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Five Dishes to Try At Long Beach’s Inaugural Black Restaurant Week, Starting This Weekend

Photo via @georgiassoul/IG.

It’s a beautiful weekend to bust a quick mission to La Playa Larga and support Black-owned food and drink businesses. Long Beach Black Restaurant Week starts this Sunday and goes on until the end of this month (January 30th). 

From the non-profit's website.

Organized by Long Beach Food & Beverage, a registered California 501(c)3 non-profit, the inaugural Long Beach Black Restaurant Week is eight day event devoted to celebrating African, African American and Caribbean fare in and around Long Beach. The event also seeks to highlight Black-owned culinary businesses as well as Black chefs and bartenders.

Long Beach Black Restaurant Week is a medium to bring everyone to the table, from all walks of life, to showcase the city’s diverse Black food scene.

Long Beach’s food scene is one of the most exciting in California, with so many noodles, tacos, delicious bread, coffee, natural wine, and more that continue to grow every month. However, it still maintains a low profile; If you know, you know. 

Here are five specials that look insane from their participating vendors and restaurants. 

Gumbo at The Boujie Crab. Photo via The Boujie Crab.
Gumbo at The Boujie Crab. Photo via The Boujie Crab.

The Boujie Crab 

Special: $3 off their large seafood Gumbo during Long Beach Black Restaurant Week.

1002 E. South St. Long Beach, CA 90805

From the restaurant’s website: The Boujie Crab offers Cajun and Creole cuisine, serving up true southern classics and future New Orleans staples to dazzle your taste buds. Take the time to partake in fresh Shrimp Bowl or spoil yourself with The Boujie Crab classics: Snow Crab, Jumbo Shrimp, Cajun Beef Sausage, Po-Boy and more!

Mr. Fries Man

Special: Save 10% when purchasing any entree plus a soda and receive a 10% discount during Long Beach Black Restaurant Week.

Long beach location: 1009 E. Artesia Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90805

From their restaurants’ website: Mr. Fries Man is a family-owned restaurant part of a revolutionary underground foodie frenzy in Los Angeles. In 2016, Craig Batiste, co-owner along with his wife Dorothy, is one of several urban chefs in LA that have worked their way up from a home kitchen to a restaurant in Gardena, CA. Their strong social media presence captivated their audience, which resulted in a remarkable following.

Extraordinary Banana Pudding

Special: Save $2 on any 8-ounce container during Long Beach Black Restaurant Week.

1208 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90813

From their website: There is the typical banana pudding and then there is ours!  Our pudding is not like any other and will have your sweet tooth satisfied! WE OFFER DAIRY FREE, GLUTEN FREE, SUGAR FREE, AND VEGAN PUDDING OPTIONS. We offer only certain flavors which does change daily. Please feel free to contact us and we will be more than happy to tell you the flavors available for that day.

 

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Northtown Bistro

Special: Join Long Beach's Black Restaurant Week’s pop-up night at Trademark Brewing on January 25th from 3:30 to 9 PM, where chef Ronnie Woods will be cooking up dishes like saffron rice pilaf with Moroccan prawns and grilled Peri-Peri chicken. 

233 E Anaheim St, Long Beach, CA 90813

From Ronnie Wood’s gofundme: Northtown Bistro is an ode to the neighborhood I’m from, and the City that I love. It is conceptualized as a traditional bistro, with a seasonal menu that shows the diversity of California produce delivered to the diverse community of Long Beach. I started working on this business in April 2019, and started expanding on the idea in June 2020, at the height of the pandemic.

Georgia’s Soul Restaurant

Dish: Shrimp and Grits.

4101 McGowen St. Suite 155. Long Beach, CA 92630

From the restaurant’s website: Gretchen Shoemaker, the heart of Georgia’s, would tell you it is the food you get when you cook with your whole heart and soul.

Our dishes are the comfort foods she learned to make with her grandma, the very ones she raised her daughters on, served in her successful catering service and has shared with family and friends throughout the years.

When you taste our food, you taste the love and devotion that makes Georgia’s Soul Delicious!!

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