Bay Area Black Restaurant Week includes lobster tacos, loaded mac & cheese

Island Taste Caribbean Grill co-owners Dorianne St Fleur, left, and her husband, Marc, right; and chef Imani Manning, pose for a portrait inside their restaurant in 2022 in San Jose, Calif.

Lobster tacos, vegan curry chicken and rice and peas, loaded mac and cheese with smoked Gouda, crab and crawfish – you know you’re going to be eating well at Black Restaurant Week in the Bay Area.

This year, the national event is being celebrated around the Bay by dozens of restaurants, bakeries, pop-ups, food trucks and virtual kitchens. It runs from May 19 through May 28, and if you’re wondering what it’s all about, here’s some info from the Atlanta-based founders:

“The odds are continuously stacked against Black-owned culinary businesses and their survival is still in jeopardy as they face constant economic downturns due to recovering from the pandemic while currently coping with inflation. Less than 20 percent of U.S. employer businesses are minority-owned, according to the U.S. Census Bureau….

“The mission: feed and fuel the cultural famine – especially with an emphasis on reviving and saving the Black restaurant industry during the COVID-19 pandemic – and educate consumers on the abundance of cultural cuisines and dispel ethnic untruths.”

While not every place has posted their specials, we called around and got a good preview. Without ado, here is a sampling of what Bay Area Black-owned restaurants and businesses are preparing. (For the full list of participants, check out blackrestaurantweeks.com/bay-area-black-restaurant-week).

alaMar Kitchen

Chef Nelson German has designed a $45 multi-course “Black Restaurant Week Menu” which features the following options:
• First course: “Roasted Beet Salad” – baby kale, heirloom beet, plantain-sesame crumble, goat cheese mousse, sofrito sherry vinaigrette
• Second course (choose one) – Patacones de Rabo with braised Angus oxtail, peppadew pepper, sofrito aioli, twice-fried green plantain; or Chili Glazed Maduros with sweet plantain, Wanda’s chow chow, fire-roasted tomato ragu, avocado crema, toasted almond (vegan)
• Third course (choose one) – Slow Roasted Pernil with Dominican pork shoulder, stewed red kidney bean, sofrito garlic butter, island rice, pickled Honeycrisp apple mojo; or Gulf Shrimp Criolla with jollof rice grits, garbanzo bean, sweet plantain, peppadew pepper, pikliz, sherry-butter sauce; or Veggie Sancocho with dirty island rice, plantain, corn, sweet potato, okra and yuca

Details: 100 Grand Ave., Oakland; alamaroakland.com

Island Taste Caribbean Grill

This restaurant is discounting its most popular dishes. Most entrees come with a choice of either in-house pickled cucumber, carrot and red-onion salad or steamed veggies (vegan).
• Rasta Pasta ($12) – penne in coconut-cream sauce with bell peppers, garlic, cherry tomatoes, sweet plantains (vegan)
• Stir It Up ($13) – jerk tofu with rice and peas, sweet plantains (vegan and gluten-free)
• Kingston ($16) – curry goat with white rice or rice and peas, sweet plantains
• Skankin Sweet ($27) – escovitch red snapper fried and served with rice and peas, sweet plantains, Jamaican festival bread
• Bolt ($14) – jerk chicken served with rice and peas, sweet plantains
• Jamrock ($19) – Oxtail slow-cooked in traditional Jamaican seasoning and spices and served with rice and peas, sweet plantains

Details: 225 East Santa Clara St., San Jose; islandtastegrill.com

Oko Tribune
Some of the items listed on the Black Restaurant Week website for Oko include:
• Shrimp Ceviche Negro ($14)
• Housemade Andouille sausage with pretzel knot, pimento beer cheese, plantain mustard, spring onion and house pickles ($14)
• Fried Shrimp Po’ Boy with smoked hot house tomatoes and Cajun remoulade ($20)
• Mahindi Panisse with polenta panisse, aji verde (Peruvian green sauce), charred spring onions, hen of the woods mushroom, stewed chickpeas in coconut milk ($24)
• Clams Na Kome with Manilla clams, PEI mussels, Gulf prawns, Sombo curry, lemongrass, marble potatoes, arugula, Pernod, toast ($33)
• Bone-in Pork Chop with Sea Island red peas, sorrel, Uyoga (mushroom), brassica flower, gooseberry chimichurri ($32)

Details: 401 13th St., Oakland; tribuneoakland.com

Cocobreeze Caribbean Restaurant

• Prix-fixe four-course meal for two includes appetizers, drinks and desserts ($65): entree choices include braised oxtails, curry-chicken roti, jerk salmon with veggies, spicy whole-fried escovitch fish, curry goat with pelau rice, vegan fish with veggies, curry jackfruit, and spicy Creole pineapple chicken.
• Island Wings Platter with family-size rice and side of your choice ($45): features four of Chef Ann’s signature flavors – spicy jerk, curry, tropical passion fruit and island-fried.
• Jerk Chicken and Oxtail Combo Dinner ($31): succulent chicken wings marinated with spicy jerk and fresh-herb seasoning and oxtails braised with fresh herbs, tomato, baby carrots, bell peppers and onions.
• Vegan Curry Chicken with Pelau Rice ($20): soy-based vegan chicken marinated in a signature curry blend and fresh herb seasoning, served with pelau (gandules pigeon peas and rice), plantains, side salad and Chef Ann’s vegan pineapple vinaigrette.
• Island Appetizer Bundle ($20): choose five appetizers such as Jamaican patties, fried plantains, pholourie fritters with tamarind dip, Accra saltfish fritters with spicy tropical dip, Trini doubles or roti skin.

Details: 2370 High St., Oakland; cocobreezeco.myshopify.com

Golden Safari Restaurant

• Fufu and egusi (green vegetable and melon soup with peppers) ($16.99)
• Jollof rice with a side of either beans or vegetables ($11.99)
• Spicy African char-grilled chicken or beef suya (can be made vegetarian) ($12.99)
• Grilled whole-fish platter with fried plantains ($19.99)

Details: 22431 Foothill Blvd., Hayward; goldensafari.net

Boug Cali

• Fried catfish sandwich, with black-eyed peas and a watermelon lemonade ($20)
• Smoked-shrimp gumbo, with Caesar salad and a lavender lemonade ($25)
• Lobster tacos, with black-eyed peas and a watermelon lemonade ($23)

Details: 101 Hyde St., San Francisco; bougcali.com

Rome’s Kitchen

• Brunch menu (10 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday): chicken and waffles ($17); hot links with poached eggs, grits and cinnamon waffles ($18)
• Dinner menu (3-8 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday): fried fish with two sides ($20); barbecue ribs and links with two sides ($20); Italian-style fried chicken Alfredo ($20)

Details: 1701 Yosemite Ave. (at Cafe Envy), San Francisco; romes-kitchen.com

Voodoo Love (Sundays only)