MISS OLLIE’S >

Dining at Miss Ollie’s is an experience that can’t simply be quantified by a dish. Sure, the Caribbean cooking is phenomenal — spice-heavy jerk shrimp with garlic cabbage, fried chicken in mahogany-hued skin with underlying vinegared herbs — but Miss Ollie’s is more than that. There are no white tablecloths, no suit-wearing servers. It’s a space beckoning folks to come as they are. And in its corner slot at Swan’s Market, surrounded by a handful of other food outfits led by strong women of color, Miss Ollie’s has quietly, for years, been a haven for not just the Bay Area’s black community but for anyone just looking for good cooking in an environment where they feel welcome. In this sense, the restaurant has long embodied the personality of its leader, chef-owner Sarah Kirnon — a pioneer in the Bay Area, but long removed from the spotlight. Favorite detail: On the walls are old cast-iron skillets reflecting the passage of time in a way that clocks in a dining room never could.

Pro tip: Go for early dinner at around 5:45 p.m. and sit at a table in the middle of the room. Make sure it’s a day with pleasant weather, so you can watch not only the restaurant hum around you but also the fading daylight, which has a gorgeous way of spilling into the dining room.

Order: Skillet-fried chicken with seasonal greens and potato salad ($26.95), salt fish and ackee ($16.75).

901 Washington St., Oakland. 510-285-6188 or www.realmiss olliesoakland.com. Lunch and dinner Tues.-Sat. Reservations and credit cards accepted.

— J.P.