Luda’s Cookout adds more southern hospitality to Black Restaurant Week

Atlanta’s Black Restaurant Week is underway, and rapper, actor and philanthropist Ludacris brought some southern hospitality to the campaign’s eighth year by hosting a cookout featuring six Black-owned restaurants at Piedmont Park on Wednesday.

“I’m very thankful that we’re a part of this Black Restaurant Week because Black food, it tells a story. We all know that. It talks about our history. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel all over the world, and the greatest thing is being able to taste the creativeness of what we do as Black people and tell our story because things have been handed down from generation,” Ludacris said to the crowd at Luda’s Cookout.

“It’s about Atlanta. It’s about culture. It’s about everybody here enjoying themselves.”

In partnership with beer brand Stella Artois , the pop-up dining event celebrated the two-week campaign with music, games and booths highlighting dishes from Pepper’s Hot Dogs , Life Bistro , What Cha Cooking Baby , BLK N Blu BBQ , APT 4B , and Ludacris’ restaurant Ludacris’ Chicken and Beer . The event also featured desserts from Sugarhi Sweet Eats N Treats and Not as Famous Cookie Company.

Black Restaurant Week was founded in 2016 by Warren Luckett and managing partners Falayn Ferrell and Derek Robinson. The goal of the campaign is to bring awareness to Black-owned culinary businesses that often struggle with limited funds and marketing resources through partnerships and culinary events. It also aims to showcase the diversity of Black cuisine by celebrating the flavors of African American, African and Caribbean cuisine.

Related: Atlanta’s Black Restaurant Week Kicks off its Eighth Year

Guests were served platters of food that held plates of kale salad, elote hotdogs, crab cakes, beef ribs, quinoa stir fry, shrimp and grits, oxtail stew, creole mac and cheese and fried chicken with bourbon hot sauce, to name a few. As Luda’s Cookout winded down and bellies were full of cans of Stella Artois and dishes from Atlanta’s Black restaurants, they were treated to desserts such as red velvet banana pudding and butter pecan cookies.

Los Angeles native Tarina Hodges owns Pepper’s Hot Dogs, a pop-up restaurant that serves gourmet hot dogs, and Hodges shared they have been a part of Black Restaurant Week for three years. Out of the 125 restaurants featured in the campaign this year, Pepper’s Hotdogs was one of the six chosen to be included in Luda’s Cookout.

“I haven’t gotten this [before]. It’s a lot of work to get something like this. To have people who have your back and are thinking of you continuously and put you on a platform is wonderful,” Hodges said.

Tasha Mack, CEO and owner of Sugarhi, said she’s been with Black Restaurant Week from the beginning. Through working with them, she’s seen her business flourish, as it now boasts the status of being an 11-time award-winning bakery. Mack also has the honor of being a four-time Nosh Culinary Showcase winner, as presented by Black Restaurant Week.

“If anybody knows what it can do for you and your business, it’s me, and I’m here until the end,” Mack said.

For a full directory of the restaurants participating in Atlanta’s Black Restaurant Week, visit Blackrestaurantweeks.com . To learn more about Stella Artois’ Summer Dinner Series, visit Stellaartois.com/letsdodinner .

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