Highlighting local Black owned restaurants in Los Angeles

Perhaps you heard the call to support black owned businesses, but weren’t quite sure how.

From August 7 to August 16, Black Restaurant Week highlights participating black owned restaurants in the Los Angeles area.

Susan Hirasuna got the lucky assignment to meet with chefs and restaurateurs in Los Angeles anxious to introduce their offerings to appreciative foodies.

First stop, is the Undergrind Café in Beverlywood. Rachel Sazon opened the super cute café with sidewalk seating about six years ago. She grew up nearby and felt a place like hers, offering specialty coffee drinks and breakfast and lunch dishes could be that kind of place that neighbors would want to walk to every morning. She was right. Undergrind Café is a great place for an almond latte, spicy chicken wrap or the popular breakfast burrito. Rachel describes it this way, “We have some beef Cajun sausage, shrimp, cheddar cheese, hash browns, roasted peppers, onion and love!”

The second stop on the Black Restaurant Week tour is a long standing go to place for people hungry for fresh fruit smoothies and vegan food. In 1981, when Percell Keeling wanted to satisfy his cravings for healthy food, he had to travel to the Westside. He opened Simply Wholesome in Windor Hills aka the Black Beverly Hills. Percell was on jury duty, but his daughter Mia stepped in to talk about the food. “The cuisine? It’s amazing. I’m not just saying that. It’s made with Caribbean seasonings everything has an authentic flair. Plus there are so many vegan options and even people skeptical about dishes without meat, Mia says over time, they will give them a try and love it!”  

Another place that has a strong place in LA culinary history is Mel’s Fish Shack. Georgette Powell is running the tiny place now, but it was opened by her father who almost on a whim, decided to open a place to sell fried fish. If you’ve had the popular crisp catfish, you might not know where the recipe came from and how hard Mel worked when he first opened his fish shack. “He actually taught at Crenshaw high school, he was vice principal, the dean, he taught Spanish and metal shop,” Georgette said.

Final stop with bellies full, we pop into Comfort LA, which bills itself as a clean approach to soul food. The specialty here, organic chicken wings with all the expected sides, like greens and macaroni and cheese.  But the founders, Jeremy McBride and Mark Wheeler (aka the Strategist) also are passionate about their housemade specialty drinks like the gingeraide. And, then there’s the dessert, which Jeremy calls the game changer. Order it and a cornbread cake, served warm with fresh strawberries, billed as Sweet Goodness! 

All of these restaurants appreciate the promotion during Black Restaurant Week, Rachel of Undergrind Cafe says it’s helpful to move her generation and her daughters’ generation forward. Jeremy and Mark of ComfortLA say, it’s all about family and when new people come from outside the neighborhood, it’s like the family just gets bigger!