Trey Owens calls it his “That’s So Raven”-moment, referencing the popular Disney Channel television show whose main character could see into the future. “The name just popped into my head,” says the 39-year-old restaurateur. “JewFro. It was perfect.”

Launched as a pop-up in January 2021 and developed with partner and chef Ari Augenbaum, Owens’ merging of African cuisine with traditional Jewish food flopped in its first month. Shortly afterward, however, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency news bureau discovered the spot. “They put our story out all over the country,” recalls Owens. “News outlets began reporting on JewFro and people just started showing up left and right. And I was beaming and saying, ‘I told you so.’”

A sandwich and coffee shop by day and a fine dining experience at night, JewFro, which became its own standalone spot later in 2021, came about as a reaction to controversy when comedian Nick Cannon was accused of anti-Semitism. “He was basically [canceled] and I thought, ‘That’s not fair.’ We should use this as a teachable moment … I thought, we should do a Jewish African pop-up. Ari’s Jewish, I’m Black, and we wanted to explore that connection.”

JewFro followed Soul Taco, which Owens opened with Augenbaum and co-partner Nar Hovnanian in 2018. Barely a year old, in its original N. 2nd St. location, the Hispanic-soul food fusion restaurant was ranked the best place for tacos in Virginia by msn.com, which utilized Yelp review rankings. Soul Taco’s signature oxtail taco was also lauded on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” program. “We take a whole oxtail and cook it for 14 hours and serve it with pineapple salsa,” Owens says. “It takes the meat that we are familiar with in the African American community and juxtaposes it with fresh vegetables and ingredients.”

But there have been setbacks. The original Soul Taco spot closed in 2022, as did a short-lived Raleigh, North Carolina location (a Raleigh JewFro also failed to materialize). The Soul Taco on East Main in Shockoe Slip, which opened in 2019, is still humming along, fueled by a brisk lunch crowd; Owen manages it while his partners oversee JewFro.

From the start, Soul Taco vowed to keep its price point to $5 a taco. The owners have since had to add an additional 25-50 cents to some items. The menus and affordability of both restaurants may differ – JewFro dinner entries start at $28 – but the sister restaurants share a similar aesthetic, Owens says.

“What we do at JewFro is the same thing we do at Soul Taco, where we take a Hispanic dish and ask how we can add the soul to it? At JewFro we do the same. Where’s the ‘Jew’ and where’s the ‘fro’? We use food from all 54 nations in Africa and from the Jewish diaspora across the world, not all at once but cycled through,” he continues.

One of JewFro’s most popular features has been its Ghanaian peanut soup, served with a kreplach, which is a Jewish dumpling. Another favorite dish that fuses cultures together is South African peri-peri grilled chicken with coconut sauce that comes with jollof couscous and Israeli salad.

A personal food journey

Owens grew up in Fulton Hill and graduated from Richmond Community High School. “I was always interested in cooking,” he says. “I do some cooking here at Soul Taco, but I don’t advertise it as me being the chef because in this industry that’s not where my talent lies.”

In his food journey, he started off as a line cook at the just-opened Buffalo Wild Wings in Shockoe Bottom just out of high school. He soon got a wild hair to travel to Hawaii, where he worked on local cruise ships. “I learned how to clean kitchens, how the equipment works … it was being on the other side of things.” From there, he worked on military vessels and learned how to order food and maintain inventory for the Department of Defense.

Owens eventually moved back home and worked in a T-Mobile call center, where he learned customer service and how to troubleshoot, two skills that would serve him well in the culinary industry. A bit directionless, he moved in with a cousin in Maryland who had a food service company and wound up working as a server at Ketchup, a restaurant at the National Harbor, where he met his future partner Augenbaum. After Owens’ left Ketchup, he didn’t work in the food industry for 11 years, until Augenbaum called him from Washington, D.C. to ask if he wanted to help open a restaurant in Richmond – which became Soul Taco.

In that lost decade, Owens says he fell on hard times.

“I ended up living in Creighton Court in a food desert and seeing how the majority of the people were living off of corner store food,” he says. “That is not conducive to progressing in life. If you are eating all of this sugary food, it can cause behavioral issues. From my end, I wanted to affect changes by introducing fresher options.”

Since JewFro started, Owens has steeped himself in Israeli culture. Last year, he went on a special culinary mission to Israel that was sponsored by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Foundation. He plans to return later this year in spite of the recent conflicts. “With JewFro, I feel a responsibility to help foster understanding between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East, even though it may seem impossible now.”

Owens learned a great deal from his trip to Israel and wants to pass along knowledge to his patrons. On the reverse of the JewFro menu, you’ll find a glossary that defines all of the terms that come from specific cultures and their foods.

“What is dukka? What is kishka?” If customers go on Google to learn more, my job is done,” he says with a smile. “Once you develop that hunger for knowledge, it changes you.” 6

JewFro is located at 1721 E. Franklin St. and Soul Taco can be found at 1215 E. Main St. in Richmond.