Black Restaurant Week kicked off Friday, Sept. 18, in Los Angeles, giving diners 10 days to explore Black-owned restaurants, food trucks, bakeries and catering companies across the city.

The ninth annual event, running through Sunday, Sept. 27, spotlights Black, African and Caribbean culinary traditions. Unlike the semiannual Dine L.A., Black Restaurant Week does not offer discounted meals. It is a marketing campaign built to drive foot traffic to businesses that often lack advertising budgets, LA Eater reported.

Warren Luckett, who founded Black Restaurant Week in Houston in 2016 with partners Falayn Ferrell and Derek Robinson, told LA Magazine the initiative grew beyond sit-down dining. "While we really just started this off as a week, we also saw the need to really highlight all the other aspects of the culinary industry," Luckett said.

Here are three participating restaurants worth a visit:

Joyce, at 770 S. Grand Ave. in Downtown Los Angeles, pairs Southern cuisine with a coastal California menu. Dishes include Nashville Hot Fried Catfish and Low Country Shrimp & Grits. The restaurant runs a zero-landfill cocktail program focused on composting, recycling and responsible sourcing, with happy hour daily from 5 to 7 p.m.

Lucia, at 351 N. Fairfax Ave. in the Fairfax District, opened in 2025 and serves Afro-Caribbean fine dining. Chef Cleophus Hethington, a 2022 James Beard Award finalist for Emerging Chef, draws on his Miami upbringing and Caribbean travels for dishes like Pastelón with pecorino béchamel and Jerk Lamb Shank with whipped sweet potato. Lucia is open Wednesday through Sunday, 6 p.m. to midnight.

In a June 2026 interview with Observer, Hethington said his cooking blends techniques learned in European-style kitchens with ingredients he has known since childhood, rooted in the flavors of the Caribbean diaspora.

Harriet's Cheesecakes Unlimited, at 1515 Centinela Ave. in Inglewood, has been baking gourmet cheesecakes for more than 40 years. The Black-owned, woman-owned shop started in 1983.

The founder began after her sister sent a French Vanilla cheesecake recipe clipping from New York. The Sweet Potato Cheesecake remains the signature.

Other participating spots include Bludso's BBQ, Harold & Belle's, Dulan's on Crenshaw, Blaqhaus NoHo, the Wood BBQ Sports Bar, 1010 Wine and Events in Inglewood and Obet & Del's Coffee in East Hollywood.

The full directory of participating LA restaurants is available at blackrestaurantweeks.com. The event runs through Sept. 27.