Play Bingo And Help Black-Owned Restaurants In OKC

It’s called black restaurant bingo, and it’s a game to get support for black owned restaurants.

“The purpose of bingo is like a big food adventure,” Apollo Woods, executive director of The Bigger Than Food Foundation, said.

It’s the fun of bingo for a good cause.

“Bring attention and awareness to our black-owned restaurants in the metro area, get people to support them and spend with our local black owned businesses,” Woods said.

One of those businesses Woods references is called Just Put An Egg On It.

“I was out eating with some friends, and I wanted chili cheese fries but I also wanted an egg on top, so I asked my server if I could get an egg on top of my chili cheese fries,” Chef Irese, owner of Just Put An Egg On It, said.

“It tasted so good on there, and I was like yeah, I have to do this, I have to figure out how to put eggs on other things,” Chef Irese said.

It was the inspiration for her restaurant—inside Parlor located in the Automobile Alley neighborhood near downtown—and she has literally put an egg on every dish.

“Now I’m here making steak bowls and sausage bowls with eggs on top,” Chef Irese said.

It is campaigns like restaurant bingo helping to assure her business survives.

“Our ultimate goal is to have ten thousand people download the bingo card, spend one hundred dollars for the month and if they spend one hundred dollars for the month that’s one million dollars of direct spending benefiting those black owned restaurants on the bingo card,” Woods said. 

Restaurant bingo is throughout the month of February with a variety of cuisines to take advantage of.

“There’s like a lot of restaurants out there that are doing more than just what people think people or chefs should be making,” Chef Irese said.

“There’s nothing like seeing the smile on an owner’s face when they know someone intentionally came to support their business,” Woods said.

For more information about Black Restaurant Bingo and to download your card visit www.okcblackeats.com