Town Fare by Chef Michele McQueen
Restaurant · Civic Center ·
Southern comfort food, wine, salads, sandwiches, shared plates
Southern comfort food, wine, salads, sandwiches, shared plates
"I'm looking forward to tasting Michele McQueen's contributions from Town Fare as part of the Cookout Plate at the Hella Juneteenth event." - Paolo Bicchieri
"I discovered that Chef Michele McQueen has introduced a new brunch menu at the Oakland Museum of California’s Town Fare starting Sunday, September 18 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with dishes including pain perdu with homemade brown sugar syrup and candied bacon; chicken and buttermilk waffles with sweet potatoes; blackened catfish and grits with lemon aioli; and biscuits with country bacon gravy and chives." - Lauren Saria
"I've watched a bumpy period of transition at the restaurant inside the Oakland Museum of California: after celebrity chef Tanya Holland parted ways just seven months into running the cafe and a brief stopgap stewardship by native Hawaiian and Tongan chef Puaokalani Barquis, Michele McQueen (formerly Wilson) has taken over and reopens Town Fare with a new menu and beverage program. The menu blends McQueen’s Oakland upbringing with her New Jersey family roots and features dishes such as a fried green tomato caprese salad, low country shrimp and grits with chicken andouille sausage, and a deviled egg of the month (this month served with togarashi Sriracha, black sesame, white miso, and chive). I tasted (and appreciated the idea of) a Southern dip flight of black eyed pea hummus, collard green dip, and pimento cheese with flatbread, curry collard, cabbage, and yam spring rolls with curry lime aioli, and—unsurprisingly given McQueen’s fried chicken reputation—a fried chicken served with red beans, rice, chow chow, and cornbread. The beverage program highlights Black-owned wineries and breweries including Wachira Wines, Hella Coastal Brewery, Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, Du Nord Social Spirits, and LS Cream Liqueur, and a cocktail menu co-created with Sadé Stamps includes options like a Bissap Rum Punch (sorrel and allspice dram) and the Hot Oaxaca (mezcal, watermelon sangrita, and guajillo chiles). A new 45-seat sun deck attached to the museum restaurant, opening the day after the menu debut, will add an outdoor bar, patio couches, and dining furniture and will be open Thursday through Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m., serving select menu items with craft cocktails, wine, and beer; the cafe itself is open during regular museum hours, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday." - Lauren Saria
"If the word “pretentious” comes to mind when you think of fine dining, Hi Felicia is here to change that. This supper club used to be a pop-up that operated out of a backyard in Oakland. And at their new Uptown Oakland brick-and-mortar, the warm, dinner party energy hasn’t changed—think handwritten name tags on each table, eclectic paintings all over the walls, and a staff you’ll be on a first-name basis with by the time dessert arrives. The 12-course menu ($195) showcases dishes that lean mostly Mexican, with a twist: you’ll eat duck confit wet burritos, sopes topped with a hefty scoop of caviar, and a cashew-based queso that we still think about hourly. It’s an experience you won’t want to end, and it’s not just because of the excellent parade of dishes that land in front of you—a meal here makes you feel like you’re a part of something special." - Julia Chen
"A vegetable-centric cafe at the Oakland Museum of California, Town Fare opened in June 2021 serving light fare such as ricotta toast with a cucumber salad and a vegetarian muffuletta. Chef Tanya Holland partnered with the museum to launch the cafe but will end her relationship effective January 31, 2022—about seven months after Town Fare debuted—and the museum says it will keep the Town Fare name, retain some of Holland’s menu items while adding new ones, and search for a new cafe and catering partner; Holland had been interested in opening at the museum for more than a decade, dating back to when she worked for a catering company that served there." - Lauren Saria