KeVen Parker laid the groundwork for a new generation of Black chefs and restaurateurs

It was March and the pandemic had just begun to take its shutdown toll on local restaurants when Hannah Ahzai had an opportunity to expand her business, Ummi Dee’s Burger Bistro.

So the 26-year-old turned to KeVen Parker for advice. Both had lost their mothers to breast cancer, and they had bonded when Ahzai worked for Parker as a bartender at Ms. Tootsie’s, the swanky soul food institution on South Street named in honor of his mother, Joyce “Tootsie” Parker.

Ahzai said Parker often inspired her as a “beacon of light” when she was down, and continued to mentor her when she launched her Strawberry Mansion sandwich shop known for its salmon cheesesteaks in 2018.

Should Ahzai consider a partnership offer to expand to Abington at such a precarious moment?

“He said, ‘Hanny, you are the commodity here, and the one thing about life … is that you may be delayed, but you will not denied. Do not let anyone rush you. There will be plenty of opportunities,’” recalled Ahzai, who eventually turned down the offer. “That advice brought me so much peace and comfort.”

KeVen Parker, who died last week of cancer and diabetes at 57, was someone who made the most of his opportunities and became a trailblazer and Philly restaurant icon. The Drexel grad, Comcast alum, and West Philly catering star was one of the few Black entrepreneurs to own a restaurant in Center City when he opened Ms. Tootsie’s in 2000 with 18 seats and his mom behind the stove, joining a handful of other pioneers like Delilah Winder and the Bynum brothers. It would quickly expand and grow to eventually include three buildings and four floors of action.

» READ MORE: KeVen Parker, soul food entrepreneur and owner of Ms. Tootsie’s, dies at 57

The classic soul food menu — juicy fried chicken, thick turkey chops in peppery gravy, caramel-glossed yams, and legendary watermelon sweet tea — was always on point. But it was the sleek ambience, with white tufted leather walls and oversized portraits of Philly music legends (whose songs often played in the background), and a steady clientele of celebrities that made it a magnetic destination. Its second floor lounge figured prominently in ”Back to Back,” a 2015 track by Drake (“ … Second floor at Tootsie’s, getting shoulder rubs”), certifying the restaurant as a glamorous cultural touchstone.

“I went to Parker and said, ‘Dude, you really made it now man,’” said former Ms. Tootsie’s bartender and Parker confidant, Nate Rogers, noting the Drake line was perceived a diss against the rapper’s Philly rival, Meek Mill. “But he didn’t want to get into that tiff. That didn’t really impress him that much.”

But Ms. Tootsie’s stylish glow left a big impression on generations of Philadelphians, especially young Black chefs like Kurt Evans, who recently opened Down North Pizza in Strawberry Mansion.

“If you were going downtown and you were Black in the 2000s, Ms. Tootsie’s was the spot,” says Evans. “It really embodied that urban culture, and the food wasn’t overly complicated, but what Ms. Tootsie’s did was elevate it and put it on a plate. You could get dressed up and go down to South Street and eat soul food. And for the Black community that was huge … because representation is really important. When I got into being a chef and restaurateur, KeVen Parker, the Bynums, and Delilah meant a lot to me. I can have a restaurant downtown one day, because I’ve seen it.”

Parker’s skill as a restaurateur and businessman had a direct impact on many who worked for him, including Rogers, who relied on his mentor’s advice as he moved into a new job as a marketing representative for Jim Beam.

“He always said it’s the customers that will help you succeed, and you never know who you might be waiting on — so always make it nice,” Rogers said. “Under promise and over deliver.”

Parker’s meticulous attention to details, from music to design, was always key, says Joy Parham, a culinary educator and caterer who in 2013 helped open KeVen Parker’s Soul Food Cafe, his eponymous soul food stand at the Reading Terminal Market. She’ll never forget the stand’s debut celebration party.

“He would execute an event to perfection, and it was always over the top,” she said. “And when it was time for the party, everything he talked about — the lights, the dance floor — came to be. It was phenomenal to walk into the dining area and see everything he envisioned came to life. That was my first time seeing anyone who looked like me doing anything like that.”

More than 20 years after Ms. Tootsie’s opened, however, its future is uncertain. Parker made plans for its continuation, says his sister, Lynette Parker, but its ownership status remains in flux. The Reading Terminal Market location remains open for takeout.

And, aside from a handful of notables like Chad and Hannah Williams’ Friday Saturday Sunday, there are still far too few Black-owned restaurants in Center City.

“It’s all about capital,” says chef Omar Tate of Honeysuckle, noting that investment dollars have historically been lacking for chefs of color. “One of the beautiful things about Black existence is that scarcity is a constant.”

“What really needs to happen is that the city, state, and federal governments need to pinpoint Black and brown organizations doing the groundwork and invest in those,” he said. “The thing people are not asking these communities is: ‘What do you need?’”

Tate is among many in Philly’s new generation of Black chefs who are part of a significant paradigm shift: Center City is no longer the prime beacon or barometer of their ambitions.

“It’s about bringing change to the neighborhoods,” says Tate, who is fund-raising to build a community center for Black culture and foodways in West Philadelphia.

“At one point, Center City was the status symbol,” agrees Ahzai. “However, I believe the current generation is more about empowering our own community first. Center City one day? Yeah, it would be great. But we understand the power of togetherness, the power of group economics, and we’re OK with being in North Philly, bringing value to our own communities.”

There are now, in fact, more Black-owned restaurants in Philadelphia than ever before.

Aided by social media, some Black chefs are rethinking their priorities, from philanthropic initiatives to feeding communities in need like Everybody Eats, to business models with a clear social mission due to the pandemic and the fight for racial justice.

“A year ago, I wanted to put Honeysuckle at 15th and Spruce where Russet used to be,” says Tate, who’d become known for immersive pop-up events in New York, and is about to start a chef-in-residency at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Tarrytown, N.Y., serving a nine-course menu meditation on conflict in Black existence for $250 a person. “I could do that here, and maybe it’s still a possibility. But when I moved back home in March because of the pandemic, it became abundantly clear I needed to be here … and create a place near my mom’s house [in West Philadelphia] where I could be able to distribute food and nourish people whether times were good or bad. My life’s work is leading toward more community development, bigger social impact stuff. And I’m happy about that.”

Similarly, Evans, a longtime activist known for his series of End Mass Incarceration dinners, has focused on employing formerly incarcerated people at Down North to give them opportunities for a new beginning.

Parham, a former sous-chef at Malvern Buttery and culinary instructor at Strawberry Mansion High School, is running pop-ups out of Kampar Kitchen in South Philadelphia. But her primary focus, she says, is creating a better platform for transitioning students from internships to jobs out of Urban Country, the catering company she runs with her husband, Gary McCoy.

Meanwhile, KeVen Parker’s niece, Aaliyah Al-Amin, 26, who got her first break at Ms. Tootsie’s as a hostess and prep chef, says her uncle was a prime influence for the multi-property project she and partner Devon Walls have created to help transform downtown Chester. It includes a restaurant, juice bar, and music club they co-own called BrothersJazz Cafe, launched in 2017, a warehouse with artist-maker spaces, and Indigo Mills Farm, which they began in part to buffer the price spikes of the pandemic and has helped make the restaurant self-sustainable for eggs and mushrooms.

“The inspiration is all from KeVen Parker,” she said. “Ms. Tootsie’s was an institution for artists, for fashion, and created a space for people like me to be comfortable and at home in an upscale ambience … That whole idea of being Black-owned and creating that level of excellence is what really stuck with me. And he was that mentor. He laid the bricks so other people like myself could open a restaurant and see what that looks like.”