Black Restaurant Week Power: Meal Deals, a Reality TV Star and a Bartender Showdown Make This Foodie Bonanza Sizzle

For nearly 13 years, Houston Restaurant Weeks — an annual fundraiser for which local restaurants prepare special tasting menus to help raise money for the Houston Food Bank — has been a mainstay in the Bayou City. But there’s a new restaurant experience on the scene. Houston Black Restaurant Week debuts this week, hoping to showcase the diverse mix of African-American restaurants and chefs across the city.

Beginning on April 3, Black Restaurant Week features prix-fixe brunch, lunch and dinner menus ranging from $20 to $45. Participating restaurants include chef Chris Williams‘ modern Southern eatery Lucille’s and his newly opened sports bar, Scrappy Browns; seafood restaurant and oyster bar Holley’s (where chef Mark Holley serves at the helm); sports bar Prospect Park; Gatlin’s BBQ; J&J Lounge; Ray’s Real Pit Barbecue Shack; Etta’s Little Kitchen; Davis St. at Hermann Park; Crave Cajun Seafood; Ester’s Cajun Cafe; Dolce Houston Lounge and Bistro; Calabash Island Eats; Marcos Pizzeria; Reggae Hut (sister restaurant to the famed Breakfast Klub); UnWine on Almeda; Café Abuja Nigerian Kitchen; and Lucy Ethiopian Restaurant & Lounge.

In addition to the featured restaurant menus, Houston Black Restaurant Week includes a number of special events, such as an exclusive pop-up dinner on Monday, April 4, with celebrity chef Ja’Nel Witt (winner of Hell’s Kitchen Season 11) at the Houston Museum of African American Culture. The Movers and Shakers networking dinner follows on Wednesday, April 6, at Davis St. at Hermann Park. Black Restaurant Week concludes with Power of the Palate, a bartending competition on Saturday, April 9, at Bar 5015.

Houston Black Restaurant Week continues through Sunday, April 10. Proceeds from each plate ordered will benefit Change Happens, a non-profit that supports a number of community-based programs, including HIV prevention, after-school care, and homeless services.