Every August, National Black Business Month is celebrated throughout the United States to honor and support Black-owned businesses.
First created in 2004 by historian John William Templeton and engineer Frederick E. Jordan, National Black Business Month aimed to advance policies that would impact millions of Black-owned businesses across the country.
Now, the purpose of the observance is to support Black-owned local businesses, and there are plenty to choose from in Orange County. One of the easiest ways to support Black-owned businesses is by eating at a Black-owned restaurant.
The county’s many Black-owned restaurants offer a wide variety of dishes and cuisines: from restaurants that serve foods from the African diaspora to classic Southern soul food dishes and California fusion food, there is no lack of Black-owned restaurants to support in Orange County.
1. Georgia’s Restaurant
Location: 440 South Anaheim Boulevard #209a, Anaheim
Georgia’s Restaurant may be located in Anaheim, but its menu will transport visitors right to the South. Like any good soul food restaurant, Georgia’s Restaurant’s menu is filled with Southern staples, like gumbo, fried catfish, and homemade cornbread baked to order.
The restaurant is owned by Gretchen Shoemaker, who filled Georgia’s Restaurant’s menu with soul food dishes that she learned to make from her grandma. The restaurant chain has four locations throughout Southern California in Anaheim, Irvine, Long Beach, and Eastvale.
2. Lynda’s African Delicacies
Location: 17951 Sky Park Circle 35 J, Irvine
Opening up a restaurant was not Lynda’s African Delicacies owner Linda Umaru’s first venture into owning and operating a business. First, the Nigeria native opened up a hair braiding business, where she would serve her customers home-cooked Nigerian food. After seeing that her customers liked the food she was serving, Umaru opened a food truck and then a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
Lynda’s African Delicacies serves Nigerian dishes that Umaru grew up with, like jollof rice and fufu, a West African staple made from root vegetables such as cassava. The Irvine-based restaurant also offers catering options.
3. Bred Hot Chicken
Location: 2930 Bristol St. Suite A104, Costa Mesa
Hot chicken is a staple in Nashville and surrounding areas in the Southeast, but the spicy fried chicken dish has also made its way to Southern California thanks to restaurants like Bred Hot Chicken. The Costa Mesa-based restaurant is owned by married couple Scott and Laura Kease. Scott Kearse, who goes by the name Bred Scott, serves as the restaurant’s Chief of Spice and develops the chicken dish’s flavor profile.
Bred Hot Chicken serves primarily halal-certified chicken in a variety of ways: tenders, sliders, sandwiches, hot chicken Caesar salad, and nuggets. In addition to its Costa Mesa location, Bred Hot Chicken has a second location in San Juan Capistrano.
4. AOSA Coffee
Location: 16821 Algonquin St. #104, Huntington Beach
For more than a decade, AOSA Coffee has been caffeinating Huntington Beach residents and visitors. The coffee shop, which aims to build community in addition to serving coffee and tea, is owned by Keyana and Mike Hill, who operate it with sustainability in mind.
The Huntington Beach coffee shop serves up a lengthy menu of coffee and espresso drinks, as well as yerba mate and other tea drinks, like matcha lattes. AOSA Coffee doesn’t just offer caffeinated drinks, though; the coffee shop is also a great spot to stop for breakfast, with menu items like avocado toast and açai bowls.
5. Shootz
Location: 12885 Beach Boulevard #11, Stanton
California is well-known for being a hub for food innovators and fusion cuisine. That includes Shootz, a Stanton-based restaurant that combines classic comfort food dishes with Hawaiian and Asian culinary staples, like the hot kimchi butter katsu chicken sandwich or the brûléed spam musubi.
The restaurant chain, which also has locations in Long Beach, Ontario, San Juan Capistrano, and Whittier, was co-founded by four friends, Michael Dancel, Christian Solomona, Nolan Perez, and Harold Waters, who serves as Shootz’ CEO.
6. LJ’s Lounge
Location: 1870 Harbor Boulevard A211, Costa Mesa
LJ’s Lounge may be located in Costa Mesa, but the heart of the restaurant’s menu goes back to Arkansas. Owned by Kenneth Jackson, LJ’s Lounge was named after his mother, Linda Jean, whose Arkansas roots and the Southern soul food that she would make serve as the basis for the Orange County restaurant’s dishes.
The restaurant’s breakfast offerings pay tribute to Linda Jean’s Southern cooking, with menu items like Darlene’s Shrimp & Grits and Grannie’s Biscuits and Gravy, as well as its California home, with the West Coast Breakfast Burrito and Cali Soul Toast, an avocado toast dish topped with heirloom tomatoes, microgreens, and a poached egg.
7. All African Stores
Location: 325 North Tustin Ave, Santa Ana
For Orange County residents craving authentic West African cuisine, like jollof rice or fufu, they can spend a lot of money to board a plane and travel for hours to reach the African continent. Or, they can stop by All African Stores, a West African restaurant tucked inside a gas station convenience store in Santa Ana.
The restaurant serves an array of staples popular across several West African cultures, including ukazi soup, made with two different leaves and popular among the Igbo people, and several types of fufu, a starchy staple that can be dipped in soups. All African Stores’ food is freshly made to order, so the restaurant recommends placing an order at least 45 minutes before pickup.
8. Island Spice Kitchen
Location: 350 Clinton St. Suite A, Costa Mesa
Situated near the Pacific Ocean, a visit to Island Spice Kitchen transports customers straight to the Atlantic, specifically to Jamaica. The Costa Mesa Jamaican restaurant’s menu is filled with classics from the island nation, including Jamaican beef patty and oxtail stew.
Using the right spices to reflect Jamaican cuisine is also important to the restaurant, especially in menu items like its jerk chicken and jerk ribs. Island Spice Kitchen is open every day for lunch and dinner.
9. Playa Baby
Location: 13331 Beach Boulevard, Westminster
Westminster isn’t located too far from Mexico, but residents and visitors can get an even closer taste of the country’s coastal cuisine by visiting Playa Baby, a food truck co-owned by married couple Red Feather and Amanda Rios.
The food truck is a combination of the couple’s upbringing and skills—Red Feather grew up in Nayarit, Mexico, and Rios, who hails from Georgia, operated her own catering company before becoming a private chef. The taco truck sells fish tacos, shrimp tacos, and mixed tacos, which combine the two options, as well as tortas, elote, hot dogs, and Red Feather’s shrimp ceviche.
10. Jackson Legacy BBQ
Location: 201 East Fourth St., Santa Ana
First opened as a pop-up tent in Barstow, Georgia in 2013, Jackson Legacy Barbecue has grown into a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Santa Ana, serving Southern-style slow-smoked barbecue. The restaurant, located in Santa Ana’s 4th Street Market, serves barbecue sandwiches and barbecued meats, including brisket, pulled pork, and rib tips, all available by the pound.
Although the restaurant has moved from Georgia to California, its Southern roots are still evident in its barbecue and range of sides, such as macaroni and cheese, baked beans, coleslaw, and butter biscuits. In addition to the brick-and-mortar restaurant, Jackson Legacy BBQ also operates a catering business and is in the process of launching a food truck.
This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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