Supporting Black-owned restaurants is getting even easier—and more affordable—thanks to the return of Black Restaurant Week.
This year the L.A. run of the national event series might look a little different than it has in the past: There’s a bigger concentration on takeout and pickup options, for instance, and now you can log on to see a virtual cocktail competition, but it’s still the same great celebration of African-American, African and Caribbean cuisines for 10 days straight.
From Friday, August 7, to Sunday, August 16, some of L.A.’s best independent, Black-owned restaurants are offering prix-fixe plates and multi-course meals—some for as little as $10—including Post & Beam, Comfort LA, Sky’s Gourmet Tacos, Harold & Belle’s and abeautifullife Jamaican Cafe.
Full-service spots are getting in on the restaurant week, as are food trucks, sweets shops and catering companies, giving us plenty of options and yet another easy way to support the Black restaurant community—a movement that’s recently and locally been aided by helpful crowdsourced spreadsheets for locating restaurants, as well as a handful of new apps and interactive maps for finding new Black-owned places to dine in L.A.
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Black Restaurant Week’s own website hopes to serve as a database around the country, and not just for 10 days; after all, these restaurants should be easy to find and support year round. Founder Warren Luckett and co-founders Falayn Ferrell and Derek Robinson launched the series in 2016 in Houston to do just that, and to aid local Black-owned spots that lack big budgets for marketing and PR.
Now with nearly 300 participants, they’ve built a national platform for restaurateurs and other small-business owners who might not regularly have access to one. “Supporting the entire culinary industry, from farm to table, is necessary for providing more opportunities for the whole community to thrive,” says Luckett.
And while the need to support the community is serious, it’s a joyous event: The flavor and the mood is celebratory, and Black Restaurant Week hammers it home with its own fun and games, namely a bingo card and giveaways. Whether you’re dining in or ordering takeout, get a bingo row and upload photos of your receipts, then you’ll be entered to win gift cards.
Black Restaurant Week already popped up this year in Houston and several Midwestern states (including Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Missouri), and after the Los Angeles dates it’s heading to the Bay Area, Atlanta, D.C., New Orleans, Philadelphia, New York City and the rest of the tristate area, then Central Florida before closing out the year in Alabama.
Whether you’re looking for wings, cupcakes, ribs, pies, tacos or beyond, you can find L.A.’s participating Black Restaurant Week businesses here.