OAKLAND, Calif. – Black Restaurant Week kicks off in the San Francisco Bay Area on Friday, and minority-owned business leaders are hoping for an uptick in customers as they highlight their array of rich cuisine. 

This is the fourth year of the campaign, which ends on May 26. 

Founded in 2016 by Warren Luckett, based in Atlanta, and managed by partners Falayn Ferrell and Derek Robinson, based in Houston, Black Restaurant Week LLC is responsible for celebrating the flavors of African American, African and Caribbean cuisine with a series of regional cultural weeks per market. To date, Black Restaurant Week has expanded to more than 15 markets including Toronto.

Black Restaurant Week

Participating restaurants in Oakland, Emeryville and San Francisco: 

Oakland

AFRICAN:

Jollof Kitchen, 484 Lake Park Avenue

CARIBBEAN: 

Sweet Fingers, 5859 Foothill Blvd. Suite 1

Cocbreeze Caribbean Restaurant and Vegan Bakery, 2370 High Street

Calabash Restaurant & Market, 2300 Valdez Street

ITALIAN: 

Marzano, 4214 Park Blvd. 

SOUTHERN:

Fowl & Fare

101 Broadway 

Emeryville

SOUL FOOD: 

Rob Ben’s Restaurant & Lounge, 3617 San Pablo Avenue

San Francisco 

SOUL FOOD: 

Gumbo Social, 5176 3rd St

SOUTHERN: 

Tastebuds, 600 5th Ave.

CREOLE & CAJUN:

Voodoo Love, 303 2nd Street

AMERICAN:

Rome’s Kitchen 
 

When we ask newlyweds to think back on what they wanted most for their big day — and we’ve interviewed hundreds of them over the years — the most common response is “For it not to feel like a wedding!” Gathering with old friends and eating mini grilled cheeses in formalwear to celebrate love feels more special these days than ever, even downright miraculous. And the betrothed have never been less attached to the old wedding handbook — or the need to please their great-aunt. So in a flurry of pampas grass and perfectly mismatched-to-match bridesmaid dresses, how do you pull off a non-cookie-cutter affair? For the answers, we decided to interrogate the cool couples whose weddings we would actually want to steal, right down to the tiger-shaped cake toppers.

Here, we spoke with San Francisco–based couple Jazelle Prado, a radio producer turned esthetician who also dabbles in the floral industry, and Lucas Liu, who works in interior textile sales. Though initially averse to being the center of attention and considering eloping, the pair’s love for the creative process won out, and they wed in two of their city’s most eye-catching, century-old establishments: the soaring City Hall and Tosca Café, a sexy jewel box of a spot with maroon leather seating. Their 80 guests ate steak, watched a fantastical Guillermo del Toro movie, and — if they were lucky — toasted the couple in a hidden lounge overlooking the space.

Jazelle: We wanted to elope originally. I didn’t know if I could be in a room with 100 people and have everyone spectate. The thought was a little cringe.

Lucas: We didn’t want to cater to the masses. Jazelle and I have a different bandwidth and energy. We’re very much reserved, invitation-only kind of people.

Jazelle: But we love to see ourselves as designers and we love curating our own spaces. We thought, Okay, then, let’s do something just super tasteful.

Lucas: Initially, we just wanted a cool place to do this festive function with our select friends and family. Eighty people max seemed sensible.

Jazelle: We didn’t really have any place in mind, but once I got my dress, I was able to figure out, Okay, what should a space look like with this dress on? I was totally feeling myself in that dress. I really liked how my body looked in it. I decided to wear gloves because that felt very glam. It was a vibe. It was sexy. I wanted the wedding to feel very sultry.

Lucas: I met Jazelle in 2018. We matched on Tinder. We connected so well on everything. It’s honestly insulting to try to put in words or force people to hear what I hear when I’m with Jazelle. It’s crazy. It’s just magic.

Jazelle: I had just graduated college. We met in May; I was moving to Chicago in June. I was like, This will be nothing. After that first date, we saw each other every day. I needed to be around him. Right before I left, he told me he loved me. I got in the car to drive cross-country with my mom and talked about Lucas the whole ride there.

Lucas: It’s like the worst drug. It literally ruins families and shifts continents and starts wars.

Jazelle: We were long-distance for a year, and then I moved back home and we moved in together. It’s just been fun ever since. He asked me to marry him on February 27, 2022. The ring is less traditional. He gave me a Padparadscha sapphire in a lotus, rose-gold setting. The sapphire is this amazing scarlet, burnt-orange color.

Lucas: Jazelle has always been fascinated with the City Hall building here in San Francisco. It has breathtaking architecture and lighting. We’d have it there and then do a little procession, whether walking or in cars, to a banquet hall or whatever. We checked a few places out, and the one that left the deepest impression was Tosca.

Jazelle: Tosca feels very “the mob’s watering hole.” This place is historic. It was built in 1919, and it was even in Mrs. Doubtfire. What captivated me was the interior design, with the checkerboard floors and this patinaed bar. On top of that, the food is amazing. When we toured the space, the staff were making it really easy. I was like, I’m going to vibe with these people.

Lucas: And the location — it’s in the heart of North Beach, on a gorgeous street, Columbus Avenue, that runs straight down to the Fisherman’s Wharf. The neighborhood is so rich in art, history, and culture. You see the cable cars going around. It’s the best of San Francisco. We just kept imagining, “It’s happening here.”

Jazelle: My dress was the first one I tried on, a local brand called Kamperett. I had just turned 30, and I was like, I’m in the best shape right now and I’m going to feel so confident in the dress. My mom said, “That is a slit, Jazelle.” Yeah, it looks like that for my husband, not for you! It was this yummy cream/shell color. With my dress and my ring and Tosca, that’s how I ended up choosing our color palette: scarlet flowers with the creamiest rose I could find. I did all the flowers for my wedding. I think I had a $500 flower budget, which is so rad.

Lucas: I had a Suitsupply tuxedo that was initially supposed to be for another wedding or gala I didn’t go to that ended up being a superspreader event. We wanted it to be cohesive with everything and classic.

Jazelle: Because City Hall is a public space, you can have ceremonies with up to ten people and don’t need to ask permission. But if you’re going to have a set amount of people and you want chairs and a reserved space, it’s a lot of emails to the clerk’s office. We wanted a reserved area because I wanted it to feel ceremonial without that religious factor, and I wanted the lighting to be on point. We had the “mayor’s balcony,” all marble with a beautiful view of the city and the staircase.

Lucas: The parameters were tight: “You can have this many flowers; if there’s any music, it has to be approved by this office and you have to keep it under an hour, and your hour starts upon the chairs being set up.”

Jazelle: Those are things where I had to be a bit more inventive. Can I get away with a ukulele player? I just said it was my cousin. Lucas is Polynesian, and I felt it would be really beautiful to have a ukulele play during our procession.

Lucas: We had a friend strum that Ronettes track, “Be My Baby,” as we were walking out, and the Beatles song “And I Love Her” on the way back. It ended up being June 23, a Friday, and as we got closer, we were like, “Wait, that’s Pride weekend. It’s going to be crazy in there.” But it was the coolest thing; the halls were just buzzing because everyone was having a pop-up wedding in every corner. Everyone looked their best and so happy. Everyone was sharing it.

Jazelle: City Hall was so loud. Everyone who came to our ceremony didn’t hear anything Lucas and I were saying, but I actually kind of loved that because that left me and Lucas in our own bubble. He heard me and I heard him, and that’s obviously all that mattered.

Lucas: Jazelle’s aunt Monica officiated for us. She did an excellent job speaking in front of everyone in English and Spanish.

Jazelle: She’s everyone’s auntie, and she just loves love. If I could think of the person who’s the most supportive of Lucas and me, it was naturally her. When we presented the idea to her, she was over the moon. I never really imagined myself getting married in the church. I come from a very traditional Mexican family and grew up pretty Catholic, and Lucas also has Latin roots; his father’s side is from Samoa, which can be a more religious culture. But we definitely decided that was not the route we wanted to go, with all due respect.

Lucas: Our dog was there. We knew we wanted her involved. She was such a good scout all day, going through all the people. We knew it was going to be a challenge, but we pushed and it ended up being great.

Jazelle: She did so well. She’s a Shiba named Lion. I sent a picture of her to a graphic artist, Indira May, who made this cute illustration of her that we put on matchboxes with the date and our initials. On the back was a QR code to our wedding playlist.

Lucas: At Tosca, there was a cocktail hour. They brought out nice caviar and oysters and did it up. As that was happening, Jazelle and I were taking our photos all around the neighborhood at golden hour. We circled back and transitioned into sitting down, talking, and having little toasts. I don’t think I was even watching what I was shoving into my mouth, there were just plates in front of me. There was steak, a burrata salad, and they saved a lot of caviar for us.

Jazelle: They brought us everything, salad and pasta, and there was a choice between steak and salmon. I remember eating while watching Lion on the camera on my phone, because she was at home. I was multitasking because she’s my baby. I need to make sure she’s good!

Lucas: Our friend Miguel from Chicago spoke, and our friend Norma. My friend Darren was a little hyper from inebriation and he had a good time speaking for a while. Jazelle’s brother sang.

Jazelle: I decided to serenade Lucas with an Aretha Franklin song, “Call Me,” because the beginning of our relationship was based around the phone. We were calling each other constantly. I didn’t sing it on a microphone; I just mouthed the song and twirled around him, basically. The space was very small and the music was very loud. I made the playlist, so the DJ just played that and MCed.

Lucas: We wanted to put something on the projector that was inside that main area while the music’s going. We were thinking we’d choose something simple and color-focused. The movie that came to mind was The Shape of Water. The space was very primary-color dominant, and the movie has teal and blue tones that would make everyone spiral a little harder into this vacuum. We were trying to mix it up, like if you weren’t dancing, and you were tired and wanted to zone out. We wanted it to be a very comforting, enveloping space for the silly people we love.

Jazelle: I didn’t want the traditional cake-cutting photos, but dessert was olive-oil cake with mousse. There was another tucked-away room where we had a photo booth and a dessert/coffee space, if the more mature guests wanted to get away from the music and chaos.

Lucas: We rented an older, retro-looking photo booth. Did we want a bunch of little props? No. Black-and-white, sepia-toned photos.

Jazelle: We originally wanted to make an Irish exit, because I didn’t want to kiss everyone and say good-bye at the end of the night. I didn’t want to be pulled away; I wanted to be by Lucas’s side. If I’m going to be spectated, this is how I’m going to be spectated. Sorry if it comes off grumpy. I love everyone so much, but I’m letting you have this open bar, this music. Enjoy the time, and this is how you can spectate. We ended the night in the chef’s lounge and decompressed and drank some Champagne. We told some of our close friends we were upstairs, and we hung out with them and took photos and talked about the night until everyone left. There was no after-party. I just wanted to be with Lucas. We were on cloud nine.

Jazelle and Lucas met on Tinder in 2018 and married last June in San Francisco.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

Their Shiba Inu, Lion, accompanied them to their ceremony at City Hall.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

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Of their love, Lucas says, “It’s honestly insulting to try to put in words or force people to hear what I hear when I’m with Jazelle. It’s crazy. It’s just magic.”
Photo: Sincerely Sini

Jazelle set out to enjoy the creative process of wedding planning as much as possible. “I just didn’t want to be the type A bride who stresses.”
Photo: Sincerely Sini

Since they wanted a larger group at City Hall, they had to register their wedding and follow some parameters around décor and music.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

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They were assigned the “mayor’s balcony,” which overlooks the grand staircase.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

Jazelle’s aunt Monica officiated. “If I could think of the person who’s the most supportive of Lucas and me, it was naturally her.”
Photo: Sincerely Sini

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Given the cavernous space and the other weddings happening at the same time, guests couldn’t really hear the ceremony, which was just fine by the couple.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

Jazelle accessorized with sheer black gloves, while Lucas opted for a sleek black manicure.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

After the ceremony, the newlyweds took photos around Ocean Beach, the same neighborhood where they got engaged.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

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Jazelle’s unconventional engagement ring, which features a deep-orange Padparadscha sapphire, was a major source of inspiration for the day’s aesthetic.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

Their reception was held at Tosca Café, an Italian restaurant that first opened in 1919.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

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They loved Tosca for its look and its multiple discreet side rooms, like the one where they hid away to have Champagne and appetizers.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

The room even featured a little window overlooking the restaurant where they could spy on guests. “I loved that,” says Jazelle. “It felt like a getaway, and very royal.”
Photo: Sincerely Sini

The restaurant recently underwent a big renovation that maintained the mahogany bar and vinyl checkerboard floors.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

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“Tosca feels very ‘the mob’s watering hole,’” the bride remarked.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

Several loved ones spoke while the party dined on burrata salad, meatballs, cacio e pepe, steak, salmon, and more.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

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Lion made another appearance, this time in illustrated form on matchboxes scattered on the tables.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

Jazelle arranged all of the flowers herself.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

“I don’t think I was even watching what I was shoving into my mouth,” Lucas recalls. “There were just plates in front of me.”
Photo: Sincerely Sini

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After dinner, there was dancing to a playlist Jazelle made. At the same time, a projector descended, showing The Shape of Water.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

In another tucked-away room, an old-school photo booth spit out sepia-tone keepsakes.
Photo: Sincerely Sini

SAN FRANCISCO — Kenneth Franklin has been given a second chance at life and he’s using it to give others a second chance too.

“Repaying my debt back to society so I never look at it as me giving someone something — it’s more like me giving them what I owe them,” Franklin told KPIX.

His “debt” comes from serving time behind bars. After facing nearly 60 years for gang-related activity, he was released after 16 years. Today he’s using that experience to offer a helping hand to people experiencing homelessness.

“I was a destroyer. I was destroying our community and now I have opportunity to build up our community,” Franklin explained.

He’s doing that by serving on the city of San Francisco’s Homeless Engagement Assistance Response Team aka HEART. The team offers an alternative to police response and the program has proved its worth in its first year by responding to thousands of non-emergency calls which can take the police days — sometimes weeks — to get to.

“It helps the police department to focus on things more intense throughout the city,” Franklin says. “We get more of those [non-emergency calls] because, normally, nine times out of ten it’s someone that’s homeless and we have that factor where we are more relatable. It’s more of a calmer situation when we do approach.”

He responds to a trespassing call in SoMa made by a nearby resident who called the non-emergency police line expecting cops. Instead of an armed officer, Franklin responded with his partner Rachel, armed only with Narcan, snacks and compassion.

Director of Emergency Management Mary Ellen Carroll says it’s one of the most successful and cost-effective teams in the city and has responded to over 14,000 calls in the past year. The program was approved in 2021 and given a $3 million budget allocation.

“They have filled a gap we didn’t have before,” Carroll says. “The biggest takeaway is that the program actually worked as envisioned. It’s a pilot program so you never truly know how it’s gonna go. And the way we set it up is going to work but it has accomplished in many ways what it’s set out to do, which is to, you know, to respond to these kinds of calls.”

Carroll has heard criticism over city spending on the handful of pricey response programs that, according to a 2023 city audit, do not always fulfill their promised metrics. But each team, she says, caters to a specific need for people who continue to face homelessness, substance abuse and mental illness.

“You know, there was some skepticism about whether this would work and whether these funds would be used effectively but I would say, for what it set out to do, it’s really one of the most effective programs that we’ve started and hopefully we can continue,” Carroll added.

In the first year of the HEART program, internal data shows the team responded to 80 percent of 9-1-1 and 3-1-1 calls related to unhoused people or blocked sidewalks and placed 144 people in shelter. It’s a program that’s not only effective for people in need of help but those doing the helping.

Practitioner Rachel Felix is a recovering user of methamphetamines. She has faced prison herself and is now encouraging others to make the choice to seek help rather than being forced into it.

“I’ve been the dealer, I’ve been the user and so now it’s like I’m in a place to where I can not only relate but now be on the streets and offer services and just instill hope in them,” she said. “And that there are people out here who care about their situation and what they’re going through.”

Felix says she uses her lived experience of being addicted and incarcerated to persuade those currently facing substance abuse there’s a better way to live.

“In the past, I was flaky. I didn’t show up. I didn’t keep my word. You know, I was selfish. I was self-centered. I thought about me and my addiction and making money and that was it,” she explained. “Now, today, I can show up for people and keep my word and not only just with people out here on the streets but with my family, you know, in life in general … and it feels really good.”

For Franklin, it’s a cycle that is proving its effectiveness. 

“By understanding and fixing myself and understanding my value, I start understanding my worth. And because I understand my worth, now I can project that onto others,” Franklin said. “That love that I have for myself I can show you that I love myself so I can show you that I love you and you should love you and this is why I do the work.”