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JewFro is located at 1721 E. Franklin St. in Shockoe Bottom.
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JewFro will operate as a cafe and deli for breakfast and lunch and a cocktail lounge and restaurant in the evening.
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Staircase leading to the upstairs dining room
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The main dining room of JewFro is located on the upper level of the restaurant.
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In the coming weeks, JewFro will debut a late-night empanada window from its adjoining space.
“The name is supposed to be a bit jarring,” Trey Owens says of his new restaurant, JewFro, which debuts Thursday, Oct. 21.
Originally launched as a pop-up dining experience, the concept from Owens, along with fellow Soul Taco owners Nar Hovanian and Ari Augenbaum, brings African and Jewish cuisines together under one roof at 1721 E. Franklin St. in Shockoe Bottom.
“Someone hears the name and says, ‘What is this?’ but I want to encourage them to look deeper into the meaning,” he continues.
With a menu including everything from Reubens and schnitzel to peri peri chicken and lamb tagine, JewFro is a reflection of diversity, intended to broaden diners’ palates and encourage cultural exchange and appreciation through food.
The core of that diversity is the team behind the restaurant.
“I’m Black, gay and born here; Ari is Jewish; Nar is Armenian — it's all there, we get a lot of perspectives,” Owens says.
When the pandemic struck, the friends and restaurateurs were forced to find ways to reach the dining community differently. Simultaneously, the country was examining racial oppression and police brutality following the murder of George Floyd.
In November 2020, the trio introduced Jingle Belle: A Woke Holiday Story, a festive pop-up that offered both dine-in and takeout options and celebrated the trifecta of Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. The successful event was a catalyst for future conversations about inclusion, the lack of true culinary diversity in the city and what could come next for the owners.
“We started the conversation about inclusion and realized how much more we are alike than different,” Owens says.
At the end of January, they debuted JewFro as a pop-up, operating the culture-bridging dining concept until March out of the Belle space on East Main Street. Recognizing that food truly brings people together, they saw an important opportunity to continue using it as a vehicle for thoughtful discussion.
“I always knew it was bigger than a pop-up and felt like it was what we needed,” Owens says, noting that JewFro had gained national recognition. “When it came to an end, or was coming to an end, we noticed there was a lot of potential.”
They also noticed a “For Rent” sign in the window of what had been Julep’s New Southern Cuisine before a series of short-lived concepts.
The owners originally had plans to debut a third Soul Taco location in Raleigh, their first out of state. While the onset of the pandemic took that idea off the table, the drive to keep evolving and growing remained.
“And now a restaurant was born out of it,” Owens says. “It was a blessing in disguise.”
JewFro marks a new, exciting, non-taco-related challenge for the team. Inside the former Julep’s space, the walls have been adorned with a fresh coat of muted mustard yellow, and the bar is a funky cobalt blue accented with whimsical black-and-white tiles. Downstairs, velvet lounge chairs and couches create a come-and-stay-a-while vibe, while a winding staircase with retro carpeting featuring magenta stars of David leads to the dining room. Continuing the ’70s-inspired feel the pop-up had embraced, the design is compete with splashes of gold and other period accents.
Augenbaum, who previously served in the Israeli army and cooked under “Iron Chef” alum chef Morou Ouattara and celebrity restaurateur Bobby Flay, is in charge of the kitchen. Melding modern and traditional African and Jewish cuisines, the restaurant operates as a deli and coffee shop by day and a cocktail lounge and dinner establishment at night.
In the morning, patrons can expect pastries and light offerings, while midday will present many of the popular sandwiches from the pop-up, such as a house-cured pastrami Reuben or Doro Wat Turkey Sandwich inspired by the Ethiopian stew. For dinner, dishes will range from zigni, Eritrean-spiced brisket, served on top of matzo polenta with stewed nightshade and braised kale to a za’atar-roasted lamb shank, served with an Israeli cous cous “tzimmes” stuffed gourd. The menu also features a glossary with terms such as kelewele, or Ghanaian fried plantains.
“Africa is not a country; it’s a combination of 54 very different, very individual cultures, religions and cuisines, and on the menu you’ll see it,” Owens says. “I want people to discover something and taste something and say, ‘Where is this from? Oh, Tanzania, oh, South Africa, oh, Malawi.’ ”
Owens adds that Destination: Empanada, a pop-up the partners previously debuted specializing in different varieties of the hand-held stuffed pastries, will return in the coming weeks from a late-night walk-up window in the space adjoining JewFro.
On the verge of Soul Taco’s third anniversary at the original Jackson Ward location, Owens is still in disbelief at where this journey has taken him. Prior to opening the fast-casual taco spot that was inspired by California and Latin flavors and comforting Southern staples, he was waiting tables.
“Me being a restaurateur, that wasn’t something I thought was available to me,” he says. “To think that there is some little kid who walked the halls that I walked, that will graduate from [Richmond Public Schools] like me, who can actually look at me and see themselves in me and think they can actually do it, too.”
While Owens can trace his lineage as far back as the slave ships, he says that’s where the history stops.
“I don’t know my family name, I don’t know what country I come from, I don’t know any of that,” he says. “That's where JewFro really comes to help me. I really feel like I’m on a journey with everyone, too, and it’s kind of like, come along, let’s find out together what great things we’re missing out [on].”
The feeling is echoed by his two partners, and all view the restaurant as a place for teaching moments.
‘It was more so important for us to make sure people felt included, because a lot of times throughout our lives at different points, we all felt the feeling of being excluded,” Owens says.
JewFro is currently open from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
