Black-Owned Restaurants to Support in Texas
Supporting black businesses, specifically following restaurant shut-downs over the past few months, is a direct and effective way to support the black community in your city. Here are just a few of our favorite black-owned restaurants all across Texas.
Houston
This Houston Heights patio cafe is perfect for any casual dinner out. There’s something for everyone from a classic burger to endless vegan sandwich options. A personal favorite is the Italian Goat pizza — its ciabatta crust is amazing.
All Houstonians know this classic breakfast spot. When they say “best breakfast in Houston”, they mean it. The lines that wrap around the building every morning speaks for itself. Their biskits and gravy are definitely the best in Houston.
Need somewhere to study or just generally vibe? Throughgood’s your place. This coffee shop in the Heights is run by Pastor Rudy Rasmus with classic coffee choices as well as in-house specialties, like their Espresso Old Fashioned. Additionally, they donate 10 percent of all proceeds to Houston’s homeless.
Austin
After the owners of Thunderbird Coffee (which, by the way, is also amazing) decided to create the perfect biscuit, they created Bird Bird Biscuit, a restaurant focused on, well, biscuits. Any breakfast sandwich you could ever want, they have on a biscuit. The classic Queen Beak is a massive crowd-pleaser.
Taste of Ethiopia on South Congress is Austin’s top-rated Ethiopian restaurant with an amazing weekday lunch buffet. If you have never had Ethiopian food, this is a perfect place to start. My personal suggestions are their shiro wot and Ethiopian’s national dish, doro wot.
West Campus’s creperie has become a new staple of UT Austin students since its recent opening. They have sweet and savory crepes alike, with classics such as strawberry and chocolate chip crepes.
San Antonio
Open since 1990, Mr. and Mrs. G’s is regarded as some of the best home-cooking in San Antonio. It even earned a spot on USA Today’s “10 Great Places for Soul Food” list in 2013. Some fan favorites are their catfish, lima beans, and banana pudding.
This Jamaican walkup restaurant opened its doors two years and has had immense praise ever since. From GQ to Esquire, The Jerk Shack has been making national news left and right. Their jerk chicken is a classic, spicy favorite. The Jerk Shack’s owner, Nicola Blaque, will be opening a build-your-own Roti restaurant, Mi Roti, at the Bottling Department.
Malik’s Philly’s Phamous Cheesesteaks
Founded by former Spurs’ player, Malik Rose, and now run by his cousin Robert Rose and wife McKayla, this Philly cheesesteak food truck has become known as the best cheesesteak in San Antonio. The menu includes classic cheesesteaks as well as a few specialty items, like the Philly Fries (which is exactly what it sounds like).
Dallas
If you look up any list of the best fried chicken in Dallas, Daddy Mac’s Chicken is sure to make an appearance. Locally sourced and crafted with love, Daddy Mac’s is becoming a Dallas classic. You can get your chicken original, spicy, or sugar daddy style.
Dallas’s first delivery and curbside pick-up craft vegan kitchen is making an awesome name for itself. Chef Troy Gardner aims to create “a better world, one vegan dish at a time”. Reviews rave about the vegan chicken fried steak dinner with garlic mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables as the side.
Good meats. Good sides. Good vibes. Smokey John’s has been open since 1976 and has stayed family-owned ever since. Known as having some of the best barbecue in Dallas, Smokey John’s has definitely mastered its art. Some of their most famous menu items include their ribs, baked beans, peach cobbler, and mac and cheese.
It should be known that this is not a comprehensive list, and that there are dozens of other amazing black-owned restaurants in each of these cities. A few great ways to find black-owned restaurants in your area are through the EatOkra app, which features more than 1,700 black-owned restaurants or Eat Black Owned, which is the Internet’s largest directory of black-owned restaurants.
