Black Restaurant Week stops in New Orleans: July 1-8
2nd July 2018 · 0 Comments
By Emeka Dibia
Contributing Writer
Some of New Orleans’ most popular Black-owned restaurants will highlight their unique African-American, African and Caribbean cuisines for Black Restaurant Week.
The event began in Houston, Texas two years ago under the leadership of Warren Luckett, Derek Robinson, and Falayn Ferrell. It now has grown to several cities across the country with New Orleans being one of its newest additions.
During the weeklong celebration of food, participating restaurants will offer special deals with casual-dining options from $15 to $25 per person and fine-dining options from $35 to $45 per person.
While this is the first year New Orleans is participating in the event, it’s already anticipated to be a huge success with hundreds of thousands of people expected to attend Essence Festival around the same timeframe.
“Just using the week with so many folks, so many different backgrounds coming in to having the opportunity to showcase New Orleans best restaurants was definitely a part of the plan,” Warren Luckett, Black Restaurant Week, said.
Jeffrey Heard, owner of Heard Dat Kitchen in Central City, already is preparing for a bump in traffic to his restaurant. He’s offering a three-course meal for $25.
“We’re going to start off with a shrimp salad with our famous meat sauce, you can order any one of our signature entrées and it comes with a dessert as well,” Heard said.
Heard says the event will help people visiting town find his restaurant which is off the beaten path compared to tourist-driven areas.
Some of Head Dat Kitchen’s best sellers are: “Bourbon Street Love” which is Cajun fried chicken placed atop baked macaroni with a crawfish and basil cream sauce and also his “Superdome” dish, which is a sautéed blacked fish, topped with lobster whipped potatoes, finished with a cream sauce with crispy onion rings.
He hopes during the event to spread the warm southern hospitality New Orleans is known for to each customer who visits.
“I want people to feel like they’re actually at somebody’s home eating,” Heard said. “I want them to come away with some great memories.”
Another restaurant excited about Black Restaurant Week’s expected impact is Greg Tillery and We Dat’s Chicken and Shrimp.
“I hope all the Black-owned restaurants and the people participating in it will generate enough income to last throughout, to be honest, the balance of year. I hope everybody does that well,” Tillery said.
We Dats located in Downtown and in Gentilly will be serving a special shrimp and chicken wrap which comes with cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes, hot sauce, ranch sauce. We Dats also will serve food as a vendor in the convention center during Essence.
The weeklong celebration of food in part benefits a non-profit to help Black farmers, Family Agriculture Resource Management Services or FARMS. The organization works to provide resources as well as education for the Black agriculture community and Black farmers throughout the country. It’s an effort to prevent the loss of landownership to build generational wealth and eradicate hunger in the farmer’s community.
“Every time a local restaurant signs up a portion of the proceeds goes directly to FARMS and in turn they work with local non-profits provide funding as well as some additional resources,” Warren Luckett, Black Restaurant Week, said.
Restaurants participating in the event include: Neyow’s Creole Café, Louisiana Bayou Bistro, Beaucoup Eats, The Praline Connection, Tasty Treat Food Truck and Restaurant, Heard Dat Kitchen, We Dat’s Chicken & Shrimp, Sassafras Creole Kitchen, Pra_Lees, Blaze Bistro and Café Porche & Snowbar.
New Orleans is the third leg of the Black Restaurant Week tour after it stops in Houston and Philadelphia. The tour goes on to visit cities including: Atlanta, Dallas, and Los Angeles.
This article originally published in the July 2, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
