A Fonky New Flavor in Jack London
Tag: Places
Café Da Fonk is more than a place to grab coffee — it’s an expression of care, creativity, and lived experience. Rooted in community, shaped by travel, and guided by a belief that life doesn’t need to be perfect to be meaningful, the café brings a softer, more human approach to food and drink. Now open in Jack London, Café Da Fonk adds a soulful new layer to the neighborhood’s creative fabric. We caught up with founder Yasmin “Yazzy” to talk about her journey, the move from San Francisco, and what she hopes people feel when they walk through the door.
Q: For those who haven't met you yet — please tell us a bit about yourself, and the journey that led you to create Café Da Fonk.
A: I’m Yasmin, though most people know me as Yazzy. I’m a lifelong maker artist, cook, designer, and café owner. I was raised in a big, creative family twelve siblings total where food was how we took care of each other, especially when things were hard. And things were hard often as my mother was widow raising us alone! I'm actually working on a family cookbook/biography now to help get her incredible story and recipes out to the world.
I’ve lived several lives: working in food, art, and fashion; modeling with Ford Models in Miami and San Francisco; building tiny homes; raising my four kids; living abroad; and now studying herbal medicine and naturopathy. My relationship with herbs and plant medicine started early my mom taught me how to make teas as far back as I can remember. I’m currently studying to become a doctor of naturopathy, and I bring that knowledge into everything I create, with the intention of genuinely caring for people.
Café Da Fonk grew out of that lived experience. It was inspired by the café cultures of Berlin, Germany a city with deep blue-collar roots, creative pride, and space for slowness. It also became a response to American hustle culture and perfectionism, especially within the Bay Area coffee scene. I wanted to create something more human-forward. Something softer. Something that acknowledges that life is messy, tender, imperfect… fonky.
The café is about care: care for the nervous system, care for community, care for ourselves. Coffee just happens to be the medium.
Q: Café Da Fonk first made its mark in San Francisco. What inspired you to bring the concept across the Bay to Jack London?
A: Jack London wasn’t originally on my radar. Our community wanted us to stay in San Francisco, but the building was slated for redevelopment, and we had a very small window to relocate. With everything packed and stored, this space appeared much much smaller, but ready.
Jack London is industrial, creative, a little rough around the edges, and full of soul. There’s history here. Movement. Makers. People walking, thinking, working, wandering. It reminds me of Berlin in some ways, and of Oakland’s deep creative lineage in others.
Bringing Café Da Fonk here felt less like a move and more like a "I'm home" moment. The Bay is my home, and Jack London offered the opportunity to refine the concept into something more intimate and intentional a neighborhood café people return to not just for caffeine, but for grounding vibes.
Q: From coffee to comfort food, what are the must-try items at Café Da Fonk, and what makes them stand out to you?
A: Our care-based lattes are the heart of the menu drinks designed to feel good in your body, not just fuel it. My studies in herbal medicine and naturopathy deeply inform this work. We use intentional herbs and real ingredients, creating formulations with nervous system support in mind. Coffee doesn’t have to be aggressive to be good.
I lived the life of relentless grind and hustle, and this menu is my refusal of that harshness a way of offering something that gives back instead of taking.
On the food side, it’s comfort-forward: biscuits, cakes, and simple savory items that feel familiar but deeply considered. Nothing is flashy for its own sake. The goal is nourishment the kind you feel an hour later and think, oh… that actually helped. Our Zadies masterpiece breakfast sandwich or breakfast wrap are equally incredible.
Q: Your story and café philosophy celebrate finding beauty in imperfection or “life is fonky.” How does that spirit show up in the Jack London space?
A: You’ll feel it right away. The space isn’t over-polished or precious. It’s warm, a little fonky, slightly kitschy, simple, and wonky unexpected in a comforting way. There’s room to breathe. To sit with a thought. To make art. To meet a friend. To be alone without feeling lonely.
I see Café Da Fonk as a quiet anchor in the neighborhood a place that supports the creative ecosystem simply by existing. A place where ideas can land and people can reset before heading back out into the world.
Q: What do you hope people feel when they step into Café Da Fonk for the first time and when they leave?
A: When they walk in, I hope they feel at home. Like their shoulders can drop. Like they don’t have to perform or rush.
When they leave, I hope they feel steadier. A little more themselves. Maybe inspired not in a loud way, but in an I can keep going way… or even just, that was nice.
If people leave feeling cared for, then we’ve done our job.