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Image and Artwork © 2025 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., via ARS
In the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, a group of Black women created restaurants that changed New York dining.
For B. Smith, her namesake restaurant was the culmination of her ambitious dream.
Barbara Smith stands in a kitchen, holding a tomato in one hand and a paring knife in the other. She wears a grey plaid shirt.
Alberta Wright nurtured a loving clientele at Jezebel.
A black and white photo of Alberta Wright standing among a group of people.
At Toukie’s, Toukie Smith welcomed those wanting to see and be seen.
Toukie Smith dressed in purple and wearing a purple hat.
And Pamela Strobel’s Little Kitchen conveyed her notoriously fussy personality.
A black and white photo of Princess Pamela posing with Andy Warhol.
These four restaurants were synonymous with their owners, all serving their takes on soul or Southern food. Before they arrived, a craving for soul food meant heading uptown to Harlem for takeout containers or sitting down at Sylvia’s, opened by Sylvia Woods in 1962 near the famed Apollo Theater.
These newer places continued the story, bringing worldly, upscale takes on Southern food downtown. Each space was a view into a world curated and inspired by its creator. And each, in its time, offered some of the most coveted seats in the city; their legacy can still be seen in the number of restaurants today highlighting Black stories. Budding entrepreneurs like Melba Wilson and Marcus Samuelsson were inspired to build their own restaurant empires by seeing these pioneers build theirs.
Below, friends of these trailblazing women and guests of their restaurants share memories of what the chefs and their restaurants meant to them.
Alberta Wright
The Worldly Doyenne of Black Fine Dining
Jezebel 1983-2007
Few restaurants elicit such nostalgic sighs as Jezebel, a busy and ornate Southern restaurant in the theater district that Alberta Wright opened in 1983.
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