Meet Fekere Gebre-Mariam. The restaurateur is “something of a Godfather” of Los Angeles’ Little Ethiopia, as the Los Angeles Times deemed him nearly 30 years ago.
The Little Ethiopia community features a cluster of roughly a dozen Ethiopian-owned businesses on Fairfax Avenue in L.A.’s central region. Gebre-Mariam’s restaurant, Rosalind’s Ethiopian Cuisine, was the first in the once-Jewish area. Over the last three decades, he’s helped other Ethiopian entrepreneurs open their doors on the popular Los Angeles street.
A Taste of Chocolate: Big Man Bakes
In this episode of theGrio’s digital series “A Taste of Chocolate,” we go inside Rosalind’s to learn how Gebre-Mariam’s team brings authentic Ethiopian food to Los Angeles, how he inspired the creation of Little Ethiopia, and the proper way to eat from the eatery’s famous “Emperor” plate, which includes samples of 12 classic Ethiopian dishes.
In theGrio’s digital series “A Taste of Chocolate,” host Shernay Williams takes viewers on a virtual road trip to visit some of the best Black-owned food businesses in the U.S. In our first season, we sampled food in the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., historically known as “the Chocolate City.” This season, we’re exploring Los Angeles to introduce you to four popular restaurants you should know. Each episode profiles a Black business owner’s entrepreneurial journey and takes viewers into the kitchen as we taste their signature dishes.
Learn more about Rosalind’s, Fekere Gebre-Mariam, and “A Taste of Chocolate” in the video above.
Shernay Williams is a 3x entrepreneur with over a decade of experience as a broadcast, print, and digital journalist. She’s passionate about using video to cover entrepreneurship and business development within Black, female, and other traditionally under-resourced communities.
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