{"id":6819,"date":"2026-08-14T22:37:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T22:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6819"},"modified":"2026-08-14T22:37:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T22:37:58","slug":"home-of-chicken-waffles-to-close-in-oaklands-jack-london-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6819","title":{"rendered":"Home of Chicken & Waffles to close in Oakland’s Jack London district"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A longtime Oakland soul-food restaurant whose founder is \u201ccousins\u201d with Kamala Harris is closing up shop.<\/p>\n

Read more Woman killed in Oakland hit-and-run is identified<\/a><\/p>\n

Home of Chicken & Waffles, located at 247 Fourth St. near Jack London Square, will have its last day on Aug. 31.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just ready for something different in life,\u201d says founder Derreck Johnson. \u201cI am at this age in my last quarter where I\u2019m living with more summers behind me than in front of me, and I don\u2019t want to spend them in the restaurant business. No disrespect to the restaurant business, but my time has come and gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Home of Chicken & Waffles opened in 2004 at 444 Embarcadero West and moved recently to its current location on Fourth Street. The restaurant started off as a franchise of L.A.\u2019s legendary Roscoe\u2019s Chicken & Waffles, but later became family-owned.<\/p>\n

Many media outlets have talked up its signature fried chicken and waffles, as well as its commitment to hiring previously incarcerated people. Visit Oakland writes that it \u201coffers guests down-home Southern soul food with a warm and welcoming demeanor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson is a local, politically connected entrepreneur who in 2020 ran an ultimately unsuccessful campaign for the Oakland City Council. He later ran for mayor of the city. That same year, he told the news site Oaklandside he was no longer the owner of the restaurant, preferring the title \u201cfounder.\u201d He said he lost it in bankruptcy proceedings and that several of his former employees owned the place.<\/p>\n

However, today Johnson calls that old news and claims the title of owner. \u201cIt\u2019s back in the family now,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Johnson is also a longtime friend of Vice President Kamala Harris, both from the old days of Oakland. The two call each other \u201ccousins\u201d despite not being blood-related. He was invited to go to the inauguration of Harris and Joe Biden in 2021.<\/p>\n

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Johnson honored Harris, who has been photographed inside the restaurant, in an interior mural and named a menu special for the former VP, telling KPIX: \u201cIt\u2019s called \u2018The Kamala\u2019\u2026. It\u2019s collard greens, chicken lasagna, green salad and a choice of dessert and drink.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Mailbag: The finances of CFP expansion, the ACC\u2019s future, how the Protect College Sports Act impacts realignment and more<\/a><\/p>\n

He says he hasn\u2019t told her about closing the restaurant. But he does attend Golden State Valkyries games with her sister, Maya Harris, \u201cso I\u2019m sure she knows.\u201d<\/p>\n

(As it so happens, Hillary Clinton is also connected to the restaurant. The former presidential candidate held a community meeting there about Oakland\u2019s future in 2016, though no one reportedly ate any chicken or waffles.)<\/p>\n

Home of Chicken & Waffles maintains average to slightly above-average reviews on Yelp and Google. The most recent reviews on each site, respectively, praise its servers and artwork and its willingness to make meals after closing time.<\/p>\n

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The restaurant\u2019s departure is one of several for Oakland\u2019s lately beleaguered Jack London district. The bowling venue Plank closed this summer, and other businesses to recently depart include the Asian-inspired brewery Dokkaebier, the Seawolf pub and the Waterfront Hotel. A couple of new businesses have taken some empty spots, though, including Reem\u2019s California and Dave & Buster\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Johnson says he is working to find other jobs for his kitchen staff, some of whom have worked at the eatery since its opening day. As to his own plans, he hopes to \u201ccontinue to uplift Oakland in my role \u2014 help find investments to uplift our city because that\u2019s really what is needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

That possibly includes what comes in next at the empty Home of Chicken & Waffles space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have customers from San Jose, Fremont, San Francisco. People from all over the Bay Area come here,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cI know it\u2019s a loss to the community, but I\u2019m sure there\u2019s some young, new restaurateur dying to get into the business, and I\u2019d be more than happy to help them out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Details:<\/strong> Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily (except closed Wednesdays) at 247 Fourth St., Oakland, until permanently closing on Aug. 31, 2026; homeofchickenandwaffles.com.<\/p>\n

Read more Runaway reptile near Highway 24 creates traffic scare on major throughfare<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton have both dropped by the soul-food restaurant, whose founder says “my time has come and gone”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-things-to-do"],"yoast_head":"\nHome of Chicken & Waffles to close in Oakland’s Jack London district - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6819\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Home of Chicken & Waffles to close in Oakland’s Jack London district - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton have both dropped by the soul-food restaurant, whose founder says "my time has come and gone"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6819\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-14T22:37:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6819#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6819\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Home of Chicken & Waffles to close in Oakland’s Jack London district\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-14T22:37:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6819\"},\"wordCount\":720,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6819#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/7663a40ffec4fea54efef0a64790b315-scaled.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Things To Do\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6819#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6819\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6819\",\"name\":\"Home of Chicken & Waffles to close in Oakland’s Jack London district - 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