Discover eight Black-owned restaurants across New York state, from a Lincoln Center favorite to a Capital Region mac and cheese sold in stores.
Oxtail braised for eight hours. Curried goat patties. Mac and cheese so beloved it’s now sold in grocery stores across the Capital Region. Across New York state, Black chefs and restaurateurs are turning family recipes into some of the state’s most talked-about menus—from a Lincoln Center dining room to a Buffalo kitchen rebuilt on live TV.
Many of these dishes carry throughlines that stretch back generations and across oceans, connecting Southern soul food and Caribbean cooking to West African traditions. The culinary history runs far deeper than any single restaurant.
Restaurant ownership is already a demanding business. Over 61% of restaurants fail within the first three years, according to research from Cornell. Black restaurateurs have often built theirs while navigating systemic barriers that predate the industry itself. What’s on these menus today reflects both what their owners overcame and, more than that, what they built.
From Brooklyn to Buffalo, here’s a look at eight of New York’s most notable Black-owned restaurants.
New York City
Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi
Where: 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Manhattan
Dinner and a show got a serious makeover in 2022 when “Top Chef” alumnus Kwame Onwuachi opened Tatiana on the ground level of Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall.
A modern take on Afro-Caribbean cuisine, the Long Island-born, Bronx-raised Onwuachi studied at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America, and by age 30, had opened five restaurants. (Read about them in his memoir, “Notes From a Young Black Chef.”)
Onwuachi named Tatiana after his sister. The cuisine reflects their childhood in the Bronx neighborhood of San Juan Hill, with a level of culinary technique that has kept the restaurant on the New York Times’ Best 100 Restaurants list since its opening. (It’s currently No. 12.)
“A lot of food is way more connected than it is separate, “ Onwuachi said in an interview with The Talks. “American gumbo has its roots in an okra soup from Nigeria and West Africa. There’s so many dishes that have remnants of the past in them. And I just think it’s beautiful when you think about food that way.”
Signature dishes include short rib pastrami suya, braised oxtails, and curried goat patties.
Melba’s Restaurant
Where: 300 West 114th Street, Manhattan (to-go available at Grand Central Terminal)
Chef Melba Wilson grew up in Harlem and, as a young adult, worked at the iconic soul food restaurant Sylvia’s, where she conceived and launched Sunday Gospel Brunch. In 2005, Wilson opened her namesake spot, offering her personal spin on Southern classics.
Wilson’s isn’t afraid of a little competition, either. She appeared on “Throwdown! With Bobby Flay,” winning against the celebrity chef with Southern fried chicken and eggnog waffles—a recipe that now appears on the menu. Flay was so impressed he’s invited her back as a guest judge on “Beat Bobby Flay.”
Other standouts include Wilson’s signature dry rub chicken wings, Lowcountry collard greens (which originate from South Carolina’s coast), and Jamaican oxtails.
For Wilson, the venture is part of a larger commitment to her community and visibility. “People tell me that I couldn’t [succeed] because I’m a female, people tell me that I couldn’t because I’m Black, people tell me that I shouldn’t because I’m born and bred and live in what most consider a ghetto,” she told The Columbia Spectator.
“When you talk about economic empowerment, in order for Harlem to be economically viable, we have to intentionally spend money in our community.”
Cuts & Slices
Where: 93 Howard Avenue, Brooklyn | 205-01 Linden Boulevard, Queens | 321 East Houston Street, Manhattan
The never-ending debate of New York City’s best pizza spot got thrown a curveball in 2018 when Randy and Ashlee McLaren opened their first Cuts & Slices location in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.
Randy’s Trinidadian background and Ashlee’s previous career as a flight attendant inform the pizzeria’s global influences, but the oxtail pie in particular has customers lining up. Oxtail and other less-expensive cuts have been a staple of post-emancipation Caribbean kitchens for over a century.
Cuts & Slices braises its oxtail for over eight hours, and offers four varieties: sweet chili, curry, sweet teriyaki, and brown stew. Other creative pie combinations include shrimp, lobster, and black truffle alfredo; chicken and waffles; and limited-edition creations like lasagna pie.
Of course, a classic slice of cheese pizza is always available, but the McLarens encourage first-time customers to be adventurous and try one of their more unique creations.
Hudson Valley
Top Taste Restaurant
Where: 446 Hasbrouck Ave., Kingston (Ulster County)
The husband-and-wife team of Albert (“Sammy”) and Malenda Bartley opened Top Taste in 2014, inspired by traditional Jamaican cooking and family recipes passed down through the generations.
The affordable, casual spot is big on flavor, drawing accolades from the James Beard Foundation. The couple earned a 2022 semi-finalist nomination for Best Chef: New York State.
A substantial portion of jerk chicken, caramelized plantains, and a ginger beer make for a hearty lunch, best enjoyed at one of the nearby Hutton, Cornell, or Hasbrouck Parks.
Just Jollof Kitchen
Where: 39 West Main St., Middletown (Orange County)
Just Jollof Kitchen specializes in West African cuisine. For the full experience, order family-style to explore the breadth of dishes, including fun fusion takes on classics.
Start with a “tour of JJK” appetizer combination that includes akara (crisp bean fritter), Scotch egg, choofi (fried turkey tails with pepper seasoning), and chicken suya, grilled and dusted with a house spice blend.
Other standout dishes include Egusi soup (a hearty West African stew made with ground melon seeds, leafy greens, and traditional spices), Biafra stock fish (dried cod, simmered with onions, peppers, and African spices), and goat stew, served with classic swallows (starchy sides to pinch and scoop the stew, such as fufu, eba, amala, or kenkey).
JJK is also notable for its extensive zero-proof bar menu. Offerings include a range of no-alcohol beers, wines, and housemade cocktails, such as the signature Mama Drama, a combination of sorrel, fresh ginger, and aromatic spices.
Capital Region
Allie B’s Cozy Kitchen
Where: 353 Clinton Ave., Albany (Albany County)
Allie Bee Bethea’s culinary legacy is carried on by her daughter at Allie B’s Cozy Kitchen, the oldest operating soul food restaurant in New York’s Capital Region.
Since 2014, the restaurant has been serving up soul food classics like smothered pork chops, fried fish, and baked turkey wings. But there’s one dish so popular that Allie B. decided to offer it beyond the restaurant setting.
Allie B’s signature mac & cheese won the People’s Choice award at the 2024 Mac & Cheese Bowl competition in Cohoes, NY, which led to a distribution collaboration with Market 32/Price Chopper.
“To be able to share our award-winning recipe with so many more people throughout the Capital Region is a dream come true,” said Allie B. “As a Black female entrepreneur, I hope my story inspires others, especially young Black women, to pursue their dreams.”
Western New York/Buffalo
Park Vue Soul Food Bar & Restaurant
Where: 34 S. Crossman St., Buffalo (Erie County)
Neither Schenita Williams nor her daughter Harrita West had ever owned or operated a restaurant. But that didn’t stop them from opening their passion project, Park Vue Soul Food Bar and Restaurant.
The pair’s ambition outweighed their experience, but thanks to celebrity chef Robert Irvine and an appearance on “Restaurant Impossible,” Park Vue rallied to success as one of Buffalo’s most notable Black-owned restaurants.
Expect soul food classics like fried chicken and catfish, cornbread, and spicy green beans with smoked turkey, along with their signature deep-fried pork ribs, dipped in a “secret” batter and glazed with a choice of sweet and spicy barbecue, honey mustard, or sweet chili sauce.
Finger Lakes
Hawi Ethiopian Cuisine
Where: 113 S. Cayuga St., Ithaca (Tompkins County)
Co-founded in 2015 by Citra Mohammed and former marathon runner Gedese Degebasa after meeting in New York City’s restaurant scene, Hawi Ethiopian Cuisine’s Ithaca location was a fortuitous accident.
“My business partner searched online for places in New York where the rent would be cheap,” Degebasa told Visit Ithaca. “I knew Manhattan but didn’t know the other boroughs, so I thought Ithaca was somewhere in the city. I couldn’t believe how much the bus ticket was, and how long the ride lasted. But when we finally got here, and I saw the place that would become our restaurant, it felt just right to me.”
Degebasa has operated the venue as a solo venture since Mohammed’s return to Ethiopia, and more than a decade later, the restaurant continues to draw a crowd.
Typically served family style, the menu features fiery dishes like tibs (beef) or yebeg (lamb) wat, braised in a red, buttery sauce; misir (red lentil stew); and kitfo (minced beef, similar to steak tartare, seasoned with a chile spice blend and clarified butter.
Injera, a tangy, spongy flatbread fermented from teff, doubles as both plate and utensil.
