Having never been to Eatonville, the Zora Neal Hurston-inspired restaurant established by Busboys and Poets’ owner Andy Shallal in 2009, I had no preconceived notions on my first visit to its next incarnation, Mulebone. Reopened under its new name in February, Mulebone retains the colorful murals and framed artwork of its predecessor, but embraces a kind of vintage general store ambiance from the popup shop Nomad Yard Collectiv at the entrance. However, with a new chef and beverage manager at the helm, the real makeover at Mulebone is the menu itself.
Chef Joseph Paire, formerly of Todd Gray’s Watershed, was tapped by Shallal to lead the restaurant’s transformation. It begins with a food and beverage menu that draws inspiration from a play by the same name, co-written by Hurston and fellow Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes in 1930. Whimsically divided into three acts, the new menu reflects dining trends that focus on increased vegetarian and vegan options, along with a shift toward family-style dining and locally sourced food and spirits with Southern notes.
Starting with Act I, appetizers include savory black-eyed pea fritters in tomato sauce, fried pickled tomatoes served with blue cheese dressing, and fried chicken skins served with mumbo sauce. The Script Board features Virginia ham, pickled vegetables, potato biscuits, and deviled eggs, but the star of the first act is the shrimp and sweet potato biscuits with Tasso ham gravy.
Act II, the soup and salads, focuses on Southern staples like gumbo, kale, blackened catfish, and fried oysters. The pickled beet salad with sorghum vinaigrette and glazed pecans on house-made ricotta puts the emphasis on flavorful beets sliced as large as grapefruit wedges.
If you have room for an entrée by the time Act III rolls around, dishes include shrimp and grits with a charred okra ragout and a quinoa and farro risotto with kale pesto. I went for the most quintessentially Southern dish: buttermilk fried chicken. Composed of two tender thighs on a bed of sweet potatoes and sautéed bitter kale, the dish was almost too salty until balanced with a drizzle of spiced honey.
Beverage manager Evan Cablayan, whose credits include head bartender at Tom Colicchio’s Craft, has crafted a farm-to-glass cocktail menu with the same emphasis on Southern flavors. The citrus-forward Dave’s Dance, for example, blends mezcal and Cocchi Americano, a crisply bitter aperitif wine, with pomelo juice and hopped grapefruit bitters.
The punches, however, are the real highlight of the cocktail menu. A peachy Bourbon Punch with mint, lime juice, and orange blossom water offers familiar flavors, while the spiced Milk Punch and sparkling Bubble Punch, spiked with aromatic Batavia arrack, are more esoteric. A warning though: each is about a liter of punch in an enormous bowl, so they are better suited to a crowd. At $48 dollars, it is a great value for a group of friends to share along with theatrically-inspired dishes loaded with Southern flair.
Mulebone is located at 2121 14th Street N.W. and is open Monday – Thursday from 5:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.; Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to midnight; and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.
