Jack’s Seafood to Crema Cafe: Black-owned restaurants in Raleigh & Wake County

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, our 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 popular Black-owned restaurants in the Triangle is Jack’s Seafood & Soul Food in Raleigh. Learn more about Jack’s Seafood & Soul Food, and then check out the list of other Black-owned restaurants in Raleigh and western Wake county. If you know of restaurants we missed, email us at ask@newsobserver.com.

Jack’s Seafood: A Raleigh staple

Jack’s Seafood & Soul Food has been feeding Raleigh residents for more than 40 years. When the restaurant (and in its early years, seafood market) opened on New Bern Avenue in 1980, it was not Black-owned, but it became integrated into a majority Black neighborhood.

The restaurant — now under Black ownership — is still “considered as a staple in the community,” a New Bern Avenue resident said in a 2021 oral history study about the neighborhood by the City of Raleigh.

Carlton Sutton took over the restaurant in 2006. He’s the fourth owner, and he had no prior relationship to any of the previous owners, he said. But he wanted to keep the restaurant’s name, menu and original preparation style to honor the longtime customers who kept Jack’s in business.

“I think some customers take ownership of Jack’s because it’s been in their communities and their families for so long,” Sutton told The N&O. “People come in and talk about their parents and their grandparents eating here, and we want to preserve that generational feeling.”

Under Sutton, Jack’s Seafood opened its second location on Rock Quarry Road in 2011. With time, Sutton hopes to bring Jack’s to other areas of North Carolina.

Jack’s Seafood & Soul Food, which opened in 1980 on New Bern Avenue, has been feeding Raleigh residents for more than 40 years.
Jack’s Seafood & Soul Food, which opened in 1980 on New Bern Avenue, has been feeding Raleigh residents for more than 40 years.

“There’s a community of Black-owned restaurants in Raleigh, and that’s only expanding. I don’t know all of them, but I’m always glad to welcome new ones,” Sutton said.

The restaurant’s popularity was noted in a 2020 Raleigh Magazine article highlighting the places notable local chefs eat. Cheetie Kumar, chef and owner of Raleigh’s “Garland” restaurant (which closed last year) and three-time James Beard semifinalist, said the best fried chicken and fish in the area to hail from Jack’s.

She spoke highly of their hushpuppies too, telling Raleigh Magazine that they’re “perfectly crunchy on the outside and just tender and corny enough on the inside.”

Sutton hopes to keep this restaurant in the family when his time as owner ends. But if not, he wants to ensure it stays Black-owned to honor the restaurant’s initial customer base. Though gentrification is changing the neighborhood, he said, Jack’s Seafood remains a pillar to Raleigh’s Black community.

Jack’s Seafood & Soul Food, which opened in 1980 on New Bern Avenue, has been feeding Raleigh residents for more than 40 years.
Jack’s Seafood & Soul Food, which opened in 1980 on New Bern Avenue, has been feeding Raleigh residents for more than 40 years.

Raleigh Black-owned restaurants

Black & White Cafe

Bon Fritay Truck

Boss of Vegan

Brookside Bodega

Chick-N-Que

The Chocolate Boutique

Cocoa Forte

Corner Boys BBQ

Crema Cafe

FatBoys Kitchen

Golden Krust Caribbean Restaurant

Jack’s Seafood and Soul Food

Jamaica Jerk Masters

Jamaican Grille

  • 5500 Atlantic Springs Rd, Raleigh

  • 919-873-0200

  • Search “Jamaican Grille Raleigh” on Facebook.com

Lee’s Kitchen

Mum’s Jamaican Food

Oak City Fish & Chips

ORO Restaurant

Premier Cakes

Sarge’s Chef on Wheels

  • Food truck

  • 919-827-7308

Sweetheart Treats

The Shrimp Truck

Your Pie Raleigh

Cary Black-owned restaurants

Awaze Cuisine

Dame’s Chicken & Waffles

Pure Juicery Bar

Morrisville Black-owned restaurants

Sweet’s Smoothies

  • 2121 TW Alexander Dr, Suite 125, Morrisville

  • 919-428-3200

Apex Black-owned restaurants

The Fish House Eatery

The Mocha Room

Fuquay-Varina Black-owned restaurants

Joyce & Family

Holly Springs Black-owned restaurants

Bestow Baked Goods

Garner Black-owned restaurants

DeMario’s Classic Catering

Walking Crab

Wake Forest Black-owned restaurants

Black & White Cafe

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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