SAN FRANCISCO — Dorothy Everett came to California from Alabama, borrowed $700 from a friend and opened a barbecue restaurant in Oakland in 1973. Fifty-three years later, her family’s name is on a two-story building at Fisherman’s Wharf.
Everett and Jones Barbeque is open at 300 Jefferson St. It took a while. The San Francisco Port Commission approved the lease in February 2025, and the opening came after months of delays.
A family business, three generations in
Dorcia White, a granddaughter of Dorothy Everett, runs the San Francisco restaurant with her sisters. Dorcia White also oversees the family’s Oakland restaurants in the Laurel District and at Jack London Square.
Dorothy Everett started the business with her children and her son-in-law. At its peak the family had six locations. Today there are Everett and Jones restaurants in Oakland, Hayward and Berkeley, and relatives run others, including one at Graton Resort and Casino in Rohnert Park.
The room
The space is 4,363 square feet on two floors. It used to be Lou’s, the blues club and fish house, and it had been dark since 2020. The lease runs 10 years with two five-year options, so the family is planning to be there a long time.
Live music is planned. In a room that used to be a blues club, that sounds right.
What’s on the menu
The things that built the name: smoked brisket, ribs, chicken and links, with collard greens and baked beans on the side. Because it’s the Wharf, there’s seafood too. Grilled oysters, gumbo, and shrimp or fish po’boys. Beer and wine at the bar.
Why it matters
Fisherman’s Wharf is where the tourists go. Now they can sit down to barbecue from a Black family from Oakland that has been doing this since 1973.
If you go
Everett and Jones Barbeque, 300 Jefferson St., San Francisco. Open Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
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