This is an updated guide to our 2017 Celebrate Black History Month At These Black-Owned Bay Area Restaurants.
February is a time for us to honor Black History Month with art, music, and, of course, food. There are a number of chefs around the Bay Area providing a special menu this month, but, with this guide, you can support black-owned restaurants doing their thing year-round.
Sadly, some of the restaurants we covered in our 2017 list have closed since then, so we created this new one. Please note, this guide does not include every black-owned restaurant, bar, bakery or pop-up in the whole Bay Area, so please feel free to add any favorites we may have missed by tagging us on social! You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
Isla Vida
1325 Fillmore St.
San Francisco, CA
In our last visit to Isla Vida, chef-owner Jay Foster and co-owner Matthew Washington told us, “We’re trying to touch on a few of the little things that we really like, try to represent it really well and hopefully make our ancestors proud.” Though it took over a decade to get the idea to be a reality, their Caribbean-centric restaurant finally opened last year in the Fillmore district, the former “Harlem of the West.” Black-owned restaurants previously thrived there, but now Isla Vida (in a space formerly taken by another black-owned business, Black Bark BBQ) is just one of a few black-owned businesses in the neighborhood.
There’s not many places to get Caribbean food in the Bay, and Foster and Washington have definitely done their research. As Trevor quotes in his piece about the restaurant, Foster is simply “trying to follow the footsteps of our ancestors culinarily. The food of the Diaspora is very similar…it just depends on where the boat stopped.”
Kendejah Restaurant
197 Pelton Center Way
San Leandro, CA
Have you sampled Liberian cuisine? Time to visit the Bay Area’s only Liberian spot, Kendejah Restaurant in San Leandro (which Check, Please! Bay Area visited in Season 13). According to the owner, Dougie Uso, he wants you to feel like you’re visiting a friend’s house, so the vibe is very friendly and casual, but you can get a dash of history with your food at the same time.
Recommendations from the show? Oxtail stew, attieke with fish and jollof rice to name a few.
Reve Bistro
960 Moraga Road F
Lafayette, CA 94549
Chef Paul Magu-Lecugy, a classically trained French chef whose esteemed resume includes the Gérard Besson in Paris, La Bastide de Moustiers, and the Ritz Carlton and St. Regis in San Francisco, always had dreams of opening a bistro that offers a five star dining experience at an affordable price. Today, Magu-Lecugy owns and operates Reve (“dream” in French) in Lafayette, offering Lamorinda residents the chance to experience a traditional French bistro, not unlike those he experienced during his childhood in Paris.
With an extensive wine list (mostly French and some Californian) and seasonal menus featuring fresh ingredients, Reve (which made an appearance on Check, Please! Bay Area) offers a culinary escape to France, without the price of a plane ticket.
Brown Sugar Kitchen
This is an honorary mention since Brown Sugar Kitchen made the 2017 list! Chef and owner Tanya Holland opened Brown Sugar Kitchen in 2008 on Mandela Parkway in West Oakland, but that location closed in the latter half of 2017 to make way for Holland’s projects in Uptown Oakland and the San Francisco Ferry Building. For anyone that has been missing the buttermilk fried chicken and Holland’s other signature items, the Ferry Building location just opened!
For now, you can also try making some of that fried chicken and cornmeal waffles with her recipes on Celebrity Chefs.
Horn Barbecue
Pop-up
Oakland, CA
Despite making its mark as one of the best Texas inspired BBQ eateries in the bay, cooking Barbeque wasn’t always owner and chef Matt Horn’s goal. According to Horn’s bio, after grilling a particularly bad batch of spare ribs, Horn vowed to “never cook bad cue again” and took to his Grandmother’s backyard to perfect the art of pit-smoking meats. To say Horn has honed his meat-smoking techniques is an understatement; with days to prepare between each pop-up, no shortage of time and dedication is put towards preparing meats (including brisket, homemade sausage and pork cuts), as well as homemade rubs and sauces.
You can catch Matt Horn, and his 500-gallon custom smoker, Lucille, at various pop-up locations around Oakland – check Horn Barbecue’s Facebook page for future dates and locations!
For more eateries to visit during Black History Month, see below.
San Francisco
- Miyako Old-Fashioned Ice Cream (Fillmore)
- Auntie April’s (Bayview) Watch Check, Please! Bay Area review
- Sheba Piano Lounge (Fillmore)
- Little Skillet (China Basin)
- Queen’s Louisiana Po-Boy Cafe (Bayview)
- Radio Africa Kitchen (Bayview) – Check out their Community Tuesdays events this month
- Sam Jordan’s Bar (Bayview)
- Frisco Fried (Bayview)Yvonne’s Southern Sweets (Bayview)
- Amawele’s South African Kitchen (Embarcadero)
- Club Waziema (Panhandle)
- Two Jacks Nik’s Place (Hayes Valley)
- International Smoke (Financial District)
South Bay/Peninsula
- Back a Yard Caribbean Grill (Menlo Park & San Jose) Watch Check, Please! Bay Area review
- Walia Ethiopian Cuisine (San Jose)
- Zeni Ethiopian Restaurant (San Jose) Watch Check, Please! Bay Area review
East Bay
- Lena’s Soul Food Cafe (Oakland)
- Kingston 11 Cuisine (Oakland) Watch Check, Please! Bay Area review
- Southern Cafe (Oakland and Antioch)
- Lois the Pie Queen (Oakland)
- Home of Chicken and Waffles (Oakland)
- Souley Vegan (Oakland)
- Miss Ollie’s (Oakland)
- Crumble & Whisk Patisserie (Berkeley)
- Everett & Jones Barbeque (Oakland, Berkeley and Hayward)
- PieTisserie (Oakland)
- New Karibbean City (Oakland)
- Goeffrey’s Inner Circle (Oakland)
- Ensarro Ethiopian (Oakland)
- Miliki (Oakland)
- Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement (Emeryville)
- Suya African Grill (Oakland)
- ENAT Honey Winery (Oakland)
- Reve Bistro (Lafayette)
- Oeste (Oakland)
- Cupcakin’ Bake Shop (Oakland and Berkeley)