Burdell Chef Geoff Davis Returns to True Laurel for Monday Rumday Pop-Up Today

If you’ve been dying to check out Burdell, chef Geoff Davis’s much-anticipated and ambitious Oakland restaurant that currently operates as a pop-up, then here’s some good news: Davis is heading back to his old stomping grounds in the city for a night of live jazz, fresh daiquiris, and, of course, modern soul food.

Geoff Davis

On Monday, August 15, True Laurel will celebrate Monday Rumday, an event the bar first held outdoors two years ago during the pandemic but now brings back for a second run. Mount Gay Rum is co-hosting and, to mark the occasion, the bar will bust out its manual sugar cane press to squeeze fresh sugar cane juice for use in those rum-filled daiquiris. Attendees can taste the fresh cane juice squeezed from California-grown sugar cane, or go for something boozier including Mai o Mais, True Laurel’s milk-washed mai tai riff capped with a coffee-rum float, and select pours of rarer Mount Gay rums.

As for the food, Davis is planning to make oyster po’boys and a few other yet-to-be-announced items. Davis, who spent years working in upscale Bay Area restaurants such as Cyrus in Healdsburg and Aqua, True Laurel, and Penny Roma in San Francisco, told Eater SF he wants to change diners’ understanding of Black food; he hopes to show diners that Black food isn’t “just fried chicken and biscuits” while also applying cooking techniques he learned from his family to California’s pristine produce. “I think that Burdell is something that hopefully will change a lot of people’s minds about what is Black food, what is possible with Black food,” Davis said in July.

The pop-up will start at 4 p.m. and ends at 8 p.m. — but it’s first come first served, so get there early if you want to make sure to get in on the food and drink. Some proceeds from the event will go toward the Two Eighty Project, which works to increase equity and diversity within the wine industry.