Brown Sugar Kitchen Opens for Lunch and Dinner Pop-Ups

Brown Sugar Kitchen’s new quick service model is now up and running

After a brief closure for some remodeling and reconfiguring, Tanya Holland’s Brown Sugar Kitchen is back on Mandela Parkway, albeit with a very particular schedule. Now it’s counter service, serving lunch starting today, Wednesday, June 13 from 11:30 a.m.- 3:30 p.m., then again the following Wednesday, June 20. Finally, it’ll be open full days on June 22 through 24. Dinner pop-ups will likely start at the end of June, and will happen each Wednesday and Thursday evening until the end of August. Stay tuned for more details, and read more about the changes here.

Thanks Warriors: Free Doritos Locos at Taco Bell today

ICYMI, the Warriors won their third NBA Championship in a row. Through a complicated array of partnerships and advertising nonsense, the TL;DR is this: Go to a Taco Bell today, June 13, from 2 p.m.- 6 p.m. for a free Doritos Loco Taco. One per person, but to be honest, that’s more than enough.

Berkeley Bowl attempts to expand into its neighbor’s space

There’s a lawsuit brewing between a popular Berkeley grocery store and a 70-year-old business next door. Metalco operated for seven decades as a family business before Berkeley Bowl acquired the property which it’s leased since 1946 for a project of some kind. The company says that eviction would be the end of the road for Metalco, and is suing the Bowl for reach of contract, misrepresentation and violating California business practices, among other things.

Plum Bar is hosting a culinary pop-up series

Daniel Patterson’s Uptown Oakland restaurant, Plum Bar, is opening its doors to some outside talent this summer for a series of culinary pop-ups. The first is a preview of the chef Keith Corbin’s version of California soul food, which will debut at Patterson’s upcoming Alta in LA’s West Adams neighborhood this summer. (Corbin helped launch Locol in LA’s Watts neighborhood, too.) The menu, which includes items like grilled shrimp and grits with pickled okra and oxtails and rice, and will be available nightly through early July, Tuesday through Thursday at 2216 Broadway, Oakland. It’ll change after that, so stay tuned.

Chris Cosentino’s Napa restaurant has launched lunch and happy hour

The SF chef’s St. Helena outpost, Acacia House, is now offering a three-course prix fixe lunch menu, with choices of summery items like watermelon and heirloom tomato gazpacho, and avocado toast with smoked salmon. The deal is good: $29, seven days a week from 11:30 a.m.- 2 p.m. (there’s also a la carte). Happy hour has also launched Sunday through Thursday from 4 p.m.-6 p.m., offering snacks like burrata with crispy sunchokes, and a grilled cheese with duck egg, and discounted wine and cocktails.