Calabash
Restaurant · Waverly
2300 Valdez St Ste A, Oakland, CA 94612
Highlights
Jamaican, Malaysian, Persian cuisines served all day; market
Jamaican, Malaysian, Persian cuisines served all day; market
"Calabash is an Afro-Caribbean and Jamaican restaurant with a $35 lunch and dinner menu. The two-course meal at this Uptown spot includes an entree, like jerk chicken or curry vegetables, and a side of green beans or brussels sprouts." - julia chen 1
"When Nigel Jones closed his thunderous Kingston 11, the world turned to Calabash, his newer and remaining temple to Caribbean and African diasporic cuisine. He opened with the tremendous talent of Hanif Sadr of San Francisco’s Komaaj at his side. That means there’s curried crab with vegetables, atop jasmine rice right next to mezze platters of roasted eggplant and tomato." - Paolo Bicchieri
"Calabash is an all-day spot serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner—which is one reason we already have plans to spend every waking hour at this spot near Uptown. The other is the fact that this place is from the chefs behind the excellent (now closed) Kingston 11 and Komaaj. They’re doing feel-good Afro-Caribbean and Iranian dishes, from sweet plantains with black bean sauce and roasted lamb leg salad to eggplant and sumac labneh mezzes, and serving in a plant-and-couch-heavy space that looks like a lounge crossed with a fancy, sun-filled cafeteria. Expect this place to be the backdrop for casual conversations, especially since it has two bars." - julia chen 1, lani conway
"A Northern Iranian–Jamaican concept opened near downtown Oakland after more than $1 million in investment; the chef-owner described intense anxiety about launching amid widespread closures and reduced downtown foot traffic, and found the reality of opening far more difficult than anticipated." - ByElazar Sontag
"Chef and Komaaj majority owner Hanif Sadr just opened Calabash in Oakland and received high praise from the New York Times for his cooking." - Paolo Bicchieri
