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Charlotte's Deli & Tapas owners Nikki Gregory and Paul Polk (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Emmanuel "Manny" Baiden of Manny Eats (Photo by Keya Wingfield)
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Jollof rice from Emmanual Baiden (Photo by Keya Wingfield)
“Being of African heritage, it is really important for me to be able to shed light on our culture and food and the originality in our dishes, and being able to honor my ancestors, and the people who came before me who have contributed so much to American food in general," private chef Emmanuel “Manny” Baiden of Manny Eats says. "I think we're able to acknowledge those people who came before us in the form of cooking."
The James Madison University graduate is currently prepping his menu for an upcoming Juneteenth celebration hosted on Saturday, June 19, by Charlotte’s Southern Deli and Tapas that will feature Black chefs from across the region. Dubbed the RVA Juneteenth Cocktail Market, each chef will make their own dishes and set up tables inside the Financial District restaurant for a walk-around tasting experience and fundraiser benefiting the RVA HIP & Bohlale Baheti Social & Charity Club, a nonprofit that works to help African American high school seniors go to college.
Baiden, a 26-year-old native of Ghana, grew up learning to cook from his mother, incorporating West African techniques that were passed down through the generations.
“She learned from her parents and grandmothers,” he says. Baiden plans to serve his jollof rice at the event with beef soya, thin strips of meat that are seasoned with a powdered spice bend of peanuts, ginger, onion and garlic, similar to a barbecue rub, before they are skewered and grilled.
“The significance of this dish to me is shedding light on Juneteenth and some of the influences that West Africans brought here during slavery,” he says.
Juneteenth marks the day in June 1865 when U.S. soldiers delivered the news in Texas that slavery had been abolished nearly two and a half years earlier with the Emancipation Proclamation, and while slavery has been illegal in America for over 150 years, systemic racism and other obstacles continue to have an impact on the Black community, especially in the restaurant industry.
“If I can put some other Black people on, I’m gonna do it,” says Nikki Gregory, co-owner of Charlotte’s Southern Deli and Tapas along with her partner, Paul Polk. "We are where we are because of another Black person that believed in us. This is an opportunity for our friends to get money to their business and so people can see who they are.”
The duo, whose restaurant opened in 2019, say they originally had plans to host a Juneteenth event last year, but the pandemic put things on pause. However, like many other Black chefs, navigating the pandemic wasn’t the first set of hurdles they have had to overcome.
“No. 1 [hurdle] — not being taken seriously, which caused us to not get funding,” Gregory says. “As a Black chef, I feel like we always have to undersell ourselves, you have to undersell yourselves. It’s hard to get people to believe in you. You’re fighting a lot of things.”
During the event, Gregory and Polk plan to take a more back-seat approach, letting the visiting chefs occupy the forefront while they focus on the bar side of operations, offering a special 10-strong lineup of cocktails.
“All of [the drinks] will kind of showcase a lot of preservation techniques and different ways to drink alcohol when people are low on money or can't buy the best liquor,” Polk says.
One of the drinks is a milk punch, product of a process dating back to the 1800s where milk is added to a cocktail, which in turn curdles. After the liquid is strained, the result is a cloudless beverage with most impurities eliminated that can be saved for months. Other cocktails on the bill range from a rum-based hibiscus libation to a Morning Glory featuring a butterfly-pea ice cube and a smoky offering called Nina Simone.
“To me, Juneteenth has always been an opportunity to learn, so that’s why we’re doing this event, so people can learn about these other chefs,” says Gregory, a Hampton Roads transplant.
Chefs taking part in the event include Baiden along with Justin Ross of Richmond's JC Desserts; Virginia natives and chef-owners of Charlotte, North Carolina’s Jimmy Pearl’s restaurant, Oscar Johnson and Daryl Cooper; George Carroll of The Savory Grain; and Candace Vinson of The Glass House in downtown Lynchburg.
“A lot [of this], for me, is showing Black people’s different value in hospitality, because the industry is very rooted to our ancestors’ slave experience, from top to bottom,” Polk says.
The feeling is echoed by Baiden, who says he’s excited to be able to introduce his cooking to a wider audience and to be a part of an event that will highlight the strikingly underrepresented Black culinary community.
“One of the reasons I decided to be a private chef is because I felt there was no space for me in commercial kitchens or restaurants,” he says.
He says that the turning point in his career came after an outside chef was hired for an in-house executive chef position, despite Baiden having held a sous chef position at the restaurant for years.
“I felt for me, coming in kitchens, that I didn’t stand a chance, even though I did definitely have the talent and had worked and paid my dues, I just never saw that space for me,” he adds.
On a recent trip to Miami, Baiden stopped at KYU restaurant, where the kitchen is helmed by Raheem Sealey, for what he describes as one of the best meals of his life and a reminder that seeing is indeed believing.
“To think a Black chef heads this place and can put his own touch on all this Korean and Japanese dishes was outstanding,” he says.
As for the upcoming gathering, the hope is that the spotlight it shines on Black chefs is just the beginning.
“We can start that convo with how [Black chefs] have contributed to the food scene and culture here, and allow people to patronize Black restaurant and Black chefs more," Baiden says. “I hope people are able to see what our talents are. … For so long we have not been highlighted.”
The RVA Juneteenth Cocktail Market is a 21-plus event. Guests are encouraged to register in advance, and a $5 donation to the RVA HIP & Bohlale Baheti Social & Charity Club is required for entry.
