Outfitted in furs, polished loafers and shimmering gowns, hopeful diners in their finest evening wear begin lining up on the northeast corner of West Slauson Avenue and Overhill Drive before the restaurant opens at 5 p.m., eager to score a last-minute table or a seat at the bar.
When it opened last fall, Somerville immediately became one of the city’s toughest reservations. The first fine-dining concept from partners Ajay Relan, Yonnie Hagos and Issa Rae of Good Vibes Only (GVO) hospitality group, the glitzy supper club is a sepia-toned tribute to South-Central, named in honor of the Central Avenue hotel where musicians like Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday once stayed while touring jazz and blues clubs along the busy thoroughfare. This month, it was ranked on The Times’ 101 Best Restaurants guide.
Across town on Fairfax Avenue, a similar crush of diners line up outside of Lucia, a modern Caribbean restaurant opened by restaurateur Samuel Jordan this spring. On Sunset Boulevard in the heart of Hollywood, Linden is an all-night destination with Wagyu pot pies and lobster frites, plus cocktails and live music at its adjacent speakeasy.
For the last half-decade, the local restaurant industry has been struck by one disaster after another: the COVID pandemic, writers’ strikes and most recently, devastating wildfires and immigration raids, all inflamed by factors such as a decline in tourism, rising rents and labor costs, plus increased tariffs on imported goods.
And yet, there has arguably never been a better time to be a Black chef or restaurant owner in Los Angeles, according to 13 interviews with changemakers this fall and winter.
As the year closes, a picture is emerging of a restaurant community forged by generations of resilience. Undeterred by present industry conditions, they intend to build on the legacies of landmark Black-owned ventures that paved the way for the successes of younger generations today.
Their contemporary counterparts, many of them among the buzziest restaurants in town, said a culture of communal advancement has cascaded down to ensure that African diasporic cuisines get the spotlight they are due.
But how will this burgeoning movement survive what figures to be one of the worst years for restaurants in Southern California in recent memory?
A soulful legacy
Greg Dulan’s family restaurants have had a continuous presence in the Crenshaw District for 50 years. In 1975, his father, Adolf Dulan, founded Hamburger City on Martin Luther King Boulevard, and it wasn’t long before it expanded with additional locations. One of them was converted to Aunt Kizzy’s Back Porch in Marina del Rey in 1984, one of the first soul food restaurants to open in the predominantly white neighborhood.
Today, Greg’s brother Terry runs Dulan’s Soul Food Kitchen in Inglewood, while Greg operates Dulan’s on Crenshaw, which opened in 1992 after the L.A. riots and immediately became an emblem of community resilience. It’s a must-do campaign stop in L.A. during local and national elections. This month, Dulan’s on Crenshaw was named The Times’ 2025 Gold Award winner.
“I grew up less than half a mile from where my restaurant is. I went to 54th Street Elementary School,” said Greg. “I’m literally serving the people I grew up with — the parents of my friends, the ministers, the police officers.”
It was this customer base who showed up when Greg launched a fundraiser over the summer — not because the restaurant was struggling, but to cover the adjacent real estate he’d purchased with the intention to build a parking lot and a second kitchen for training and workforce development.
“The support has been citywide and it’s just coming in all directions,” Greg said. “It’s made me realize that what I have is bigger than me, that people think about my restaurant in a loving, caring way.”
The outpouring of support significantly boosted the restaurant’s revenue and helped the restaurateur secure the necessary investment to remain open.
Head a couple miles north on Crenshaw Boulevard toward West Adams, and you’ll run into chef Marilyn Cole’s eponymous, cafeteria-style restaurant. Look for the faded sign with her likeness, outfitted in a white chef’s hat and coat and hoop earrings. “Since 1989,” it reads above her smiling face.
Cole opened her first restaurant, Marilyn’s Place, on a whim, after outgrowing the home kitchen where she was making and selling $5 dinners every weekend.
“I was driving down Crenshaw, and I saw this little restaurant on 42nd that had a For Rent sign. I walked in, and the owner, Mr. Lee, gave me the keys that day,” she said.
Word spread fast, and within the first 90 days of business, Cole earned her first catering job with Nancy Wilson of the rock band Heart, who was celebrating receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She went on to cater numerous birthday parties for Stevie Wonder and two Thanksgiving dinners for civil rights leader Coretta Scott King.
In 1998, she opened Chef Marilyn’s Queen of Down Home Southern Goodies in its current location. And while her local culinary legacy has only deepened over the last 36 years, it’s also been fraught with challenges, especially recently.
In May, Cole was forced to temporarily close the restaurant during a month-long hospital stay. In October, a rainstorm caused her ceiling to fall in and the restaurant to flood, severely damaging her two ovens, including one that caught fire.
But similar to Dulan’s on Crenshaw, when Cole launched a GoFundMe campaign to help with costs, customers immediately showed up to do their part, dropping off checks in person and organizing donation drives for the restaurant.
“Whenever I think that I’m tired of this or I can’t do this, somebody will compliment me, whether it’s a kid or a senior citizen, somebody saying, ‘Don’t stop, don’t give up.’ It just keeps me going,” she said.
For both Dulan and Cole, it’s the community impact that they’re most proud of.
“I love the fact that so many people have followed in my footsteps and started their own catering companies and their own restaurants,” Cole said, citing former employee Vidal Cortes, who opened Delicious Southern Cuisine in Leimert Park in 2011. She is also a second-chance employer, providing opportunities to the formerly incarcerated.
“Obviously it has to be about dollars and cents, but if you really want longevity, there has to be connection with the community you serve,” Dulan said.
‘Food is just a piece of the puzzle’
It’s the framed Fela Kuti posters and woven light fixtures that hang over the bar at Two Hommés. At Bridgetown Roti, colorful shutter blinds are stacked against one wall of the patio, invoking a porch you might find in Barbados.
“We place a premium on our experience from the second you walk into the door to the second you pay the bill,” said Hagos of the Good Vibes Only group.
At Somerville, that translates to a grand piano under a crystal chandelier, velvet marigold booths and Art Deco details that feel like you’re stepping onto the set of “Mo’ Better Blues.”
Linden and its adjacent lounge Dot are entirely Black-owned and operated, with partners Sterling “Steelo” Brim, Alahna Jade, Vince Bryant and Scott Williams, working alongside general manager Genesis Bernard and executive chef Jon Harris.
“Back in the day, people of color weren’t always welcome, regardless of how much money they had,” Bryant said. “We wanted to open something that would give people that service and respect, and recognize them and thank them for coming out.”
At Lucia, an oceanic art installation glows behind the bar, a nod to the Caribbean influence you’ll find across its dinner and cocktail menus. Live DJs provide nightly soundtracks, cycling through soca, reggae and Afrobeat hits.
“It’s music that people don’t typically hear in a restaurant setting, but they love it and it connects with the food and makes it more of a vibe,” said Jordan.
Last fall, when Two Hommés co-owners and chefs Marcus Yaw Johnson and Abdoulaye Balde were approved for a liquor license, they took it as an opportunity to relaunch with new menu items and hired cookbook author and designer Kiano Moju to redesign the dining room to better reflect the Afro-Californian menu that pulls directly from both chefs’ backgrounds.
“Because every restaurant tells a different story,” Balde said. “Two Hommés is telling our story of being born and raised in Los Angeles, but having African parents in the house.”
Whatever their style, these restaurants send a clear message to Black guests in particular: These spaces are for us, by us.
Josh Johnson runs the Serving Spoon in Inglewood with his sister Jessica Bane. Their grandfather Harold E. Sparks first opened the soul food breakfast restaurant in 1983.
“The food is just a piece of the puzzle,” Johnson said. “It’s the environment that you create, the way the staff greets you, the way somebody calls you by your first name.”
Building a ‘recession-proof’ restaurant
Before chef Rashida Holmes opened Bridgetown Roti, a counter-service Caribbean restaurant in East Hollywood, with her mother, Joy Clarke-Holmes, and business partner Malique Smith in summer 2024, she first created a buzz around her flaky oxtail patties and curry-bright macaroni pie as a pop-up chef and vendor at Smorgasburg L.A.
With just 16 seats, the bricks-and-mortar was smaller than she’d envisioned. But as nearby restaurants closed in rapid succession, Holmes was grateful she had fewer seats to fill each night.
“We wanted a pandemic-proof, recession-proof restaurant,” she said. “We kind of put ourselves in a good position because we don’t have to fill a 30- or 50-seat restaurant every night in order to make our money. We don’t have to change anything about our model to make ourselves work in what seems like it’s going to be a challenging economic season.”
With Angelenos dining out less, Holmes decided to keep Bridgetown Roti’s catering business and still does frequent appearances at festivals and events.
“When you build a business out of emergency circumstances, you kind of prepare for all emergency circumstances, and then you hope that those don’t last, but when they happen again, you’re kind of ready for it,” Holmes said.
According to chef Keith Corbin, who owns Alta, a California soul restaurant in West Adams, this emergency preparedness could explain why Black chefs and restaurant owners are able to overcome such a tumultuous time for the industry.
“My entire life has been navigating crisis and making decisions under pressure. The state of the economy right now, that’s been the constant for many of us,” he said. “So why are we being recognized right now? Because we’ve been thriving in this s—. It’s not new to us.”
As Corbin shares in his “California Soul” memoir, his ability to adapt was honed during his childhood in Watts and involvement in illegal drug operations that led to a stint in one of California’s maximum-security prisons. While there, his passion for cooking grew as he witnessed the ingenuity among fellow inmates who created elaborate “spreads” out of prison food. After he was released, Corbin found a job as the kitchen manager at Locol, a fast-casual spot in Watts focused on community redevelopment founded by L.A. chefs Roy Choi and Daniel Patterson. After shuttering in 2018 and reopening last year, the space is now run by Corbin’s Alta Community nonprofit, and offers pay-what-you-can meals and workforce training to the neighborhood.
“You have to be adaptable,” said Holmes. “That’s kind of the opposite of what I learned as a chef. I was trained in environments where it’s like, we’re gonna serve what we want to serve and people can like it or not, and the public experience taught me that, actually, no, you kind of have to serve what people want to eat.”
‘The rest is history’
L.A.’s Black chefs and restaurateurs aren’t slowing down. Even in the current climate, many are expanding their concepts and opening new venues — Somerville launched jazz brunch on Sundays, Serving Spoon is preparing to open a takeout spot in Mid-City and Two Hommés plans to debut a late-night lounge in Inglewood next year.
“Everybody has their season,” said Corbin, “and I just think it’s the season of the Black chef and we’re blooming and we’re blossoming.”
When Kiano Moju was on tour for her “AfriCali” cookbook, readers would regularly ask for restaurant recommendations to give them a reference point for recipes that drew from her Kenyan Nigerian heritage and growing up in the Bay Area.
“Instead of trying to come up with a new project, I thought why don’t we bring the book to life as a pop-up, so people can try this food?” said Moju.
After a month-long stint at Melody Wine Bar, Moju was invited to do a summer residency at Culver City’s now-shuttered Citizen Public Market, where she served lentil nuggets, Swahili-style biryani and mishkaki, marinated meat skewers that are a popular street food in East Africa.
Despite its temporary status at the food hall, Jikoni quickly amassed a slate of regulars. “I was really shocked at how eager people were to have a cuisine that many of them have never had,” she said.
“We would have people who would come on a Friday, and they would bring their partner on a Saturday, and then they’re coming back the next Friday.”
When Citizen Public Market announced its closure in November, Moju found herself looking for a permanent location, a move that had previously held little appeal.
She credits her customers for encouraging her to take the leap, saying, “Our customers are so passionate about telling us their experiences and how they felt. It’s their energy and their nudging for us to do it.”
Moju is also motivated to showcase Kenya’s food culture, which is not as widely represented as other African cuisines. “I want to have a space that is reflective of my culture in a very casual, everyday environment,” she said. “I’ve never had that.”
first started cooking and selling chicken wings out of her dorm room in college. When she relocated from her hometown of Memphis, Tenn., to Los Angeles and couldn’t find local wings that met her smoky and saucy standards, she decided to launch a pop-up of her own.
She enrolled in L.A. Cooking School while working on set for TV series like “Jane the Virgin” and “black-ish,” and eventually started doing meal prep for industry clients, who encouraged her to do events. After two years of popping up at L.A.’s annual Taste of Soul festival, she decided to go all in on wings.
“My tagline is ‘global inspiration with a Southern foundation’ because I’ll never forget my roots,” she said. “But I’ve trained within all different types of cuisine and I’ve studied under different chefs.”
When Rose Previte opened the long-awaited West Coast outpost of her Washington, D.C.-founded Maydan Market in Jefferson Park this fall, Cottingham’s Melnificent Wingz was the first six-week residency. The menu featured a flight of wings — crying tiger Thai tamarind, Korean gochujang, Carolina honey gold, bacon fat confit with Tennessee whiskey and Jamaican jerk, alongside sides of mac and cheese and a biscuit sandwich.
The opportunity came about thanks to Holmes, who Previte had originally been considering for the residency. Instead, Holmes recommended Cottingham, whom Previte invited to her home for a private tasting.
“She loved everything and the rest is history,” she said.
Throughout the residency, Holmes made herself available as a mentor to Cottingham. “She has really, really helped. The main challenge was transitioning to this structure that’s a lot different from a two-day pop-up or a one-day food festival. I really had to learn and get educated when it comes to calculating labor costs, food costs and figuring out where I’m going to source my ingredients.”
Now that the residency is over, Cottingham has her sights set on a restaurant of her own. “This has really prepared me for a brick-and-mortar.”
The future of L.A.’s restaurant industry feels more precarious than ever, with a new California Restaurant Assn. survey finding that business is down compared with last year, according to 84.8% of L.A. restaurateurs. But armed with community and the power of the pivot, these chefs and restaurant owners feel prepared to face those trials.
“There’s always going to be something,” said Balde. “Our walk-in refrigerator broke [in September]. Nobody would have known, we just had to get it fixed, take that cost on the chin and get the whole menu up in three hours.”
“Whatever pivots need to be made, we’ll make them, but we’re not gonna take any losses. And if it’s a loss, we’re still gonna flip that and still come out on top.”
Corbin made a comparison to the music industry, and the bad-faith deals that artists often get attached to when they are first signed to a major label.
“I would say to my community that a lot of us have already experienced that on your behalf. We paid the dues for you,” he said. “For anybody coming from these under-served communities and getting their first opportunity, or if you’ve saved up your money and you’re thinking about doing something, or you’re bringing somebody in, whatever it may be, just ask. You can ask me. I’ll tell you all about it.”
The post It’s the ‘season of the Black chef’ in Los Angeles appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
