NMAAHC Restaurant Roundup

WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 14: Guests sample dishes like Son-of-a-Gun stew, pan-roasted oysters, smoked haddock, corn croquettes with a gribiche sauce, slow cooked collards and other traditional foods at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture’s Sweet Home Cafe September 14, 2016 in Washington, DC. Filled with exhibits and artifacts telling the story of the first Africans in the United States and their descendents, the 400,000-square-foot museum will open to the public on September 24. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

There’s been a lot of exciting reports about the Sweet Home Cafe restaurant at the newly opened National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

As a public service, I’ve collected some key articles for you below. I can’t wait to eat there at the end of October when I join the Smithsonian American History Museum’s Food History Weekend as an opening session panelist on Friday and a presidential cooking demonstration on Saturday.

“Carla Hall and Chef Jerome Grant Preview the Smithsonian’s Sweet Home Cafe,” Tierney Plumb, Sept. 15, 2016.

“First Look: Sweet Home Cafe Puts Black History on a Plate,” Christina Sturdivant, dcist, Sept. 15, 2016

“Inside the African American History Museum’s Sweet Home Cafe with Carla Hall,” Anna Spiegel, Washingtonian, Sept. 15, 2016.

“Two Hungry Reporters Dig Into the Sweet Home Cafe at the African American History Museum,” Jackie Mansky and Maya Wei-Haas, Smithsonian.org, Sept. 23, 2016.

“The African American Museum cafe gets off to a solid start feeding a tough crowd,” Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, Sept. 26, 2016.

“Five mouth-watering meals you must order at the new National Museum of African American History and Culture,” Kelley L. Carter, TheUndefeated.com, Sept. 30, 2016.

I’m thrilled about this quote in The Undefeated’s “Planning a Visit to the African American Museum of History and Culture?”:

“I actually don’t think people need to read anything before going to the museum; rather … it should work the other way around — people should visit the museum and discover things they want to read more about, and then do a deep dive after they leave. The museum is something that should serve as an educational resource to start conversations, not something you already need to be an expert to encounter. That said, a couple of books people can read to learn more after they’ve visited the museum would be Soul Food by Adrian Miller to learn about the food artifacts displayed on the fourth floor, and The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson to learn more about the Great Migration.”

— Eve Ewing is a writer, teacher, and artist based in Chicago. You can find her work at Seven Scribes, where she is also the submission editor.

• October 1st, 2016
• Posted in Soul Food Scholar