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Cleophus Hethington’s Afro-Caribbean Food Resets the Scene at L.A.’s Lucia

At Lucia, James Beard Award finalist Cleophus Hethington’s menu draws from his Caribbean travels, Black foodways and more than a decade of studying diaspora cuisine.

Vibey Afro-Caribbean restaurant Lucia celebrated its one-year anniversary this past weekend with three nights of Carnival-style festivities. And as the party, powered by dancers grooving alongside percussionist Denise Zavala and DJ Paper, got livelier and livelier on Friday, May 29, chef Cleophus Hethington was in the kitchen, quietly doing what he always does.

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Hethington, who has run kitchens around the country and was a 2022 James Beard Award finalist for Emerging Chef at Benne on Eagle in Asheville, North Carolina, is a dedicated student of Black foodways. At Lucia, the Miami-raised Hethington takes inspiration from his extensive travels around the Caribbean as he focuses on diaspora cooking.

Over the weekend, he showcased wondrous new dishes like a crab-and-callaloo patty and cornmeal-crusted Pacific halibut with tomato-coconut water and peppa sauce. He served his riff on oil down, which is the national dish of Grenada and a recipe he’s been preparing with either prawns, snow crab claws or some lobster he’s saved for VIPs.

“I’ve always felt like the Caribbean is a map and a mirror to the world,” Hethington tells Observer. “It’s a........

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