By Nina Livingstone | Edible Boston Magazine
Photos by Michael Piazza
Sāsha Coleman was selling fried fish from her uncle’s truck while she was still in middle school. This year, she was named a James Beard Awards semifinalist for Best Chef. So you could say Comfort Kitchen’s executive chef has come full circle without really leaving the old neighborhood.
The Boston native didn’t have to go far when she first started thinking about global cuisine. In her Dorchester neighborhood, Coleman remembers, “I had a mixed cultural background of friends and I’d think, ‘What does a Haitian Thanksgiving look like?’ Or ‘What does a Cape Verdean Christmas look like? What type of foods are they eating?’ Because it’s not turkey or stuffing, or macaroni and cheese—the things I grew up with, the celebration foods of Black America.
“This taught me a lot about the world, and how people immigrated here, and how they brought food culture with them,” she says.
Open since 2023, Comfort Kitchen’s location in Upham’s Corner isn’t really new to Coleman, who can trace the building’s history as easily as her own. Built in 1912 as a “comfort station” for streetcar riders, it closed in 1977 and remained abandoned for more than 40 years. “To a child, it just looked creepy. It was a condemned building right next to a cemetery. Now it’s filled with so much light and love,” says Coleman, who began working at the restaurant in 2025.
“I grew up in the area. My grandmother lives three minutes away. So yeah, the location is pretty important to me,” she says.
Coleman’s grandmother, who moved her family to Boston during the Great Migration, played a pivotal role in her granddaughter’s desire to connect culture with cuisine.
“My family is from the South, and I was always intrigued by that,” says Coleman, who remembers her grandmother preparing dishes that would “bring a piece of the South to the dinner table.”
“My grandmother would make cornbread stuffing and greens with salted cured pork. She and my grandfather grew most of their vegetables. But we would always have a fish fry on her birthday!”
BRINGING IT ON HOME
Working with a diverse kitchen staff, Coleman often calls on them for inspiration, asking, “What did you grow up eating? Could you educate me? Can you ask your mom what type of seasoning she would use for this?’ I’m that person who says, ‘Call your grandma, put her on the phone, call your dad, let’s figure this out.’”
Sure, Google and cookbooks and libraries can offer the history, but Coleman says it can’t compare with hearing “you’ll need a handful of this, a pinch of that …”
Coleman’s own history in food service dates back three generations. Her grandfather was a restaurateur, her father a chef, and her uncle ran a fish truck, which turned out to be her first job—from middle school through high school.
NEW ENGLAND PALATE PLEASERS
Coleman says she tries to create things at the restaurant that are approachable to everyone.
“It’s educational in a way that it’s palatable for most of New England,” she explains, citing her pepper soup short rib slider. Most people know what a slider is, she says, “but no one really knows the history of pepper soup or the type of peppers that I use to braise the beef in.”
True, most of us probably don’t have West Africa’s alligator pepper (similar to Grains of Paradise) tucked away in our spice cabinet. And we may not be that familiar with iru, a fermented condiment also of West African origins. How about piri piri, a small fiery chili pepper that is a staple in Portuguese and African cuisine? Or dukkah, an Egyptian spice? Sound familiar? No? Coleman will gladly introduce you.
“I love all aspects of food. I was a personal chef, I worked in food media, I worked for America’s Test Kitchen, I was a food stylist, I developed recipes, I even worked on a farm for a little bit. I love everything about just feeding people and the story that the food brings,” she says.
RECOGNITIONS, SUCCESS AND UNCRUSTABLES
Coleman was already a rising star before joining Comfort Kitchen. A founding member of Tanám in Somerville, the Filipinx-American restaurant was named a James Beard Awards semifinalist for Best New Restaurant in 2019. This year, Coleman herself was named a James Beard semifinalist in the Best Chef in the Northeast category, but ultimately did not move on to the final round—along with the rest of the semifinalists from Massachusetts.
“It was an honor just to be recognized as a semifinalist,” she says. “It didn’t feel great to see people that I saw nominated not move on, because I think they’re super, super talented, but in the end we just have to clock in and go to work the next day.
“If anything, it kind of made me want to dive a little bit deeper as to why I was recognized, and maybe I can do better next year,” Coleman adds.
When asked what she considered the main ingredient for her personal success, without hesitation Coleman responds: “I’m hard-headed. I’m super, super hard-headed. I think that’s a secret ingredient. I don’t take no for an answer. I might be broken, I might make a horrible mistake, but I will always revisit what makes me happy. I will always try to push myself, even when I should rest, or just take a break. I’m a workaholic, but I think it’s paid off for me.”
Looking forward, Coleman envisions Comfort Kitchen “bringing in another chef who wants to share their story—from where they grew up. Cuisine that isn’t really explored and that’s not necessarily highlighted on a lot of New England menus. I would love to see that.”
For now, she’d like to have a variety of small-plate options on the menu. “I think you could explore a lot more in food culture and share amongst the table,” she notes.
If you want to know what’s inside Coleman’s home freezer, she’ll tell you: “My freezer is full of Uncrustables.” Made by Smuckers, the “prep-less, crustless day-saver” offers “smooth tasty fillings in every bite.” Think peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a chocolate- flavored hazelnut spread added to the mix.
“I have Cocoa Pebbles in the office,” she offers. “I’ve touched too much of what I’ve created, and I smell too much, so I’m just, like, ‘Yes, it’s yummy, but I want something else now,’ and I need something that’s consistent, and something that I know will taste the same every time I eat it. I know I eat like a child, like a 3-year-old,” she says, with a smile.
A favorite dish? “If I had to focus on one …. it’s like choosing your favorite child,” she says. “But on the menu right now? The whole fried trout with the ginger herb slaw, and crab fat hot sauce.
“My mom says she doesn’t like coleslaw, but she loves that one. She said I did a good job.”
comfortkitchenbos.com
611 Columbia Rd, Dorchester
This story appeared in the Summer 2026 issue of Edible Boston Magazine.
