Taste Jamaica! That’s the theme chef and owner Nigel Jones, who along with business partner Adrian Henderson, used when they opened their Kingston 11 Jamaican restaurant on 2270 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, in 2013 after working as a pop-up diner spot at other cafes and community-kitchens throughout the East Bay.

A native of Jamaica, Nigel was born in Kingston 11, next to Bob Marley’s neighboring district of Kingston 12. His mother gave birth to him at age 15; although he was raised by his grandparents after his mother moved to the U.S., and his father went to England where many Jamaicans migrated at the time.

“I migrated to the U.S. in 1973 to be with my mother for the first time,” said Nigel. “When I came to California in 1989, I worked for Levi Strauss in San Francisco where I was Director of Operations for the Docker’s brand. I came to realize that San Francisco was labeled as one of the highest-rated cities per capita for restaurants in the U.S. However there were very few Jamaican restaurants in the City.”

“Although I was making good money at Strauss, I yearned to do something that would reflect my own community back to me. That’s when I decided to open a Jamaican restaurant.”

“With my Jamaican background, as it relates to food, and from what I learned from my grandmother who was a strong influence on me, it was time to gather my recipes, marry them together with French-cooking technical skills. That was the basic foundation of me becoming a self-taught chef. So I went to cooking camps to get some technical background in terms of culinary arts,” added Nigel.

“During my tenure at Strauss, it was fruitful and lucrative, but it really wasn’t my passion, and because of that, I needed to do something different.  When you have passion, you have an opportunity to succeed no matter what you do in life.  It’s hard to succeed if you don’t have passion which will help you to get through tough times and bumps in the road.”   

Kingston 11 has become both an electric and eclectic venue, using local and organic ingredients in its environmentally-friendly, and community-oriented restaurant. Its delicacies, as well as other dishes Nigel call ‘street foods,’ come from different cultures.

The restaurant’s signature dishes include its infamous jerk chicken and oxtails. The oxtails are served with Jasmine brown rice, coconut milk and red beans, resulting in a very healthy dish. Nigel takes a healthy approach in preparing meals, while taking into consideration the health issues of people of color who have compromised health conditions.

Throughout the pandemic, Kingston continued to operate, along with other food establishments to help feed people of color in the community. When schools closed down, Kingston teamed up with other restaurants to feed those kids who normally relied on school lunch programs.

“We have partnered with Ayesha and Steph Curry with their Eat, Learn and Play Foundation,” said Nigel. “Their foundation helps to ensure that kids and families are provided balance nutritional foods, as well as a good learning and playful environment.”

“Our association with the foundation has resulted in us providing meals every week to low-income families, and here it is a year later, and we are still providing meals for them.  Instead of focusing on ourselves to survive the pandemic, we’ve focused on our community to help it survive.”

The Eat, Learn and Play Foundation produce 3,000 meals per week for children and low-income families. Kingston, along with other local restaurants, provides at least 1,000 of those meals. 

“As we transition further in our reopening, we will continue to provide takeout service as well as dine-in,” said Nigel. “We have tables outside in front of the restaurant and a rear patio for dining as well.  The middle section of the restaurant will remain closed until we are able to maintain control of the flow of people, while also keeping them safe.” 

Kingston will continue to follow health and CDC guidelines as it begins to receive customers for indoor dining again. Staff is required to wear masks but patrons have the option to wear a mask or not based on their comfort level.

“Kingston offers opportunities for people of color, as well as white folks, to use our facilities for gathering such as graduations, private parties and special events so they can have access to Uptown Oakland, which sometimes can be very expensive.”

“Kingston reverberates with gaiety and laughter,” said Nigel. “It’s a major contribution to Oakland’s huge entertainment community and for us. We have space available for the artist community to share their arts and creativity.”

“On Thursday nights, we pay local bands come in and perform, but we don’t charge our customers to enjoy the music.  We are creating a network for local artists to be in front of the community so they can showcase their talents and afford them the opportunity to help get bookings at other locations.”  

Kingston II is “One Love,” as noted on its south interior wall. It’s a prominent community-oriented restaurant that serves people of all nationalities and cultures. For more information on Kingston 11, visit www.kingston11eats.com and Taste Jamaica!

Christy Price

Posts by Christy Price