Black-Owned Restaurants around the Triangle offer patrons an array of cuisines

Black-owned restaurants are keeping the residents of the Triangle well-fed and happy, one comfort meal and sweet treat at a time. 

According to the National Restaurant Association, about nine percent of American restaurants are Black-owned. 

Within this nine percent lie many diverse establishments that offer everything from Carolina BBQ, to vegan cuisine, to baked goods. 

Here are a few local Black-owned restaurants in the Triangle area well worth a visit:

Tonya’s Cookies

Tonya Council started Tonya’s Cookies from the kitchen of her grandmother Mildred Council's restaurant, Mama Dip's. There, Council perfected the pecan crisp cookie, which she made to taste similar to Mama Dip’s pecan pie. 

“My grandmother kind of pushed me out to try something new,” Council said, citing Mildred as the inspiration behind her business. “I worked at the restaurant for so many years, and she thought I had a good product.”

The success of the pecan crisp led Council to open her own bakery in 2017 located at 400 S Elliott Rd., Chapel Hill, NC. 

Tonya’s Cookies sells a variety of cookies, including pecan crisp, chocolate chip, peanut butter, cranberry white chocolate and white chocolate macadamia. 

Tonya’s Cookies also exhibits Carolina pride with the “Carolina Cookie,” a sugar cookie that is decorated with the UNC logo. However, even years after its creation, Council said the pecan crisp remains the most popular item on the menu. 

In addition to cookies, Tonya’s also sells cakes, pies and pastries, such as macaroons, chocolate-covered strawberries, doughnuts and cupcakes.

Pure Soul

James Spaulding, a vegan for 24 years, said it's always been his dream to own a vegan soul food restaurant, and he was inspired to start one after noticing the lack of vegan restaurants in the Durham-Chapel Hill area compared to other cities. Finally, in 2020, Spaulding and business partner Andrew Justad opened Pure Soul at 4125 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd. Suite 1, Durham, NC. 

Spaulding sees his restaurant as a good starting place for emerging vegans.

“I think it's a good transition as well for people considering going vegan. It's hard to go from eating meat and all that to eating a cabbage sandwich or Brussels sprouts,” he said. “We have the burgers, shrimp po'boy, chicken sandwiches, barbecue, just like, meat. But it's all plant-based.”

Pure Soul sees a range of patrons — vegans, hardcore meat-eaters, omnivores and people on religious fasts, Spaulding notes. 

The most requested item is the Soul Roll, an egg roll-like creation filled with mac and cheese, collard greens and barbecue. Another popular item is the hot chicken sandwich. 

All meat-like dishes are made with soybeans, gluten, conjac root and different types of beans.

Cosmic Cantina

Cosmic Cantina has long been a Franklin St. favorite amongst UNC students who have a taste for burritos or want to snack on chips and queso. However, most patrons probably don’t know that it’s a black-owned business. 

Founder Cosmos Lyles moved to North Carolina from California in 1991 to attend Duke University. Lyles was inspired to start his business in 1995 after noticing the absence of the California-style burrito he longed for.

The first Cosmic Cantina appeared in Durham in 1995, around Duke’s campus. Since then, Lyles opened more restaurants on the Manhattan east side of New York University, which has since closed, and on Chapel Hill's downtown Franklin St.

In May 2024, Cosmic Cantina celebrated reopening at a more accessible location on 118 E. Franklin St.

Yeshua Sanchez, a manager at the restaurant, said it has had lots of success with the new relocation.

“We saw a great impact with the community and our regular customers,” Sanchez said. “I think everyone loved our new spot and just having enough space to sit when you eat because it can get really busy.” 

According to Sanchez, the most popular menu items are all things chicken — the regular and deluxe chicken burrito, chicken quesadilla and chicken nachos, paired with chips and queso. 

Sanchez credits Cosmic Cantina’s popularity and longevity to their consistency. 

“If you ask most people that came to eat here 25, 27 years ago, most of them will tell you that the food tastes exactly the same. So we stick to our origins, and we try to do everything in a way that is a healthy environment; that's healthy for people,” he said. 

Corner Boys BBQ

CEO and self-taught chef James Sampson takes Carolina barbecue on the road with his food truck, Corner Boys BBQ, which he founded in 2015.

“I had a limo service before I started this business, and it was going under, and I knew that I knew how to cook. There was an idea I had to start cooking meals, and I started selling them out of the back of my Suburbans that I was picking up my stars in,” Sampson said.

Today, Corner Boys BBQ travels from around the Durham-Raleigh area to as far as Charlotte. Lately, Sampson’s truck has found success in the catering business. He said they’ve had the opportunity to feed many people through private events in Charlotte, such as the Carolina Panthers organization, and feeding North Carolina Central University’s basketball team three times a week. 

Soon, Sampson plans to take Corner Boys BBQ to North Carolina A&T's homecoming in Greensboro.

He said the most popular menu item is their beef brisket. Their other menu items include pork BBQ, chicken BBQ, turkey BBQ and chicken "jerk". Smoked meats can be paired with sides, which include mac and cheese, green beans, baked beans, yams and cornbread.

When asked what differentiates Corner Boys BBQ from other barbecue spots, Sampson had one thing to say: “We put love in our food.”