Akra Eatery and Juice Bar Opens 2nd Location Thursday at Worcester Public Market
Monday, June 15, 2020
Akra Eatery and Juice Bar in Worcester is one such business. Akra Eatery and Juice Bar will open on Thursday, June 18 at 11 a.m. in the new Worcester Public Market.
Akra Eatery and Juice Bar features natural food influenced by West African cooking traditions and is based upon honored presentations from around the world.
The juice bar features West African inspired juices by way of ingredients and name. Akra is a spelling variation of the first restaurant’s name, Accra, said co-owner Emmanuel Larbi, as he wanted to make it [restaurant] “more appealing, inclusive and appeal to all ethnicities.”
Larbi opened Accra Girls nearly three years ago out of a desire to do something different than his degree from Assumption College provided. “I was on my way to becoming a doctor,” said the biology major turned entrepreneur who put that aspiration aside in favor of creating a legacy. Larbi read an article about the thriving Black business district in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the 1920s, which was referred to as Black Wall Street. The story was also about the aftermath of the city’s notorious race riots that erupted from an alleged encounter between a white woman and a black man as told by one of its survivors, who has since passed away. “I thought about what I wanted my legacy to be and about what his could have been. I didn’t want to leave a legacy with just my name but by my trade.” The first restaurant was inspired by his mom – taking her traditions from Ghana and using it to “create my own legacy.” Larbi moved with his mother and father to the United States in 2003 with a keen sense of creativity and service. “My family has always been in the food industry. My mom sold pepper sauce, which led to desserts and then catering. For me, the next logical step was to open a restaurant.” Accra (which is the capital of Ghana) Girls Restaurant on Grafton in Worcester was born.
Accra Girls and Akra Eatery’s West African cuisine is a shared philosophy of “tradition meets modernization” in its fusion of classic West African herbs, spices and food in a modern presentation and palate.
At Akra Eatery and Juice Bar patrons are presented with a create-your-own meal menu with selections of proteins (meat), vegetables, sides and flavors (spices) and the same goes for their juices. Moderately priced, Akra Eatery and Juice Bar offers a small counter for socially-distanced eating and contactless menu and payment terminals. While the new restaurant opens under the provisions and regulations of the global pandemic (the Worcester Public Market is an “open concept” which lends itself to the new normal of distancing operations), the first restaurant Accra Girl was built under a completely different set of norms and values.
Akra Eatery and Juice Bar is located at 150 Green Street in Worcester. The phone number is 508-762-2386.
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