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APPETIZERS
Skewered Shrimp, Andoullie Sausage and Potatoes w/ Peach Bourbon Glaze
Succotash Tarts

DINNER
Striped Bass Fillet wrapped in Potato, served over Grilled Polenta, Smoked Tomatoes and Haricot Vert Ragout in a Capers Bourbon Butter Sauce

DESSERT
Pear Strudel with Hot Bourbon Caramel served with Vanilla Ice Cream

ABOUT TIM HINTON
Tim Hinton has exhibited his work at the Smithsonian Institution Museum of African Art, Anacostia Community Museum, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, New York International Expo, McKenna Center for African American Art in New Orleans and many other venues. Mr. Hinton was born in Chicago, but spent most of his life in Orlando, FL (not far from Eatonville, FL). Mr. Hinton is a self-taught artist and a Vietnam veteran. After being honorably discharged with two Purple Hearts, Mr. Hinton was employed as an illustrator with the Naval Ship Engineering Center where he worked for several years. Collectors of his work include former Virginia Governor Doug Wilder, and boxing champions Larry Holmes, and Muhammad Ali.

Eatonville Restaurant’s Food & Folklore Dinner Series is excited to host a “Welcome to the Hilltop” dinner for Howard Dodson on Sunday, March 25 at 6:30 PM. Mr. Dodson retired in 2011 as the Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem and recently relocated to DC’s historic U Street/Shaw neighborhood as the new Director of Howard University Libraries and Moorland-Spingarn Research Center.

Mr. Dodson served as the Director of the Schomburg Center for 27 years where he doubled the 5 million holdings of the collection to 10 million, including the acquisition of the collections of Melville J. Herskovits, John Henrik Clarke, Lorraine Hansberry, Malcolm X and Nat King Cole, among others. In addition to serving as curator on various major exhibits, one of Mr. Dodson’s prized achievements was the exhumation and reburial of the remains of more than four hundred Africans as part of the “African Burial Project”.

As one of Howard University’s major research facilities, the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center collects, preserves, and makes available for research a wide range of resources chronicling the Black experience.“We have too few centers that are documenting the global Black experience. Moorland has been one of the most important ones for nearly 100 years,” Howard Dodson said.

The “Welcome to the Hilltop” Food & Folklore event includes a 3-course prix fixe dinner menu (see below) with a few selections hand picked by Mr. Dodson himself.

Menu
Starters
Jambalaya Rolls
Corn Fritters

Main
Collard Green Salad with Water Chestnuts and Figs
Smoked Sweet Potato
Southern Fried Chicken

Dessert
Eatonville Lemon Pie

The cost for Food & Folklore is $45 per person (plus tax and gratuity). Reservations are required. Tickets may be purchased at this link: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/236093; or for reservations call 202-332-ZORA (9672).

Read more about Howard Dodson and his new position at Howard University in this New York Times Artsbeat blog post: “Restoring a Trove at Howard” by Felicia R. Lee.

Misty Brown

Enjoy the slide show and be sure to join the Eatonville Krewe for the next Fat Tuesday.

N’Awlins native MISTY BROWN will be our guide to Mardi Gras or Carnivale celebrations in the Caribbean and New Orleans, what it takes to be a member of a Krewe, and a history of the Mardi Gras Indians and the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club part of New Orleans African American Mardi Gras tradition. Ms Brown is a poet and co-founder of All African Film Society, Inc.and Anacostia River School of Photography. She is also former literary editor of the Washington Informer Newspaper.

The price for the MARDI GRAS KREW FOOD & FOLKLORE event is $45 (plus tax and gratuity). Reservations are required. Call 202-332-9672 or purchase tickets by clicking on this link: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/228280

Food & Folklore intertwines storytelling and fabulous food in the spirit of the gifted storyteller Zora Neale Hurston, Eatonville Restaurant’s inspiration. Zora Neale Hurston is the author of the American classic novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” which celebrates its 75th anniversary of publication in 2012.

Decoyise “Dee” Brown joined J.C. Hayward in the WUSA9 kitchen today with the 2011 prize winning coconut cake. After the broadcast, Eatonville Restaurant got calls and walk-ins for coconut cake. Needless to say, the cake we brought to the studio was gone in minutes.

Only 5 days left before entry forms are due (February 1, 2012) for the 2012 Makes-Me-Wanna SHOUT! Chocolate Layer Cake Baking Challenge. The contest is open to Washington area residents (DC, MD, VA) 18 years and up. First prize is $500, your winning dessert on the Eatonville menu, $250 gift card from King Arthur Flour (for their on-line catalog), and a publicity package to shout out your baking talent to the world. J.C. and Decoyise made the shout out on WUSA9. J.C. shouted out that Eatonville was one of her “favorite restaurants.” And today is National Chocolate Cake Day! Timing couldn’t be better.

Entry forms available at www.shoutbakingchallenge.com. No entry fees or purchases required. No baking until the semifinals/fundraising event March 24 at Martha’s Table, the 2012 beneficiary. Complete guidelines are available on the entry form page.

Sunday, January 29 at 6:30 PM

Lucy Anne Hurston is author of Speak, So You Can Speak Again: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston.  She has produced and hosted two documentaries about her famous aunt, and directed a production of the infamous Hurston/Hughes collaboration Mule Bone.  She teaches sociology at Manchester Community College in Manchester, Connecticut.

The “Fact or Folklore” Zorafest Food & Folklore event includes a prix fixe menu (see below):

The price is $45 (plus tax and gratuity).  Reservations required.  Call 202-332-ZORA (9672), or purchase tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/223782

Eatonville Restaurant’s annual Zorafest! is coming up January 28 – 29.  If you can’t make it to the Zorafest in Eatonville, Florida, Eatonville Restaurant is your next best stop.  Here’s what’s happenin’:

Saturday, January 28, 11 AM – 4 PM – Craft Fair and Market in the upstairs loft of Eatonville Restaurant.  Jewelry, art, gifts, hats.  Adorn yourself and be your own work of art.

Saturday and Sunday, January 28 and 29 - Fancy Hats and Fans Brunch.  During Eatonville’s famous weekend brunch, diners wearing their best hat and “hattitude” or waving their fancy fan will receive a complimentary champagne punch.

Sunday, January 29 at 6:30PM – Food & Folklore with Zora’s niece Lucy Anne Hurston.  Food & Folklore includes a special prix fixe 3-course dinner including a “Happy Birthday Zora” Coconut Red Velvet Cake and “Fun.”  Tickets are $45 (plus tax and gratuity).   Reservation required.

For reservations, call 202-332-ZORA (9672).  Or click on this link: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/223782

Scenes from the 2011 Zorafest!

Crab Cakes

It’s a brand new year, and time for the winter installment of D.C. Restaurant Week (January 9 – 15, 2012). Eatonville Restaurant is serving a three-course menu for lunch and dinner with traditional customer favorites like Southern Fried Chicken and Fried Green Tomatoes, and more recent restaurant favorites like Jerk Marinated Tofu and Red Velvet Coconut Cake.

EATONVILLE RESTAURANT RESTAURANT WEEK
LUNCH & DINNER MENU
January 9 – 15, 2012

GUMBO
andoille, crab, rockshrimp, fried okra
CRAB AND CORN CHOWDER
applewood smoked bacon
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
avocado-microgreens salad, aioli, basil oil

FRIED CATFISH AND GRITS
cider braised collard greens, tomato butter

CHARLESTON CRAB CAKES
asparagus, creole aioli

JERK-MARINATED TOFU
broccolini and salsify, spicy coconut cream

SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN
Classic Mac and Cheese, cider-braised collard greens, buttermilk biscuit

RED VELVET COCONUT CAKE
Hibiscus reduction, brandy whipped cream
CHERRY-PEAR COBBLER
Bourbon Chantilly cream

More than 200 of DC’s finest restaurants will be offering special 3-course lunches from January 9 – 15, 2012. Restaurant Week offers customers an opportunity to have a dining experience in D.C.’s best restaurants. Washington, DC Restaurant Week is presented by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington and Destination DC.

Eatonville's Pastry Chef Gregoria Contreras and Executive Chef Oji Jaja get final notes from Coconut Cake Challenge winner Decoyise Brown (center)

The Entry Form for the 2012 Makes-Me-Wanna SHOUT! Chocolate Layer Cake Baking Challenge is available on-line at www.shoutbakingchallenge.com. Entry Forms are due February 1, 2012. The Makes-Me-Wanna SHOUT! Chocolate Layer Cake Baking Challenge is presented with Eatonville Restaurant. First prize is $500, the winning cake on the Eatonville Restaurant menu, $250 Gift Card to the King Arthur Flour on-line store, and the public attention for creating the DC area’s best chocolate layer cake. Up to 15 bakers will be selected from the entries to participate in the semifinals March 24, 2012 at Martha’s Table, the baking challenge’s 2012 beneficiary.

2011 Challenge winner Decoyise Brown (center) gives a baking demonstration at Macy's

Chef Oji Jaja shows his technique for breaking open fresh coconuts

Pastry Chef Gregoria Contreras finishes the coconut cake

The best part - everyone gets coconut cake!

Sponsors for the 2012 Makes-Me-Wanna SHOUT! Chocolate Layer Cake Baking Challenge: Eatonville Restaurant, King Arthur Flour, Nielsen-Massey Vanillas, Giant Food, JCHayward.com, Flavor Magazine, Church Lady Cake Diaries, FoodMuse Media.