LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — From selling plates out of his home, to running two food trucks, to opening a restaurant in Las Vegas, Calvin “Chef Grubby” Johnson creates and cooks mouthwatering, flavorful dishes as the head chef and co-owner of Bleu Kitchen Garlic Noodle Bar.
“This is an Asian-soul fusion restaurant,” said Chef Grubby. “I would order anything southern-fried.”
Johnson learned how to cook from his grandmother, and practiced cooking by watching YouTube videos. He met his wife, Sunni, ten years ago when she was a customer.
“I was working the graveyard shift when we met,” said Sunni Johnson. “I helped him with receipts, emails, and bookkeeping until he asked me one day to quit my job, and here we are.”
This is the second year that the Johnsons have participated in Black Restaurant Week, a nationwide tour that highlights African American and Caribbean cuisine. The campaign was developed to shine a light on minority businesses – aiding them in building community awareness to increase their bottom line. It’s the 4th annual tour across the Southwest region, celebrating black-owned restaurants in Las Vegas, Austin, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix and other surrounding metro areas.
Black Restaurant Week was founded in 2016 in Houston as a one-city food experience where diners could order from a variety of Black-owned establishments in the city. In an effort to provide complimentary marketing and PR services for the businesses, BRW also educated consumers on the variety of cultural cuisines within their neighborhood that shared the disparities that many minority-owned businesses faced. A 2020 study by the University of California, Santa Cruz, researchers found that Black restaurant owners face systematic barriers such as disproportionate access to business loans. These disparities were exasperated during the COVID-19 pandemic where 41% of Black-owned businesses shuttered since February compared to 17% of their white-owned counterparts.
With a mission to feed and fuel the “cultural famine,” while emphasizing the revival and the saving of the black restaurant industry, BRW founder Warren Luckett, now based in Atlanta, launched the campaign with his partners Falayn Ferrell and Derek Robinson, who are both based in Houston. The 2024 campaign is focused on restimulating local economies within the Black community by promoting Black-owned culinary businesses and professionals who cannot afford costly marketing campaigns. In nine years, the organization has supported more than 3000 restauranteurs, bartenders, chefs, caterers, and food trucks.
Black Restaurant Week, Southwest is fired up March 15-24.
