HOUSTON – Today is the kickoff of Houston's second ever Black Restaurant Week. Two weeks devoted to promoting the Black Culinary industry and all of its tastes.
“I think it’s great when Houstonians have the opportunity and people visiting have the opportunity to explore a number of different restaurants. Especially when you give smaller, off the beaten path restaurants the opportunity to get some exposure,” Marcus Davis said.
Marcus is co-owner of Reggae Hut Cafe on Almeda Road. He took part in last year's inaugural Black Restaurant Week and showed us a couple of dishes he's got cooking for this year's event.
“This is a staple in the Caribbean community. It’s stewed chicken or brown-stewed chicken," describes Marcus. “And of course when you’re talking about the island you’re always talking about seafood... this is our garlic shrimp.”
From the Caribbean to right here in Texas, our next stop is Ray's barbecue on Old Spanish Trail. Co-owner Herb Taylor is serving up their version of, "the Texas standard surf and turf."
"We have a brisket, brisket here we smoke that for 14 hours so it’s a Texas smoked brisket. We have our ribs, we also have chicken and then we also have fried fish and shrimp,” Taylor said.
The final bite on this mini-tour is right down Old Spanish Trail and leaves meat off the menu.
“Sunshine is a vegetarian deli but we want to give it a soulfully seasoned option,” Arga Bourgeois said.
Arga is the daughter of "Mr. Sunshine" himself and co-owner of the restaurant.
“We’re doing the vegan spaghetti. Then we have our world famous black bean nachos which are nachos prepared with corn chips, a spicy chipotle sauce, (and) cashew cheese, topped with various vegetables. And then last but not least we have our black bean sandwich,” Agra said.
“When you really think about the different countries that we come from, the different stories, that we have Caribbean, we have Cajun, we have soul food, barbecue -- it’s just a great story that we have to tell with our food,” said Falayn Ferrell, a chairperson of Black Restaurant Week.
In total, 21 restaurants are participating today through April 30. In addition to the individual stops, organizers are also throwing a tasting party so you can try foods from caterers and other chefs without a brick and mortar restaurant, a food truck festival, and a bartending competition.
For more information, click link: https://houbrw.com