Black Restaurant Week, an annual two-week event focusing on Black-owned eateries and celebrating the cuisine of the African diaspora, starts this week in Los Angeles, happening from Aug. 23 through Sept.1, with an abundance of restaurants providing discounts, special dishes and other culinary offerings. In comparison to L.A’.s thriving landscape of Black-owned restaurants, food trucks and bakeries, Orange County has a scant few.
Black businesses were disproportionately affected by the pandemic, according to a report by the House Committee on Small Business Committee. Between February and April of 2020, Black business ownership (most notably among restaurants, food trucks and catering outfits) plunged more than 40%, marking the biggest decline across any ethnic group.
SEE ALSO: LA’s Black Restaurant Week is reinvigorating local dining after pandemic lulls
But there are a few spots still standing in Orange County, ranging from a Texas-style barbecue to a drive-thru coffee house. By no means a comprehensive list, here are a few eateries owned and operated by Black creators that you should put on your dining radar posthaste.
Abyssinia Restaurant (Anaheim): Ethiopian spot where dishes like awaze chicken tibs, kitfo (a beef tartare marinated in clarified butter) and vegetable sambusa are eaten with injera, a pliable flatbread made from teff. Be sure to grab a St. George Beer to wash it all down. Everything at Abyssinia is made from scratch, which is why, in part, this Anaheim spot fills up right-quick, especially on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. Reservations strongly encouraged for parties larger than four. Find it: 2801 W. Ball Road, Anaheim.
Classic banana pudding at Beale’s Texas BBQ in Huntington Beach (Photo by Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Beale’s Texas BBQ (Huntington Beach): Inside one of Huntington Beach’s few remaining Black-owned barbecue spots (Hambone’s Bar and Grill closed in 2023), owner and pitmaster Brett Beale, a Santa Ana native, offers some of the best barbecue around. Menu highlights include brisket, St. Louis spare ribs, rib tips, hot links, pulled pork and chicken. Not to be missed is Beale’s banana pudding, which won raves from food critic Brad A. Johnson, who described the dessert in 2020 as “[c]reamy, velvety, studded with vanilla wafers and slices of banana.” Find it: 16400 Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach.
Bred Hot Chicken (Costa Mesa): Born as a food truck concept, Bred Hot Chicken, the brainchild of Scott Kearse, can also be found as a brick-and-mortar space inside The Lab in Costa Mesa. Bred specializes in spicy fowl, like hot chicken nuggets, the Big O’ Sandwich (Chicken sandwich, with vinaigrette slaw, house made pickles, comeback sauce on toasted brioche bun), Chick N Waffles (thick butter Belgian-style waffles paired with chicken tenders) and more. Don’t miss out on the four-cheese mac and cheese or the banana pudding with fresh banana slices and a chessman cookie on top. Find it: 2930 Bristol St., Costa Mesa.
Chef Kyle Powers of Fork in the Road. (Photo by Andrea D’Agosto, courtesy of Fork in the Road)
Fork in the Road Catering (across Orange County and Los Angeles): Executive chef Kyle Powers (who, along with his wife, Marisa, founded Orange County-based Fork in the Road Catering) has whipped up meals for the Anaheim Ducks, Mercedes-Benz, RipCurl, The Irvine Company, Vans Shoes and Apparel and Swarovski, to name a few. Their California-seasonal fare includes lobster rolls, homemade tortellini, mini hot chicken sliders, juniper-braised beef short rib pastries with goat cheese cream, tarragon and preserved lemon arancini and blueberry lavender tarts. Find it: @instagram.com/forkintheroadcatering.
Georgia’s Restaurant (Anaheim): Gretchen Shoemaker’s restaurants, with O.C. locations inside the Anaheim Packing District and Irvine Spectrum, hone in on soul food. Before opening up her successful eateries, she cooked in the kitchen of her Lake Forest home for her family and for a catering business she had started in the mid-1970s. Today, patrons can enjoy the same fare she created nearly 50 years ago, like fried green tomatoes with lemon aioli, sweet potato fries, blackened catfish, chicken and waffles, gumbo, shrimp and grits, po’boys and peach cobbler, to name a few. Shoemaker also has locations in Long Beach and Eastside. Find it: 440 S. Anaheim Blvd, Anaheim; 732 Spectrum Center Drive, Irvine.
Lynda’s African Delicacies (Irvine): Lynda started her food enterprise at her home kitchen in Irvine where she ran a successful hair-braiding business; she would share her home-cooked meals with clients and friends. Today, she’s turned that bit of hospitality into a full-fledged business — a food truck, to be exact — serving such dishes as jollof rice (in beef, lamb, shrimp and oxtail iterations), fufu and egusi, noodles, pepper beef, savory yet slightly sweet meat pies, moi moi (crayfish cake) and more. Open from noon until 8 p.m. on Saturday. Also available for catering. Find it: 17985 Sky Park Circle, building 40, Irvine.
McClain Cellars (Irvine, Laguna Beach): With two tasting lounges in Laguna Beach (one on Forest Avenue and the other on Laguna Canyon Road), as well as a shop in Irvine, Jason and Sofia McClain’s wine enterprise offers thirsty oenophiles a modern-industrial space in which to sip at one of the few Black-owned wineries in the country. McClain Cellars also offers private label making custom crush service for budding wine entrepreneurs. Find it: 849 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach; 381 Forest Ave, Laguna Beach; 16 Technology Drive, Irvine.
Stuffed squash blossoms at Poppy & Seed in Anaheim (Photo by Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Poppy & Seed (Anaheim): Helmed by chef Michael Reed (a James Beard Best Chef: California nominee) and Kwini Reed (a board member for the California Restaurant Association), the power couple’s Anaheim space, a second act of their original Poppy & Rose in DTLA, offers such fare as tea-smoked Scottish salmon, scallops and creamy potato espuma and half-smoked duck. Plant-based offerings include butternut squash ravioli, and baby carrots and peach salad, among other creations. Come for the food, stay for the 1,000 square-foot greenhouse with 3,000 square-foot patio. Find it: 350 S Anaheim Blvd, Anaheim.
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Roscoe’s House of Chicken ‘N Waffles (Anaheim): This California-based soul food restaurant chain, which got its start in Hollywood, was founded by Herb Hudson, a Harlem native, in 1975. Since then, it’s grown to seven locations, including spots in Anaheim. Menu highlights include titular chicken in myriad varieties, ranging from roasted to tenders; candy yams, greens and cornbread; omelets; mac and cheese; and more. Find it: 2110 S. Harbor Blvd., Anaheim.
Tribute Coffee House (Garden Grove): Owned by husband-wife team Udy and Ehiy Ikpa (Udy, a former accountant, and Ehiy, a one time media buyer), this Garden Grove coffee pit stop offers a wide variety of cafe staples and contemporary creations (the tres leches latte is worth a visit alone), but also a wide array of food options. Soups, salads, bagels, breakfast sandwiches, waffles and more can be found at this eatery that also offers drive-thru convenience. Find it: 13960 Harbor Blvd., Garden Grove.
