Family Opens First Black-Owned Restaurant in City Island in Bronx, New York
Darryl Lelie and his family, the owners of Seafood Kingz 2 on City Island in Bronx, New York, becoming the first Black-owned restaurant in the area.
Darryl has worked in the restaurant industry for 20 years, established the first Seafood Kingz restaurant in September 2019 on Linden Blvd in Queens. After the global pandemic hit in 2020, the business has still thriving for enough to open another location which later closed because of complications in the expansion according to Black Business.
However, another opportunity for expansion happened in City Island where the family found the location they wanted to get five years ago was now available for rent. Darryl said he took advantage of the opportunity to open his restaurant’s second restaurant with his family.
“We give them an avenue to have some of their own food, with the things that they love. So you get your seafood with the soul food trimmings. You can’t copy it up here, you know, you can’t imitate it. This is the real soulful stuff,” Darryl told Bronx Times.
Lelie’s 21-year old son Dalvin, serves as the restaurant’s head chef, was the one who developed the menu which features a variety of seafood options including king crab legs, fried lobster tails, fish, shrimp, and a lot more.