Seafood restaurant brings new cultural dishes for Black History Month

The Saltbox Seafood Joint in Durham is celebrating Black History Month with its cuisine.

Every Wednesday this month, the Black-owned restaurant plans to introduce a new dish.

Last week, the special was fried catfish and spaghetti with origins from the Mississippi Delta. This Wednesday, the menu will feature bake and shark, a dish popular in Trinidad and Tobago that consists of fried shark stuffed in a pocket sandwich.

On Feb. 16, the special will be Senegalese fish yassa, a twist on a traditional West African chicken dish. The new dish on Feb. 23 will be Moqueca Baiana, a Brazilian fish stew.

Owner and chef Ricky Moore said in a press release that the specials are in celebration of Black History Month and the Pan-African global influence of the Atlantic Slave Trade.

He said that African Americans have contributed to many cuisines across the world, and that global influence lent itself to what he calls the restaurant's celebration — "culinary cultural contribution month."

“A lot of these dishes I’ve eaten already,” Moore said. “I was like — this would be a pretty cool thing to do. We’re gonna go through the African diaspora.”

He said the dishes are simple and authentically African-influenced, chosen with the goal of indirectly educating people with food. 

“I think a lot can be accomplished when you put food in front of somebody,” Moore said. “You get a little cultural lesson, if you would.”

Saltbox Seafood Joint opened in downtown Durham in October 2012  and expanded to another location on Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd in 2017. The original location closed in August 2021 due to its 10-year lease expiring.

“All I’m trying to do is deliver a product that’s consistent over and over again,” Moore said. “Hopefully, excellence is achieved throughout."

Carmen Rivera, team leader of Saltbox Seafood Joint, said that working at the restaurant has been a great experience. She said the restaurant is multicultural and that in addition to Black History Month, it has also celebrated National Hispanic Heritage Month.

“(Moore's) quite involved,” she said. “He opens the doors to everybody who comes.”

Tammy Hope, owner of the TammyHope & More online boutique, said she’s a regular at the restaurant and is planning on trying the specials. 

“I actually saw it yesterday on Instagram,” she said. “I’m gonna hit Wednesday up next week and see what it’s like.”

Moore grew up in New Bern, N.C., where he said eating seafood was part of his culture and upbringing.

After graduating high school, he served in the Army from 1986 to 1992. He said he was deployed in Saudi Arabia for a 13-month tour where he was a military cook.

“The mission of a military cook is to provide sustenance for your troops,” Moore said. “That’s a big morale booster, especially in combat.”

This experience as a military cook, he said, allows him to be extra powerful in the civilian world because he feels like he can cook for anybody.

After leaving the military, Moore said he attended The Culinary Institute of America. He graduated in 1994 with an education he said was invaluable.

Now, with the Saltbox Seafood Joint, he hopes to stay fresh and current with different events like this month's weekly special dishes.

“I have a lot of things I’m lining up for Saltbox,” Moore said. “Restaurants are not just places to come eat — they’re places to gather, they’re places to meet and I believe they’re places to become educated."

@sam_long16

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