OAKLAND — The aromas from her mom’s conventional Tigrayan stews would waft by means of the kitchen as a younger Weyanti Ahmed learnrd her craft, experimenting with the spare suggestions of onions, bell peppers and jalepeños to “create my own little meals.”
Ahmed’s mom, Hiwot, lived lengthy sufficient to see her daughter, now 46, turn out to be knowledgeable chef in downtown Oakland, with a for much longer listing of components in her arsenal.
Now, a mural dealing with the doorway of Ahmed’s soul-food restaurant, Y’s Alternative, contains a radiant portrait of Hiwot, beaming out on the clients shuffling into cubicles to feast on garlic noodles, grilled prawns, braised oxtails, turkey chops, deep-fried hen and extra. On one other wall, there’s a brief household biography paying tribute to Ahmed’s cultural historical past.
The household’s lineage is as numerous because the menu. Two of her personal kids, daughters Kylah and Niajah, assist run the place. And through a latest lunchtime hour, Ahmed cradled her child granddaughter, Emio, whereas she crunched numbers for a rising enterprise that just a few months in the past moved to a bigger house on San Pablo Avenue.
Broadly promoted as a soul-food joint, Y’s Alternative isn’t restricted to anybody delicacies — an intentional alternative by the chef, who was born in Sudan, grew up primarily in West Oakland and now commutes from her dwelling in Fremont. The consolation meals has some Habesha influences but in addition occurs to incorporate Halal burgers, impressed by the Ahmed’d late Turkish father.
Ahmed, the previous chef at Halftime Sports activities Bar on 14th Avenue in downtown, had labored as a nurse and in a number of desk jobs earlier than her 5 kids satisfied her that her home-cooking was worthy of knowledgeable pursuit. For some time, she ran a drop-off catering service throughout the East Bay, which Ahmed described as extra tiring than operating a day by day, 12-hour restaurant.
“It took tenacity and consistency,” she stated. “After about a year, I took off running (as a full-time chef) and didn’t want to stop.”
Though Ahmed believes Y’s Alternative — which owes its identify to the “why” sound in her identify, Weyanti — remains to be a “hidden gem” tucked behind downtown’s extra outstanding choices, her plans to open a full bar within the coming months could quickly give technique to a brand new nightlife standout.
Within the meantime, she’s busy carrying on the legacy of her mom, whose love of cooking continues to resonate within the household — and on the partitions of Y’s Alternative.
Weyanti Ahmed, chef and proprietor of Y’s Alternative restaurant and bar in Oakland, Calif., stands together with her daughters Kylah Adams, 20, left, and Nihjah Paschal, 25, within the eating room, the place a mural depicts her mom and their Senegalese roots on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group)
The next interview has been edited for size and readability.
Q: If you had been pursuing different careers, do you know, deep down, that it was cooking that actually drove you?
A: I knew however I didn’t know. I used to be all the time the one cooking — all my members of the family would come to my home to eat. Each vacation, I cooked, however I didn’t essentially know that it was my ardour, or my goal. I simply knew I preferred it. Even my mother would say, ‘Who taught you how to cook like this?’
To some extent, I did think about culinary faculty, although lots of people had been like, ‘You don’t actually need to go should you already know what you’re doing.’ I felt like I wanted to know issues, just like the totally different elements of plating. However as soon as I received my foot within the door, I felt prefer it was pointless.
Q: How did you make the transition from cooking at dwelling to the food-service business, the place it’s possible you’ll be anticipated to serve plates that style like ‘restaurant food’?
A: Lots of people can actually prepare dinner, however when you get into the restaurant discipline and begin cooking in bigger portions, it modifications the style of the meals. So, I believe, that’s the place a number of eating places lose their contact, as a result of they’re attempting so onerous to increase themselves that they’re chopping corners. I don’t consider in that. I wish to keep genuine in the way in which I prepare dinner — there’s no distinction.
My youngsters helped me domesticate the menu — all their favorites, beginning with the garlic noodles. However there have been some issues that for certain didn’t make it onto the menu, the place they had been like, ‘Mom, don’t do this one!’ My jambalaya might have made it onto the menu; it’s actually good however actually advanced, and never everybody preferred it. I had stir-fry on the menu however we needed to omit that as effectively.
Partrons get meals and drinks at Y’s Alternative restaurant and bar in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group)
Q: A number of years in the past, it felt like bars and eating places had been shutting down left and proper, practically on a regular basis. Do you sense an upswing, that Oakland is likely to be making a comeback?
A: Completely. Even when the Condé Nast listing got here out, I needed to look it up, however for Oakland to be rated number-one within the nation for meals is a very massive factor. What I believe it had loads to do with is the totally different ethnicities that we had in Oakland — it’s so numerous. You don’t simply say, ‘I’m going to Oakland for tacos,’ and even soul meals. There are such a lot of choices right here; if I needed to go wherever to eat, I’d go to Oakland each time.
Issues are altering for the higher, a bit. Life isn’t promised to anybody; crime remains to be a actuality. However when you have got a great factor going, folks will come; that’s what I’m studying. I’ve to comply with what God has in retailer for me.
Q: How do you’re employed across the troubles getting seen on San Pablo Avenue then (on the former location) on Broadway?
A: They nonetheless suppose I’m over there and don’t actually know I’m right here — it’s nonetheless a hidden gem. And I can see that, I perceive. I’ve been in enterprise just a few years. And I took off operating, but it surely’s a problem. So we’re attempting to work round that.
Q: Do you continue to prepare dinner whenever you get dwelling at evening? What do you eat?
A: No, under no circumstances. I eat air, I sleep! [Laughs] No, I eat a number of greens and attempt to keep wholesome. Any fruits, salads, that’s what I’m having on a regular basis.
I’ve received to run payroll, ensure my stock is on level, my invoices are paid, everyone seems to be paid up — it’s loads to juggle. However I’ve been doing it for some time. And I’m a single mother! I’ve been elevating my youngsters on my own and needed to maintain down my family. Since my mother handed away 4 years in the past, I’ve been taking good care of her affairs.
It’s loads that lays on me, however I received it.
Nihjah Paschal, 25, works at her mom’s Y’s Alternative restaurant and bar in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group)
Profile
Group: Y’s Alternative Soul Meals Restaurant and Catering Place: Proprietor and Founder Age: 46Birthplace: The Republic of Sudan; raised in West OaklandResidence: The Bay AreaEducation: Chabot School, Cal State East Bay, life and motherhood
FIVE THINGS ABOUT WEYANTI AHMED
Born within the Republic of Sudan in Northeast Africa, and migrated to the U.S. at six years previous, first to Texas after which to West Oakland.
Mom is Tigrayan (a area in North Africa bordering Eritrea) and father is Turkish, so meals and tradition had been a serious a part of upbringing. As a toddler, stood by mom’s aspect within the kitchen, working as her sous chef.
A mom of 4 and a grandmother of 1. Cooking for youngsters daily for over 20 years propelled a profession cooking for the lots. Youngsters are the inspiration behind a homestyle cooking method, serving as a high quality management group and guaranteeing that each dish is simply how it will be ready at dwelling.
Story behind the identify of Y’s Alternative: Nobody might pronounce my identify after I was a child, so that they began calling me Y. The ‘choice’ half got here from catering to my youngsters. At all times wished them to have selections when it got here to their meals, therefore the identify Y’s Alternative. Additionally explains why there are such a lot of objects on my menu — for there to be one thing for everybody to get pleasure from.
Was once an excessive coupon-er. Helped me make ends meet when occasions had been powerful, so to see how far I’ve come nonetheless blows my thoughts at occasions. Nevertheless it simply goes to indicate: with onerous work and a imaginative and prescient, something is feasible.
Weyanti Ahmed, chef and proprietor of Y’s Alternative restaurant and bar in Oakland, Calif., sits on a sofa within the bar space on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group)
