Chef Sarah Kirnon made a name for her Caribbean-Creole cooking - and her righteous fried chicken - at San Francisco's Front Porch. At her new place, Hibiscus, a recent addition to Oakland's red-hot Uptown scene, she ups the ante. Big time.
Raised in Barbados by a grandmother and great-grandmother who cooked on sugar plantations, Kirnon says her menu is an homage to them - but informed by the Bay Area's farmers' market ethos. That means Caribbean foodstuffs skillfully rendered in modern, original and almost always successful ways.
Riverdog beet salad ($8) gets the hum of a chile-dosed Martinique Chien dressing and a scattering of fava beans and arugula. Jerk seasoning arrives on a Cornish hen starter ($9.50), its warm spices cooled by Japanese cucumbers and breakfast radishes.
It's fine dining that's fun. You get the feel right away, entering through the inviting bar with its rum cocktails and get-down vibe. Three bright paintings of hibiscus flowers set the scene.
The place is quiet early on, but by 8 p.m. on a Thursday, every table is full and it's loud - even before the music is notched up. People - a very mixed crowd - are having a good time.
Kirnon's fried chicken ($20) is named for her grandmother, Miss Ollie, and cooked according to her recipe. The Hibiscus version is much like Front Porch's, with one added ingredient - Kirnon won't divulge what - and the result is the best fried chicken I can remember: thick, crunchy and so brown outside that I feared for the meat, but it was juicy and full of flavor. The plate comes with boniato (sweet potato) puree, plus arugula and a confit of onions. And gravy, of course.
The menu changes almost nightly (there's always fried chicken), but the same mix of flavors is always in play: heat, sweet and lots of things you may not have heard of. I peppered our server with questions. What's pikliz? Ackee? Callaloo? Service was generally excellent, although it did slow down when things got busy.
Ackee, as it turns out, is a mild fruit with a texture often compared to scrambled eggs. Salt fish and ackee ($8.75) is Jamaica's national dish; Kirnon adds sweet red peppers and slices of browned plantain.
Shrimp and grits take a Bay Area turn, replacing shrimp with Dungeness crab ($9 starter, $16 entree) on top of grits so creamy, they could make you weep.
Kirnon's menu shows off her fondness for innards, a staple of her childhood, with starters made of ox tongue and tripe ($7) and fried chicken livers ($10). The first is a tumble of fresh tongue cubes, tossed with strips of tender, slightly chewy tripe and tiny halved purple potatoes, zinged up with Scotch bonnet/lime dressing. The deep-fried chicken livers were overcooked, but they came with a chunk of pork belly so perfectly seared and creamy that I wolfed it down between bites of palate-clearing pickled okra.
Among the entrees, the whole tai snapper ($24) is steamed and served "escoveitch" style - doused in a light vinegar sauce with fresh vegetables. The rib eye ($26.50) advertised a thyme rub that I barely picked up, but the thin cut was pink and juicy. The matchstick fries alongside were too thin, though, and didn't taste fresh.
Callaloo? Turns out it's a side of seasoned taro greens and okra, cooked to comforting if a bit slimy softness. Pickliz? It's a spicy chutney-like vegetable pickle ($2.50) that I'd happily keep in my fridge. One odd note is the bread - sweet Parkerhouse-like rolls served cold.
Desserts range from a subtle, silky buttermilk panna cotta ($6.50) to a full-on sugar overload - rum-raisin bread pudding ($8) with a salty caramel sauce.
Often the requisite three review dinners at a new restaurant are more than enough for me. Not at Hibiscus, where the food is very good now and seems headed even higher. Kirnon says she's happy to be in the East Bay, and I say the East Bay should be happy to have her.
Hibiscus
1745 San Pablo Ave. (at 18th Street), Oakland; (510) 444-2626 or hibiscusoakland.com.
Dinner 5:30-10 p.m. Sunday-Monday and Wednesday-Thursday, until 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Credit cards and reservations accepted. Full bar. Moderately easy street parking.
OverallRating: TWO AND A HALF STARSAtmosphereRating: TWO AND A HALF STARSFoodRating: TWO AND A HALF STARSPrices$$$ServiceRating: TWO AND A HALF STARSNoise RatingNoise Rating: THREE BELLS
RATINGS KEY
FOUR STARS = Extraordinary; THREE STARS = Excellent; TWO STARS = Good; ONE STAR = Fair; NO STARS = Poor
$ = Inexpensive: entrees $10 and under; $$ = Moderate: $11-$17; $$$ = Expensive: $18-$24; $$$$ = Very Expensive: more than $25
ONE BELL = Pleasantly quiet (less than 65 decibels); TWO BELLS = Can talk easily (65-70); THREE BELLS = Talking normally gets difficult (70-75); FOUR BELLS = Can talk only in raised voices (75-80); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (80+)
Prices are based on main courses. When entrees fall between these categories, the prices of appetizers help determine the dollar ratings. Chronicle critics make every attempt to remain anonymous. All meals are paid for by The Chronicle. Star ratings are based on a minimum of three visits. Ratings are updated continually based on at least one revisit.
Reviewers: Michael Bauer (M.B.), Tara Duggan (T.D.), Mandy Erickson (M.E.), Amanda Gold (A.G.), Miriam Morgan (M.M.), Carol Ness (C.N.), Karola Saekel (K.M.S.) and Carey Sweet (C.S.)
