The big game is officially upon us, and it’s all about the Bay Area this weekend as Super Bowl LX hits Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Feb. 8, 2026. If you’re building your trip around San Francisco and Oakland, California, and are looking for a few non-football activities while you’re in town, here’s a Black travel guide approach to eating well, tapping into culture, and keeping your dollars circulating with intention.
Where to Eat
Start in the Bayview at Gumbo Social, where the New Orleans-esque fare hits with the kind of warmth that instantly makes the city feel smaller. Then keep that global Black flavor energy going at Meski, a standout for Afro/Latin/Caribbean plates that work perfectly for group dinners and “let’s order a bunch and share” nights. For soul food with neighborhood history behind it, Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement in the Fillmore is the move—classic comfort done with care, rooted in one of SF’s most storied Black corridors.
If your Super Bowl weekend needs a grab-and-go moment that still tastes like somebody cooked with love, hit Peaches Patties—a Jamaican outpost at the Ferry Building that makes it easy to snack between plans without falling into tourist traps. And because every long weekend needs caffeine and a little softness, Nirvana Soul delivers coffee with community-forward energy—an easy meet-up spot before you split off to different events.
Finally, if you’re catching the city at the right time, Rize Up Bakery is your fresh-baked flex: sourdough, cookies, biscuits. It’s the kind of place where you “just try one thing” and leave with a bag.
Then hop across the bridge to Oakland, where the Black food map is deep. Visit Oakland’s Black-owned restaurant round-up is a cheat code: alaMar Dominican Kitchen for bold, coastal flavors; Burdell for elevated soul (and Michelin love); and Home of Chicken and Waffles when you need that late-afternoon reset.
What to Do
For culture, do the double feature: Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in SF for contemporary exhibitions and storytelling, then African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) to dig into Black California history through archives, art, and community memory. Add the African American Art & Culture Complex for performances, galleries, and that “local creatives actually live here” energy.
If you’re here for the Super Bowl, you alredy know that it has a way of turning the Bay into one big moving party: plenty of lines, reservations, surge pricing, and a whole lot of people acting like they discovered San Francisco and Oakland yesterday. The cheat code is simple: build your itinerary around Black-owned spots that feel like the real heartbeat of the area.
The SF guide was co-curated by Kajah Elliot, a Bay Area transplant and host of “The As Told By Podcast.”