Cornmeal Waffles with Apple Cider Syrup

The perfect breakfast. (Or lunch. Or dinner.)

Sometimes something as small as a single dish can help change a city. Take these cornmeal waffles with apple cider syrup. It’s a modest dish, but when Chef Tanya Holland first opened the doors of the Brown Sugar Kitchen in an “emerging” section of West Oakland in 2008, it was this dish—honest, pure, delicious— that started a culinary revolution on the forgotten side of San Francisco Bay. But for those who can’t make the trip to Oakland, we’ve nabbed the recipe from Brown Sugar Kitchen for you to try right at home.

From the chef herself: “These waffles are based on the rise-overnight, yeasted version made famous by the late cooking teacher and cookbook author Marion Cunningham. I added cornmeal to the batter to give them a distinctive Southern flavour and make them my own. Now they’re one of Brown Sugar Kitchen’s signature dishes and it’s impossible to imagine the restaurant without them. “

Get the recipe for these cornbread waffles here.