By Megan Burks
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With 10 African restaurants—some in business since the 1980’s—and the largest East African population in California, San Diego is getting its first African restaurant week.
Seven restaurants, most in City Heights, will offer $15 prix fixe menus Friday through Oct. 28. They’ll also offer free cooking classes (space is limited), live music and traditional coffee and tea ceremonies.
“After this event, San Diegans will be more excited about [African] food, their music, their culture,” said Beryl Forman, marketing director for the El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association. “They’ll have a better understanding of the story of the African community in San Diego.”
Forman has been working to promote ethnic business clusters in City Heights, including Vietnamese businesses in the Little Saigon District. She said the event started out as a one-day tour, but the restaurant owners wanted to do something similar to San Diego’s popular restaurant week.
The International Rescue Committee in San Diego, City Heights Community Development Corporation, Horn of Africa, KPBS and the San Diego Futures Foundation joined the El Cajon Boulevard BIA to sponsor the event.
“It’s never happened like this before,” said Aster Keleta, who opened the first African restaurant in San Diego, Blue Nile. “This is the first time and I have been here 32 years.”
Keleta is planning the week’s opening event 7 p.m. Friday at the WorldBeat Center in Balboa Park. She’ll brew traditional Ethiopian coffee, which is spiked with spicy-sweet cardamom and cloves. Attendees will also get to experience an African drum call and taste homemade honey wine. Tickets cost $10.
For a taste of what to expect, watch Flavors of East Africa owner June Owina make nyoyo below. Forman calls the flavors of this vegetarian stew and other African dishes “mesmerizing.”
Video Credit: Carlos Solorio and Beryl Forman, El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association
To experience the flavors yourself, visit africanfoodsd.com and find a participating restaurant.