Vibe Out: Kulture restaurant reopens with ‘A Black Chef Table’ dinner experience

Houston-based restaurateur Marcus Davis and Chef Keisha Griggs are putting Black chefs and food purveyors in the spotlight with an all-star lineup serving  jaw-dropping, fork-to-plate clinking dishes for Kulture: A Black Chef Table dinner experience.

Kicking off in November, the limited series will take place at Kulture’s downtown Houston location, and will include meat, produce and vegetables sourced from businesses owned by people of color.

This unique dining concept ushers in the re-opening of the popular restaurant, which has been closed since the early days of the pandemic. Black Chef Table is a culinary experience spotlighting African/African American food purveyors and chefs identifying as Black Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). Diners will enjoy a multi-coursed dinner in the swanky ambiance.

Davis, best known across the country for his popular, award-winning restaurant The Breakfast Klub, wants Black culinarians to rise to the same heights as non-minority chefs, and he believes The James Beard nominated Kulture provides an optimal vehicle to do so.

“Ujamaa – the principle of cooperative economics – has long been the foundation upon which we’ve built the offerings of our family of brands,” said Davis. “Collaborating with Chef Griggs to present Black Chef Table is a natural extension of that work. We want to utilize our platform to highlight the ever-growing landscape of Black culinarians in a way that acknowledges our contribution to world cuisine, leverages our buying power, and benefits our economy.”

Chef Griggs, the curator or Black Chef Table, founded Bocage Catering, a full-service catering company where she shares culinary cuisine from her Trinidadian roots. She was also one of the original vendors at Politan Row with Ate Kitchen.

“The BIPOC culinary landscape is not a monolith. Blackness inherently carries with it different details and nuances that span across different cultures. Our food is a reflection of all those different nuances throughout the diaspora,” Griggs said. “We tell generational history in our food. My hope is that Black Chef Table will further highlight the stories of each chef and the farms from which their ingredients are sourced. With each dinner experience, they tell the stories of our past, into our future, one plate at a time.”

The first round of featured chefs include:

Chefs James Haymond and Ross Coleman, semi-finalists for the enviable James Beard Award, are best known for their popular Kitchen 713 restaurant. Now, the duo currently brings hints of West African cuisine to Lit Chicken, located inside of Finn Hall.

Chef Michelle Wallace is the executive chef of Gatlin’s BBQ. The French-trained chef single-handedly flipped Texas barbeque on its ear by introducing flavorful Southern seafood classics to the menu.

Chef Shawn Osbey is best known from his appearance on the OWN Network’s docu-series, Checked Inn, which profiled the day-to-day operations of The Mansion at Noble Lane. He is also the owner of Atlanta-based Chef Shawn Osbey Catering

Chef Reginald Scott leads Best Damn Everything, a culinary brand that includes catering and food products. The Houston transplant often brings his Memphis influence to his pop-up and private catering events.

On specific days starting in November and through 2022, participating chefs will highlight the transatlantic food ways from Africa to and through the Caribbean, Asia, Spain, Mexico and the Americas. Chefs will bring their personal interpretation to seasonal ingredients, harvested from local African American-owned fishermen, ranchers, gardens and food purveyors.

The chefs a scheduled to appear on the following dates:

November 7: Chef Michelle Wallace of Gatlins BBQ | Between the Slices

November 12-13: Chef Shawn Osbey of Own Network |Shawn Osbey Catering | Awaaba Bed and Breakfast

November 19 – 20: Chef Reggie Scott |Uncle Reggie’s International BBQ

December 3 – 5: Chefs James Haywood and Ross Coleman of Kitchen 713

January 13 – 14:  Chef Keisha Griggs | Ate Kitchen | Bocage Catering

Participating Purveyors Partners include:

Fresh Life Organic

Ivy Farms

Sweetwater Farms

Captain Seafood

Captain Fred Seafood

Edelman Meat

PPF Farm

Plant It Forward

“Kulture: A Black Chef Table is dedicated to supporting the diverse culinary landscape and the vast spirit, wine, beer makers, and Black-owned food purveyors by providing a space to cultivate, incubate and promote talent,” said Griggs.

“Black Chef Table is important because our story is important. Our voice and our contributions, both historically and present day, are important. And lastly, access and opportunity are important,” Davis added.

To purchase tickets and for more information, visit www.blackcheftable.com.