"When William “Trey” Owens, a Black restaurant owner in Richmond, Virginia, opened JewFro, it felt both personal and political. The idea for the restaurant emerged in Owens’ mind in 2020, after comedian and television host Nick Cannon was fired from his own show after making antisemitic comments. Owens—who already co-owned the city’s popular Soul Taco restaurants with Jewish chef Ari Augenbaum, and business partner Nar Hovnanian—compared it to a That’s So Raven flash of vision. The restaurant would be a way, as he saw it, to “bridge the gap” between Black and Jewish communities. JewFro started as a pop-up and then, due to demand, opened as a brick-and-mortar space in late 2021, pairing food from both the African continent and the Jewish diaspora. An embodiment of the city’s roots and a striking creative project, JewFro has been so popular that the team is already planning a second location in Raleigh, North Carolina." - ByEric Ginsburg
