Geoff Davis’ Soul Food Restaurant in Oakland Tells Stories of Black Excellence

A California boy grew up wanting to become a writer. Today, his cuisine tells stories about family traditions, Black history and culinary excellence. Chef Geoff Davis answers a passionate calling at the soul food restaurant in Oakland with creations that put Burdell on the Robb Report list of the 10 Best New Restaurants in America.

On September 4, Food & Wine named Burdell the 2024 Restaurant of the Year. The magazine states, “Stepping into Burdell feels like stepping back in time, as though you’ve been welcomed to a cheerful Sunday supper. At this Oakland, California, restaurant, chef-owner Geoff Davis cooks soul food in a bright and modern way, catapulting it into the future.”

“It’s humbling to cook the food that I grew up with and be recognized, not only by Robb Report. That’s one of the things we definitely were excited to receive, but we’ve got so many critical accolades. We haven’t even been open for a year. It’s been pretty cool to see it all pan out,” says Davis, Burdell’s chef-owner.

The fine-dining soul food restaurant in Oakland honors the chef’s maternal grandmother with the name Burdell. Davis shares why he chose to show respect for food he remembers eating as a child. “It’s really the whole point of telling that story, having the kind of food I would have with my grandparents. It’s our Sunday night dinner with a little more technique and the ingredients that are available to us.”

Building Burdell as Grandma’s House

Chef Davis knew what he wanted guests to feel when they walked into Burdell at 4640 Telegraph Avenue. He intentionally selected a décor that is warm, homey and comfortable. “I did most of the ideation and design of the space, using colors I remember from my grandparent’s house. We designed our bar specifically to feel like a kitchen counter and have some elements of 60s and 70s kitchens weaved through it,” states the Oakland restaurateur.

Cane-backed chairs, vintage Corelle plates and framed family photos make Burdell more like a home than a restaurant. The old-school soul music takes diners to a nostalgic place in perfect harmony with the comforting but eclectic dishes Davis puts on the menus. “For us, it’s like an ethos of cooking and how you approach ingredients. We’re treating it as such instead of following the normal formula of what people consider a soul food restaurant to be,” he expresses.

Davis set out to enrich, energize and expand people’s perceptions about soul food. He argues that fried chicken, candied sweet potatoes and other familiar dishes represent a limited view of Black people’s food. “I think soul food is food that really represents the Black diaspora and Black migration. It’s adapting to new circumstances and taking a little bit of history with you. That is a broader definition,” comments Burdell’s head chef.

Before opening his restaurant in September 2023, Davis and his partner and operations manager, Zara Fernandez, tested his approach to soul food. The sold-out pop-ups they presented every week for months delivered four and five-course pre-fixe dinners from the chef’s Saturday trips to farmers markets. He created new dishes for every menu served inside the Sequoia Diner and Tribune in Oakland.

“It was a great testing ground for us to mess around with new ideas, recreate some memories and update them. As a cook, I found it really engaging, but it was difficult to do. But it was a really cool thing because we had a lot of guests that came to most of them, and they never had any repeats or got bored with eating the same things,” Davis recalls.

Some of the pop-up diners’ favorite dishes are represented in revamped versions at Burdell. “One of the ones we did as an entrée was the shrimp dish. We cooked shrimp with okra, rice, and succotash. The shrimp got adapted into being an appetizer,” says Davis. “We did a chicken liver mousse and waffle dish. We had an insanely positive response to that dish, so that was adapted into an appetizer as well.”

The one constant in all of the offerings at Burdell is the freshness and quality of ingredients selected from local farmers, purveyors and artisans. “As a Californian, we adapt to the bounty of ingredients and all the markets around us. I knew the story we were telling was unique, and I knew it was a good time to tell that story. I think people are more open to hearing that story right now,” declares Burdell’s owner.

In addition to the Food & Wine and the Robb Report, the James Beard Foundation, New York Times, Michelin Guide and Esquire are also among the critics listening to the stories Davis cooks up. He was named a Best Chef: California finalist at the 2024 James Beard Awards.

The cover of a San Francisco Chronicle issue proclaimed Burdell’s as the Bay Area’s must-try new restaurant. The chef’s ‘BBQ’ whole shrimp made the New York Times list of best American dishes of 2023. Davis is pleased but quick to credit his 18-member staff.

“It’s really not about me. I can be a mouthpiece for the food and the team, but it’s not really about a spotlight for me,” Davis points out. “That’s what we really set out to do with Burdell, and I think with all the hard work and sacrifice it takes to cook, I was definitely hoping for some spotlight on soul food and it being looked at in a different way.”

Burdell Celebrates the Past and Present

The difference at Burdell comes from Davis and his team’s commitment to giving guests a fine dining experience in a soulful setting. The chef’s fond memories of his maternal grandfather Warren Demby’s passion for farming and fresh produce kindle ideas for Burdell’s reimagined dishes from the past.

“His joy and excitement about things coming into the season, how to cook them and how to pick the best one at the market made a big impression on me. His commitment to having something fresh on the table influenced how I thought about food since I was a kid. As I went along in cooking, I wanted to be more connected to high-quality ingredients because they make such a huge difference in the end product,” Davis remarks.

The Oakland chef spent considerable time in the kitchens of his grandparents from both sides of his family. Both sets of grandparents moved to California and brought their culinary traditions from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and North Carolina with them. Davis likes to imagine what they might do with the farm fresh produce he procures for Burdell. “An artichoke, for instance, is not necessarily a soul food ingredient. We’re an hour away from the artichoke capital of the world. So, why wouldn’t we cook those?” he says.

Taking that approach means highlighting each season’s bounty, whether it’s artichokes, asparagus, peas, tomatoes, peppers, corn, eggplant, okra, shelling beans, broccoli, squash, sweet potatoes, greens, apples or citrus fruits. At least one or two dishes on Burdell’s menus change every week. Davis also likes to pay homage to the present by incorporating Oakland’s cultural diversity into some dishes.

“Instead of boxing ourselves in, let’s reach and grab all these beautiful cuisines and the diverse neighbors that we have to make the cuisine feel more modern and rooted in Oakland and California,” explains Davis. “There are tons of Vietnamese and Mexican ingredients and influence. Instead of cayenne peppers, why wouldn’t there be ancho chilies in our cooking or a little fish sauce in a fish stew?”

The brunch, dinner and dessert menus capture the chef’s passion for the best ingredients. This summer season’s selections include fried green tomato salad, grilled eggplant gumbo, roasted Sonoma duck and slow-cooked greens with ham hock and bebere spice for dinner, peach and blueberry cobbler for dessert. The brunch menu choices include broccoli and cheddar croquettes, a pimento cheese folded omelette or ‘BBQ’ whole shrimp and rice grits. Specialty cocktails are also available. The Bea is made with watermelon, sake, red bitter aperitif and lime.

Burdell’s Chef Demonstrates Fine-Dining Chops

Just as the culinary diversity surrounding them influenced his grandparents and other relatives, Davis evolved as a chef, cooking in restaurant kitchens from the East Coast to the West. The New York’s Culinary Institute of America graduate spent weekends staging at some of the city’s most acclaimed restaurants, including Daniel and Le Bernardin. He later returned to California and worked at Aqua and the Fifth Floor, two of the San Francisco Bay area’s top dining spots.

The time Davis devoted to cooking alongside James Syhabout at The Dock in Oakland solidified a friendship that continues today. The chef-owner of the two-star Michelin restaurant Commis applauded the opening of Burdell in an article posted on Resy Blog.

Syhabout said, “This week’s debut of Burdell marks an important moment for both Oakland and the larger restaurant community in America. At its core, the restaurant is serving delicious soul food from its chef-owner, Geoff Davis. But Geoff has also built a restaurant that examines a lot of ideas in the restaurant world: personal cooking, fine dining, California cuisine, American cuisine, Black cuisine.”

Syhabout also mentioned the courage it took for Davis to launch a fine-dining restaurant with a unique story and food people hungered for after the pandemic. “I think it takes being true to ourselves and using my memories and the memories of some of our cooks to bolster the story we want to tell, and using good ingredients along the way. I can’t think of another restaurant that is sourcing the way we are sourcing,” Davis says.

The source of the chef’s culinary inspiration combines recollections of the love and laughter at his grandmother Burdell’s dining table with the history of Black farming, fishing and foraging. He then uses his commitment to developing connections with farmers and artisans to cook refined versions of family recipes and fresh takes on contemporary Black food.

“We’re sourcing the same way as the two and three Michelin-star restaurants around us.  We’re buying the same ingredients. We have relationships with the same farmers. We’re buying the same fish and meat. I go to four farmers markets every week,” emphasizes Davis. “. I think, too often, soul food gets made with inexpensive ingredients. The food is so simple you can tell the difference between a succotash made with frozen corn and the peak season corn we’re getting right now.”

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Pairing Wine and Purpose at Burdell

Long before going to culinary school, Davis delved into some characteristics of fine dining. His parents were avid cooks, and his mother, in particular, loved dining out. “My mom is still fascinated by restaurants. We would go to a restaurant, and at the end of the meal, my mom would always, maybe to keep me entertained, ask me to give a restaurant review,” the chef recollects.

His mother’s questions about the food and service fueled the passion Davis has for meeting the highest standards of cooking and hospitality. Besides fresh ingredients, serving wine with dinner characterized family gatherings. Davis tapped into Californians’ penchant for pairing wine and food during his culinary journey. He studied food and wine in Italy and France before a stint at Sonoma County’s Unti Vineyards in Healdsburg. “I did a harvest with a winery that I respect. My love and passion for wine grew from there. Aside from food, it is one of my great passions,” adds Davis.

The restaurateur compares simple, rustic and ingredient-driven soul food with Italian cuisine in a discussion about wine-pairing. Davis calls Burdell’s wine list unique and robust. “Our list focuses on Champagne and white and red Burgundy. There are a lot of options there, and a lot of them are versatile with food that is robust and deep in flavor.”

Burdell occupies the same space where Oakland’s beloved Aunt Mary’s Café served traditional soul food for 14 years. Davis hopes making his restaurant more than a place to eat will foster longevity. “Restaurants are like community spaces. We connect with all these people, and they connect with our people. Restaurants are about community, people and connecting through food and stories,” he notes.

For example, Davis talks about a customer who wanted to order takeout for his mom, who was battling cancer. Burdell typically does not offer food to go, but the staff accommodated the man’s request. The diner’s mom recently came to Burdell for her first meal out since February. “She completed her chemo, is feeling better, and her cancer is in remission. She gave us all hugs and said, ‘You guys were part of getting me through it. I was looking forward to coming here to this restaurant.’”

Those are the kind of experiences that reinforce the type of restaurant Burdell is meant to be. It is fine-dining and family-oriented, designed for upscale celebrations and casual gatherings. Davis explains what that means. “Everybody is welcome all the time. We have a space that can serve multiple purposes. You can come in for dinner on a Wednesday night. You can also have a birthday celebration, drink a nice bottle of wine and have a luxurious meal.”

Davis suggests that one of the most remarkable aspects of opening Burdell is seeing the diversity of people dining together, both newcomers and regulars. “Restaurants are one of the most challenging and difficult businesses there are. There are so many factors that go into it. We were confident that the story we had to tell was compelling, and the food at its core is approachable, delicious and fun to share.”

With his restaurant’s first anniversary on September 9, Davis reminisces about the entrepreneurial genes he inherited from his barbershop owner and farmer grandfathers. His family is proud of the space he created with high standards and new stories about the soul food he and his team grew up eating. For the 36-year-old chef-owner, it is the most valid measure of success and matters more than any individual awards.

“We are learning so much from being in our space, the standards we have, and using them to inform the next generation of chefs about technique and excellence. That’s going to be the biggest thing for us, having a legacy of places and people going on to do amazing things,” says Davis.

Stay up-to-date on Chef Davis and his soul food restaurant in Oakland @burdell_oak on Instagram.

This story originally appeared in Cuisine Noir Magazine