August 23, 2025 • 14 mins
August 22- Sunday, August 31 you can get out and experience the culture of Black Restaurant Week.
Warren established Black Restaurant Week dedicated to celebrating the flavors of Black American, African, and Caribbean cuisine nationwide. The annual campaign features 1000 restaurants, food trucks, and caterer. Take a listen!
Warren established Black Restaurant Week dedicated to celebrating the flavors of Black American, African, and Caribbean cuisine nationwide. The annual campaign features 1000 restaurants, food trucks, and caterer. Take a listen!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
There is nothing cooler than then having the ability to
taste different cultures. I think that is one of my
favorite things about you know, for lack of a better tune,
being a foodie. Enjoying food is enjoying culture. To me,
(00:20):
we always say that on the program that we talk
about culture and celebrate culture and food here and so
these events that go on where you can taste different cultures,
I think are important and this one is right up
there as well. I want to welcome to the program
Warren Luckett. He is with the Black Restaurant Week started yesterday.
(00:40):
I believe we'll go through the thirty first war and
welcome to the FORK Report.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Thank you, Thank you so much having me. It's absolute
pleasure to be here.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Oh the pleasure's mind. So the eighth annual is it?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
It is? It's our eighth annual Los Angeles Black Restaurant
We Campaign, and you know exactly what you said. It's
a celebration of culture. And so from August the twenty
second through August the thirty first, everyone throughout Los Angeles
is going to have an opportunity to celebrate the cuisine
of Black America, Africa as well as the Caribbean you know,
(01:17):
it's just kind of our celebration of Colinet cuisine from
across African bi asqua.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Now when you're dealing with, you know, black culture in America,
of course we have the original sin that we referred
to in America of slavery, which puts culture in a
whole different category because you have, like you said, African culture,
(01:43):
then you have Caribbean culture, you have African American culture,
Southern culture, and it's spread out in different ways, often
based on well most cultures, a necessity to eat what
you have in front of you, to utilize what you
have in front of you. You and I think they're
inseparable and that plays a part of all of this.
(02:07):
So celebrating those things I think is a fantastic way
of learning about the path of Black Americans.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Is that part of the culture and the food?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
No, No, absolutely, I mean when when you look at
some of the similarities that you have from across the diaspora,
even as something as simple as as rice, right, we
see it, you know represented in so many different ways
from Jalla of rice, from from you know, kind of
the African, the ways that everyone from Nigeria that kinda
makes it their own style to your red beans and rice.
(02:43):
You know, it's kind of more of your traditional or
your dirty rice, right, you know, that's or we even
talk about you know, uh cuts, the meat oxtails is
very much the same thing, sing the way that it's
it's prepared and cooked in the South versus the way
that it's prepared and cooked in the Creek.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And I will tell you, you know, I get strange
looks when people when you tell people how good oxtail is,
and they're like, what, but there there are you know,
exploration is a fun thing, and we have uh you know,
we we explore through food. I think that's a magical,
magical way to explore any culture. But exploring through foods
(03:25):
and cuts of meat, you know, we think of like
the most expensive cut of meat has got to be
the best. But really, when you have oxtail, to meat
is right up there with filet mignon or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
It's delicate, it's lovely, it's flavorful.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
But people don't have access to it in the same way,
or at least they think they don't.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
And it's crazy that you said that, you know, as
just resonates so much because it did start out as
as as a scrap. Unfortunately, you know, it was it
was not looked at as as a quality piece of
meat and uh, and it was some thing that we've
we've you know, as a culture, been able to master.
Now you know, unfortunately we go to grocery stores, the
prices of ox tails have have have exploded astronomically just
(04:09):
because of the popularity, right, And so I think that
really just does speak to the influence and the power
of of of the culinary contributions that we've had, not
just with ox tails, but I think we've seen it
across the board. When you talk about the explosion of
of of your your shrimp and grits of a lot
of these new American uh establishments. But but but not
(04:30):
just that, Right, when we talk about Los Angeles and
we look at how how diverse the food culture is,
and how important clean eating is and and even just
kind of vegan the veget began the vegetarian movement. Uh,
there's so many black restaurants throughout the Los Angeles area
that have really contributed towards uh kind of the exciting
flavor profiles that can be be explored even through a
(04:53):
cuisine like light like vegan or you know, vegetarians.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
You know, as a Latino.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
One of the some of the meats that we use
a lot, like slap meat and things like that were
you know, the same thing there were kind of scraps
and now you go into a butcher to get them.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
They're expensive as how yep, because everybody's buying them.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Then you understand, yeah, you understand.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
You know, you go down and sit to get some grits,
shrimp and grits, and it's thirty bucks and you're going.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Wait a second, this is what right? That's like paid
thirty bucks for a real cheese sandwich.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And so that's really what Black Restaurant We represents it
not just those cuisines, but even just some of the
masterful dishes that that all of all of the different
kind of culinary stars as we'd like to call throughout
the you know, the Black Restaurant Week Stratosphere have contributed
to all these different campaigns, and so we really asked
the community to use this as a time to explore
(05:51):
the Los Angeles cuisine from from you know, from August
and twenty second to the thirty first and just see
how robust and diverse, you know, the food here is,
as I'm sure so many of your listeners already know.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Right now we're talking to Warren Luckett from Black Restaurant Week.
You can find out more at Black Restaurantweeks plural dot
com and that will send you to you all you
can see, you know, all of them across the country.
LA is going on right now until August thirty first. So, Warren,
how do you go about getting participation restaurants in Tell
(06:27):
us some of the the restaurants that are participating this
year and how people can support it.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah. No, as you mentioned, we we love for everyone
to visit our website, Black Restaurant Weeks dot com for
a full listen of all the participating restaurants that are
participating this year, some of the amazing specials that they're offering.
We've got restaurants like skys Will Made Tacos, duelings on
Crenshaw Black House in North Hollywood. You know the Vegan Joint,
(06:57):
the original Taco, Peede Hilltop Coffee. So just a great
diverse list of participating restaurants throughout the greater Los Angeles area.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Have you seen that worn a change mentioning vegan or vegetarian?
You know a lot of times there's been complaints in
the in the and rightly so, in minority communities about
the type of crap food that you know, quick serve
this or quick serve that, and lack of grocery stores
(07:27):
in you know, urban communities. And then more and more,
I know, on the Latito side of things, obesti has
been a massive problem both black and brown communities struggle
with diabetes and the like, and more and more I'm
finding restaurants in these communities now turning to vegan or
(07:51):
more healthful. Fair are you fighting that throughout the eight
years of doing Black Restaurant Week that that's changing as well?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Absolutely, and and and you know, while we're a national organization,
Los Angeles has been one of the markets that has
been leading, uh that charge of really being health conscious
from the front. You know when you think about legendary
establishments like simply wholesome places like Real Freshet, uh that
that have really been kind of driving the conversation about
(08:21):
about you know, just healthy and clean eating for for
for quite some time. Uh. You know, there there's other
you know, with other big national businesses like Sledty, Vegan
and everything legendary You're seeing more and more uh uh
consciousness around just what what you eat and what what
people are putting into their bodies. And so even outside
of the complete you know, vegan and vegetarian establishments, a
(08:45):
lot of restaurants now are just offering vegetarian and uh
vegan options on their menus. And so what's great about
Black Restaurant Weeks is on our website, it works like
a directory, and so you're able to filter by your cuisine,
by the zip code, by dietary restrictions to really find
ways to support these restaurants, not just during Los Angeles
(09:07):
Black Restaurant Week, but truly all year round. So you
can use it to look at restaurants in Los Angeles
outside of the campaign, or when you're traveling and you're
in a new city and you want to buy something new.
It's also a great resource.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Oh man, I am letting my eyes wander through the
menus and the restaurants on here, looking at Worldwide Tacos
right now. That photo just caught my eye and now
my mouth is watering. Harold's Chicken and bar A Family
Affairs Southern cuisine. If you're out here in Southern California,
these are places you may have heard of or have frequented,
(09:42):
But I can't tell you enough these restaurant weeks and
things like that, they really are working with the restaurants
to keep prices down and things like that so that
you get to sample. Nothing breaks my heart more warren
than when I I hear people go, oh, man, that
that place is down the street for me, and I
(10:03):
see it all the time and I've never walked in.
I'm like, ah, you've got to get into these places
otherwise they go away.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Here.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
They really do. Yeah, And how they've they've been more
more adversely affected than a year's past. You know, this
has been a really really tough year for restaurants. We've seen,
you know, our participation down across the board. These restaurants
have been you know, the hard and soul of so
many communities, with you know, really with the black and
brown communities and really frankly with every community. The restaurants
(10:33):
just drive so many moments and memories for us, and
so we we you know, we we have to do
our best to continue to support them as much as
we can. And so during you know, our campaign, we
try to drive as much traffic as well as much
revenue to these businesses to really help them thrive and
help them survive.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
And it is it is one of the few places,
or how can I say this, It is one of
the few things that regardless of education or any or
where you grew up or socio economic background, where you
can have a dream and say I want to share
(11:12):
my culture or I have a love for this type
of food and you can start a business. Yet in California, man,
you get kicked. I know so many restaurant tours who
say it is such a grind to stay open. And
we've gone through the pandemic, We've gone through changes in
indoor outdoor eating, gone through costs of ingredients, and.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
They're getting it's been tough for stashing.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Okay, So the first thing to do is to check
out the website and you explore these These are food trucks,
these are bakeries, these are coffee houses, restaurants everywhere, And
I got to tell you, this is a fantastic list
of places here in Los Angeles and southern California to
(12:03):
hit up. So check out Black Restaurant Weeks again that's plural,
Black Restaurantweeks dot com and then you can click on
the Los Angeles Black Restaurant Week that started yesterday. It
goes through August thirty first, and start planning your meals.
Are they doing lunches, breakfasts and dinners or it does
(12:23):
a vary location to location.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
It varies location by location, So please visit the website
for a full listing of all the different specials that
are being offered, as well as as the different types
of service.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Well, I think this is great.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
I think we should find some partnership or something to
do next year before you come out so we can
give this a better launch for the actual event, because
I think it's important these I think we learn a
lot through food of each other's paths and cultures and stuff.
(13:03):
So we'll be in touch, we'll producer Kayla and see
if there's something we can do more next year.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Oh well, over that that that really means the world
to us. You know, these campaigns only work if the
community and and and and and really you know, outlets
and voices such as yourself really really helped to support us.
And so that that really means the world to us.
And I know it means the world to these to
these businesses that I participate, So we we really appreciate.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
It, and again a tip of the hat the soilk
out Gas, alevan Us Bank, Feed, the Soul Foundation, all
those that are supporting you and your efforts to do this.
So thanks for taking the time. A Warren luck at
from Black Restaurant Week. It started yesterday goes through Sunday,
August thirty. First, get on that now and enjoy some
(13:54):
of these. We're very lucky to be so multicultural in
Los Angeles and to be able to try these different
cuisines out.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
I would get on it or.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Their interpretation of cuisines that you may be familiar with
and see different flavors and different adaptations of them. Warren,
thanks again, my friend for coming on.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
No, thank you Neil, all the best
There is nothing cooler than then having the ability to
taste different cultures. I think that is one of my
favorite things about you know, for lack of a better tune,
being a foodie. Enjoying food is enjoying culture. To me,
(00:20):
we always say that on the program that we talk
about culture and celebrate culture and food here and so
these events that go on where you can taste different cultures,
I think are important and this one is right up
there as well. I want to welcome to the program
Warren Luckett. He is with the Black Restaurant Week started yesterday.
(00:40):
I believe we'll go through the thirty first war and
welcome to the FORK Report.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Thank you, Thank you so much having me. It's absolute
pleasure to be here.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Oh the pleasure's mind. So the eighth annual is it?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
It is? It's our eighth annual Los Angeles Black Restaurant
We Campaign, and you know exactly what you said. It's
a celebration of culture. And so from August the twenty
second through August the thirty first, everyone throughout Los Angeles
is going to have an opportunity to celebrate the cuisine
of Black America, Africa as well as the Caribbean you know,
(01:17):
it's just kind of our celebration of Colinet cuisine from
across African bi asqua.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Now when you're dealing with, you know, black culture in America,
of course we have the original sin that we referred
to in America of slavery, which puts culture in a
whole different category because you have, like you said, African culture,
(01:43):
then you have Caribbean culture, you have African American culture,
Southern culture, and it's spread out in different ways, often
based on well most cultures, a necessity to eat what
you have in front of you, to utilize what you
have in front of you. You and I think they're
inseparable and that plays a part of all of this.
(02:07):
So celebrating those things I think is a fantastic way
of learning about the path of Black Americans.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Is that part of the culture and the food?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
No, No, absolutely, I mean when when you look at
some of the similarities that you have from across the diaspora,
even as something as simple as as rice, right, we
see it, you know represented in so many different ways
from Jalla of rice, from from you know, kind of
the African, the ways that everyone from Nigeria that kinda
makes it their own style to your red beans and rice.
(02:43):
You know, it's kind of more of your traditional or
your dirty rice, right, you know, that's or we even
talk about you know, uh cuts, the meat oxtails is
very much the same thing, sing the way that it's
it's prepared and cooked in the South versus the way
that it's prepared and cooked in the Creek.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And I will tell you, you know, I get strange
looks when people when you tell people how good oxtail is,
and they're like, what, but there there are you know,
exploration is a fun thing, and we have uh you know,
we we explore through food. I think that's a magical,
magical way to explore any culture. But exploring through foods
(03:25):
and cuts of meat, you know, we think of like
the most expensive cut of meat has got to be
the best. But really, when you have oxtail, to meat
is right up there with filet mignon or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
It's delicate, it's lovely, it's flavorful.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
But people don't have access to it in the same way,
or at least they think they don't.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
And it's crazy that you said that, you know, as
just resonates so much because it did start out as
as as a scrap. Unfortunately, you know, it was it
was not looked at as as a quality piece of
meat and uh, and it was some thing that we've
we've you know, as a culture, been able to master.
Now you know, unfortunately we go to grocery stores, the
prices of ox tails have have have exploded astronomically just
(04:09):
because of the popularity, right, And so I think that
really just does speak to the influence and the power
of of of the culinary contributions that we've had, not
just with ox tails, but I think we've seen it
across the board. When you talk about the explosion of
of of your your shrimp and grits of a lot
of these new American uh establishments. But but but not
(04:30):
just that, Right, when we talk about Los Angeles and
we look at how how diverse the food culture is,
and how important clean eating is and and even just
kind of vegan the veget began the vegetarian movement. Uh,
there's so many black restaurants throughout the Los Angeles area
that have really contributed towards uh kind of the exciting
flavor profiles that can be be explored even through a
(04:53):
cuisine like light like vegan or you know, vegetarians.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
You know, as a Latino.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
One of the some of the meats that we use
a lot, like slap meat and things like that were
you know, the same thing there were kind of scraps
and now you go into a butcher to get them.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
They're expensive as how yep, because everybody's buying them.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Then you understand, yeah, you understand.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
You know, you go down and sit to get some grits,
shrimp and grits, and it's thirty bucks and you're going.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Wait a second, this is what right? That's like paid
thirty bucks for a real cheese sandwich.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And so that's really what Black Restaurant We represents it
not just those cuisines, but even just some of the
masterful dishes that that all of all of the different
kind of culinary stars as we'd like to call throughout
the you know, the Black Restaurant Week Stratosphere have contributed
to all these different campaigns, and so we really asked
the community to use this as a time to explore
(05:51):
the Los Angeles cuisine from from you know, from August
and twenty second to the thirty first and just see
how robust and diverse, you know, the food here is,
as I'm sure so many of your listeners already know.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Right now we're talking to Warren Luckett from Black Restaurant Week.
You can find out more at Black Restaurantweeks plural dot
com and that will send you to you all you
can see, you know, all of them across the country.
LA is going on right now until August thirty first. So, Warren,
how do you go about getting participation restaurants in Tell
(06:27):
us some of the the restaurants that are participating this
year and how people can support it.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah. No, as you mentioned, we we love for everyone
to visit our website, Black Restaurant Weeks dot com for
a full listen of all the participating restaurants that are
participating this year, some of the amazing specials that they're offering.
We've got restaurants like skys Will Made Tacos, duelings on
Crenshaw Black House in North Hollywood. You know the Vegan Joint,
(06:57):
the original Taco, Peede Hilltop Coffee. So just a great
diverse list of participating restaurants throughout the greater Los Angeles area.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Have you seen that worn a change mentioning vegan or vegetarian?
You know a lot of times there's been complaints in
the in the and rightly so, in minority communities about
the type of crap food that you know, quick serve
this or quick serve that, and lack of grocery stores
(07:27):
in you know, urban communities. And then more and more,
I know, on the Latito side of things, obesti has
been a massive problem both black and brown communities struggle
with diabetes and the like, and more and more I'm
finding restaurants in these communities now turning to vegan or
(07:51):
more healthful. Fair are you fighting that throughout the eight
years of doing Black Restaurant Week that that's changing as well?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Absolutely, and and and you know, while we're a national organization,
Los Angeles has been one of the markets that has
been leading, uh that charge of really being health conscious
from the front. You know when you think about legendary
establishments like simply wholesome places like Real Freshet, uh that
that have really been kind of driving the conversation about
(08:21):
about you know, just healthy and clean eating for for
for quite some time. Uh. You know, there there's other
you know, with other big national businesses like Sledty, Vegan
and everything legendary You're seeing more and more uh uh
consciousness around just what what you eat and what what
people are putting into their bodies. And so even outside
of the complete you know, vegan and vegetarian establishments, a
(08:45):
lot of restaurants now are just offering vegetarian and uh
vegan options on their menus. And so what's great about
Black Restaurant Weeks is on our website, it works like
a directory, and so you're able to filter by your cuisine,
by the zip code, by dietary restrictions to really find
ways to support these restaurants, not just during Los Angeles
(09:07):
Black Restaurant Week, but truly all year round. So you
can use it to look at restaurants in Los Angeles
outside of the campaign, or when you're traveling and you're
in a new city and you want to buy something new.
It's also a great resource.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Oh man, I am letting my eyes wander through the
menus and the restaurants on here, looking at Worldwide Tacos
right now. That photo just caught my eye and now
my mouth is watering. Harold's Chicken and bar A Family
Affairs Southern cuisine. If you're out here in Southern California,
these are places you may have heard of or have frequented,
(09:42):
But I can't tell you enough these restaurant weeks and
things like that, they really are working with the restaurants
to keep prices down and things like that so that
you get to sample. Nothing breaks my heart more warren
than when I I hear people go, oh, man, that
that place is down the street for me, and I
(10:03):
see it all the time and I've never walked in.
I'm like, ah, you've got to get into these places
otherwise they go away.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Here.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
They really do. Yeah, And how they've they've been more
more adversely affected than a year's past. You know, this
has been a really really tough year for restaurants. We've seen,
you know, our participation down across the board. These restaurants
have been you know, the hard and soul of so
many communities, with you know, really with the black and
brown communities and really frankly with every community. The restaurants
(10:33):
just drive so many moments and memories for us, and
so we we you know, we we have to do
our best to continue to support them as much as
we can. And so during you know, our campaign, we
try to drive as much traffic as well as much
revenue to these businesses to really help them thrive and
help them survive.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
And it is it is one of the few places,
or how can I say this, It is one of
the few things that regardless of education or any or
where you grew up or socio economic background, where you
can have a dream and say I want to share
(11:12):
my culture or I have a love for this type
of food and you can start a business. Yet in California, man,
you get kicked. I know so many restaurant tours who
say it is such a grind to stay open. And
we've gone through the pandemic, We've gone through changes in
indoor outdoor eating, gone through costs of ingredients, and.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
They're getting it's been tough for stashing.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Okay, So the first thing to do is to check
out the website and you explore these These are food trucks,
these are bakeries, these are coffee houses, restaurants everywhere, And
I got to tell you, this is a fantastic list
of places here in Los Angeles and southern California to
(12:03):
hit up. So check out Black Restaurant Weeks again that's plural,
Black Restaurantweeks dot com and then you can click on
the Los Angeles Black Restaurant Week that started yesterday. It
goes through August thirty first, and start planning your meals.
Are they doing lunches, breakfasts and dinners or it does
(12:23):
a vary location to location.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
It varies location by location, So please visit the website
for a full listing of all the different specials that
are being offered, as well as as the different types
of service.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Well, I think this is great.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
I think we should find some partnership or something to
do next year before you come out so we can
give this a better launch for the actual event, because
I think it's important these I think we learn a
lot through food of each other's paths and cultures and stuff.
(13:03):
So we'll be in touch, we'll producer Kayla and see
if there's something we can do more next year.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Oh well, over that that that really means the world
to us. You know, these campaigns only work if the
community and and and and and really you know, outlets
and voices such as yourself really really helped to support us.
And so that that really means the world to us.
And I know it means the world to these to
these businesses that I participate, So we we really appreciate.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
It, and again a tip of the hat the soilk
out Gas, alevan Us Bank, Feed, the Soul Foundation, all
those that are supporting you and your efforts to do this.
So thanks for taking the time. A Warren luck at
from Black Restaurant Week. It started yesterday goes through Sunday,
August thirty. First, get on that now and enjoy some
(13:54):
of these. We're very lucky to be so multicultural in
Los Angeles and to be able to try these different
cuisines out.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
I would get on it or.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Their interpretation of cuisines that you may be familiar with
and see different flavors and different adaptations of them. Warren,
thanks again, my friend for coming on.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
No, thank you Neil, all the best
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