Andy Shallal’s Eatonville to Symbolically Reunite Hughes and Hurston
Restaurateur Andy Shallal was on the phone this afternoon, explaining to me how the 1930 play Mule Bone drove a wedge between its two creative collaborators, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. Apparently, Hurston copyrighted the play in her name only, a slight that led to a falling out between the two Harlem Renaissance legends. “They never talked to each other for the rest of their lives,” Shallal says.
Shallal was telling me this story as background to his new southern-food eatery, Eatonville, which is an homage to Hurston and her D.C. connections, including her undergraduate studies at Howard University, where she co-founded The Hilltop. As others have already reported, Eatonville is named after Hurston’s hometown in Florida; the eatery is also a collaboration between Shallal (owner of the mini-Busboys and Poets chain) and Michael Babin of the Neighborhood Restaurant Group, which includes Rustico, Vermilion, and other operations.
But here’s the interesting thing: Eatonville, scheduled to open sometime early next year, will be located on 14th Street NW, just across V Street from the original Busboys and Poets, which itself is an homage to Hughes. So is the placement of the two restaurants a sort of symbolic healing to the historic rift between Hughes and Hurston?
“Absolutely,” says Shallal. “I want to put some artwork on the street that connects the two places.” The artwork, he adds, could be something as simple as footsteps between Eatonville and Busboys and Poets.
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Linked From: November 26th, 2008Washington City Paper: Young & Hungry - Not So Fast: Neighborhood Restaurant Group Not a Partner in Eatonville
1:11 pm[...] that the company behind such eateries as Rustico and Vermilion will not be, as previously reported here and elsewhere, a partner in Andy Shallal’s upcoming Eatonville [...]
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Linked From: December 8th, 2008Washington City Paper: Young & Hungry - Busboys and Poets: Gentrifier Magnet?
2:29 pm[...] that acknowledging D.C.’s past is a point of pride for the restaurateur, right down to his latest venture, Eatonville, which pays homage to Zora Neale Hurston and her D.C. connections, including her undergraduate [...]
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Linked From: February 26th, 2009Andy Shallal Takes a Reality Show Approach to Hiring Eatonville Chef - Young & Hungry - Washington City Paper
8:43 pm[...] It’s no surprise, then, that Shallal has taken a reality-show approach to hiring a chef for his forthcoming Eatonville, a southern-food restaurant located across V Street from the original Busboys & Poets location. [...]
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Linked From: March 2nd, 2009Busboys And Poets » Blog Archive » Andy Shallal Takes a Reality Show Approach to Hiring Eatonville Chef
2:54 pm[...] It’s no surprise, then, that Shallal has taken a reality-show approach to hiring a chef for his forthcoming Eatonville, a southern-food restaurant located across V Street from the original Busboys & Poets location. [...]
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Linked From: March 23rd, 2009Andy Shallal’s Eatonville to Symbolically Reunite Hughes and Hurston
12:45 am[...] The Washington City Paper recently featured an article on Eatonville: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2008/11/19/andy-shallals-eatonville-to-symbo... [...]
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Linked From: March 23rd, 2009Andy Shallal Takes a Reality Show Approach to Hiring Eatonville Chef
1:02 am[...] It’s no surprise, then, that Shallal has taken a reality-show approach to hiring a chef for his forthcoming Eatonville, a southern-food restaurant located across V Street from the original Busboys & Poets location. [...]
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Linked From: April 10th, 2009Murals Inspired by Zora Neale Hurston for New DC Restaurant — Creative DC
2:21 pm[...] the life of Zora Neale Hurston in a “New U” space that will be home to the restaurant Eatonville. Murals to Zora is an event where artists are re-envisioning a piece of profound artistic history [...]
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Linked From: April 27th, 2009Eatonville Coming Soon to Washington D.C.’s Second Best Condo Building - Housing Complex - Washington City Paper
3:09 pm[...] is a reference to Langston Hughes life story (an anecdote which is too long to recount here). And Hughes and Hurston were collaborators in the past. The restaurant is slated to open in May, and will feature Southern [...]
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Linked From: May 15th, 2009This Week’s Greatest Hits on the Young & Hungry Blog - Young & Hungry - Washington City Paper
8:07 pm[...] Andy Shallal’s Eatonville to Symbolically Reunite Hughes and Hurston [...]
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Linked From: May 21st, 2009The Eatonville Chef Contest: Trent Conry’s Perspective - Young & Hungry - Washington City Paper
1:26 pm[...] some ways, Conry admits he wasn’t suited for a restaurant devoted to Zora Neale Hurston and her writings. The chef rattles off his SAT scores to prove his point: He scored 731 in math [...]
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Linked From: August 4th, 2009Spot Check: Eatonville - Young & Hungry - Washington City Paper
4:30 pm[...] serum. Instead, I’m left to drink in the wild ambiance of Shallal’s Eatonville, an homage to Zora Neale Hurston, which feels like Tobacco Road meets the antebellum charm of Gone with the Wind meets the [...]
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