Brooklyn restaurant crawl kicks off Juneteenth celebrations with flavor and purpose

A savory blend of cheeses, creamy macaroni, and a fall-off-the-bone serving of oxtail makes up Brooklyn Beso's signature oxtail mac and cheese.
The dish has been drawing food lovers to the heart of Bedford-Stuyvesant.
"It is the right amount of cheese, the right amount of pasta. And then the oxtail, which is one of my favorite, is also very good. It's seasoned well," said Kaltmann Edwards, who traveled from Queens to enjoy the dish.
The indulgent meal is just one of many offerings featured during a weeklong Juneteenth restaurant crawl celebrating Black-owned businesses across Brooklyn.
"It was good, cheesy, nice and hot," said Fatou Sylla, another diner.
"People go crazy over it. This is what we're really known for," said Donna Drakes, owner of Brooklyn Beso.
Drakes, a native of St. Lucia, has operated her Latin-Caribbean fusion restaurant in Bed-Stuy for 15 years. She said she opened the restaurant to bring something new to a neighborhood rooted in Black culture. This week, she joins several local eateries taking part in a food crawl, which spotlights Black entrepreneurs and their culinary creativity.
"I think it's more inspiring to little girls who want to start their own business no matter what avenue it is," Edwards added.
"It's so important to celebrate that day"
For Drakes, the event is about more than good food. It's about honoring the significance of Juneteenth.
"It's a form of liberation," she said. "It's so important to celebrate that day. Everyone fought for it. Our ancestors fought for it."
The restaurant crawl began Thursday and runs through June 19. It inviting locals and visitors alike to explore Brooklyn's rich food scene while supporting Black-owned establishments.
"The winter was pretty rough. A lot of restaurants folded. And it is so important to keep Black-owned businesses alive, especially our culture, our foods," Drakes said.
Back in the kitchen, orders of shrimp pasta were flying out, and margaritas were being poured at a steady clip. Diners packed the space, sampling the soulful menu that has been shaped by years of resilience and passion.
"It's really important, especially for Black-owned businesses, to get the recognition that they do deserve, especially the local ones that have been here for 15 years and people might not have known about them," said uest Raysa Chouwdhury.
"Food always makes people happy. It's for the soul. So if you can, you know, get to someone's soul, it's important. It's a way to bring people together," Drakes said.
CBS News New York is a proud partner of Juneteenth NYC. The celebration continues this weekend with the Juneteenth NYC Festival at Gershwin Park in Brooklyn, where our team will host a pop-up newsroom for the second year in a row.
Have a story idea or tip in Brooklyn? Email Hannah by CLICKING HERE.

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