How Kaya Restaurant Wants to Empower People of Color in Fine Dining | Eater SF

"In the mid-Market space where Patterson’s Alta CA once lived, I teamed with Daniel Patterson to open Kaya as a spinoff of my beloved Kingston 11, overhauling the menu and giving the decor a light facelift. We opened on the 11th after Alta closed on December 23rd, with a very short three- or four-day kitchen training window; I inherited much of the Alta team who only had to learn the new menu. The food keeps the same flavor profile as Kingston but features different presentation and prep — for example, the black pepper tofu is formed into a rice-and-herb ball, sautéed and topped with pickled vegetables rather than Kingston’s cornstarch-fried version served with three soy sauces and white rice. Early best sellers are jerk chicken, oxtail, black pepper crab (we’re often out of crab), and caramelized carrots. The space was tweaked with a shade of blue, recycled wood trim, bright white walls, and playful Jamaican art by a Trinidadian artist, and the dining room already feels joyful, energetic, and diverse, drawing Jamaican and Black clientele alongside young tech workers and repeat customers who keep bringing friends." - Carolyn Alburger