch menu is a great deal. The only issue was that the jambalaya wasn't ready yet (jambalaya gets served after 5:30 p.m.). Andy was very sad, but decided to order the hamburger with a side of hushpuppies. The great deal was my oyster po'boy with a side of gumbo for only $11.

I got a full-size sandwich packed with fried oysters, lettuce, and tomatoes. The oysters were breaded with a little bit of cornmeal, which made them extra crispy on the outside, but really tender on the inside. The gumbo was also awesome. Unlike most gumbo that I've had in the past, which has usually been sitting around for a few hours, this tasted fresh. Nothing was overcooked, even the shrimp, which were tender and still juicy. The okra was also cooked just right so that it wasn't too slimy.

Andy was pleased with his hamburger and said for the first time ever that he was really pleased with my blind selection of a restaurant. I had never had hushpuppies before, but Andy said that they were a bit different from the ones he's used to--these had more flavor. They were served really hot with a crunchy outer texture, but the cornmeal on the inside was sweet and soft.

Too bad we didn't have time for dessert. The food was so good that we ate everything on our plates. Oh, and the movie we saw was decent too (The Departed).

Angeline's Louisiana Kitchen is located on Shattuck near Bancroft in Berkeley.
2261 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 548-6900

They are open Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday.
Lunch is served from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Dinner is served from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday,
and 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday.

They also have a website: http://angelineskitchen.com/