From Chicken Hut to Saltbox and more: A list of Durham’s Black-owned restaurants

Kimberly Cataudella

This Black History Month, we want to highlight our area’s local Black-owned restaurants — many of which have longtime roots in our region.

Last February, The News & Observer’s food and business reporters compiled a comprehensive database with hundreds of Black-owned businesses across the Triangle. In the past year, we’ve heard from readers and business owners with additions, helping this database become a living resource for our residents and visitors to consult to help them “buy Black.” To find this database, visit bit.ly/BlackBusinessNC.

One of the most beloved Black-owned restaurants in the Triangle is Chicken Hut in Durham. Learn more about Chicken Hut, and then check out the list of other Black-owned restaurants in Durham. If you know of restaurants we missed, email us at ask@newsobserver.com.

Chicken Hut: Durham’s oldest Black-owned restaurant

Chicken Hut, founded in 1957, is the longest-running Black-owned restaurant in Durham. In fact, Chicken Hut was considered a part of Durham’s Black Wall Street, a hub of African-American businesses and financial services in the city.

The restaurant got started in the Hayti neighborhood, but the federally funded Durham Freeway displaced hundreds of Black homes and businesses — among them was Chicken Hut, known at the time as Chicken Box.

The government promised to help them rebuild, but that never happened. The locally loved restaurant had to start from scratch at its current location near NC Central University, and customers followed.

The restaurant’s ownership is now in its second generation. The business survived the pandemic while more than 40% of Black-owned businesses in the state decreased, The N&O reported in February 2021.

“I look at everybody that walks through that door like they are family,” Claiborne (Tre) Tapp III, Chicken Hut’s second-generation owner, told The N&O. “I don’t look at them as just a customer. We all have a personal relationship with most of the customers.”

One customer told Tapp he had been coming to Chicken Hut since the 1960s. “He grew up in this restaurant. That makes me feel proud, seeing how my parents worked so hard to keep this establishment.”

Durham Black-owned restaurants

Anissa’s Spot

Backyard Barbecue Pit

Beyu Caffé

Big C Waffles

Boricua Soul

Bull City Eatery

Bull City Street Food

Capital Seafood

  • 1304 University Dr, Durham

  • 919-402-0777

  • Search “Capital Seafood” on Facebook.com

Chicken Hut

Cosmic Cantina

Creative Caribbean Catering

Dame’s Chicken & Waffles

Favor Desserts

Golden Krust Caribbean Restaurant

Goorsha

Indulge Catering

Jamaica Jamaica

JC’s Kitchen

  • 706 E Main St, Durham

  • 919-680-6227

  • Search “JC’s Kitchen” on Facebook.com

JJ’s Fish & Chicken

Let’s Eat Soulfood

Lula & Sadie’s

Melanated Wine

Mike D’s BBQ

Mr. Fries Man

Nzinga’s Breakfast Cafe

Ora Teahouse + Bakery

Piri

Polar Panda’s Snoballs

Pure Soul

  • 4125 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd, Suite 1, Durham

  • 877-376-7685

  • puresoulff.com

R&B Grill

Rofhiwa Book Cafe

Safari Eatz

Customers dine outside at Saltbox Seafood Joint on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, in Durham, N.C.
Customers dine outside at Saltbox Seafood Joint on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, in Durham, N.C.

Saltbox Seafood Joint

Sho Nuff Seafood

Sophisticated Catering

Soul Fresh Spring Rolls

  • Food truck

  • 919-358-9155

  • Search “Soul Fresh Spring Rolls” on streetfoodfinder.com

Southern Lady Sweets

Tater Bread Café

  • 1106 Morning Glory Ave, Durham

  • 919-251-9265

Tea Bar Cafe

The Dankery

The Living Room

The Palace International

The Slush

TNT Fish & Chicken

True Flavors Diner/Debbie Lou’s Biscuit Shop

Zweli’s

  • 4600 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd, Suite 26, Durham

  • 984-219-7555

  • zwelis.com

Triangle Asked & Answered: What do you want to know?

Have a question about something in our community? The News & Observer’s Service Journalism team wants your questions for our Triangle Asked & Answered series. Reach out to us by filling out this form or by sending an email to ask@newsobserver.com.

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