I don’t know what took me so long, but I finally made my way to Busboys & Poets.  I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Andy Shalal, the owner, at the Hurston Wright Awards, and my daughter had studied the Harlem Renaissance in school recently; I took these as signs to visit the namesake restaurant for one of the premiere writers of the era, Langston Hughes.

Busboys & Poets, Washington DC

The restaurant is cozy, reminding one of a friend’s chic dining room, that is, if you had a friend who had 20 or so tables and modern art hanging in their dining room.  There were proper tables, as well as pillow-laden couches surrounding low coffee tables as dining options.  We enjoyed a delicious meal – including a great crabcake. And being from Maryland, Baltimore specifically with a good amount of time on the Eastern Shore, I am a bit of a crabcake snob.  This one was truly meaty and tasty.  For dessert, my daughter ordered the vegan cookie and ice cream. She’s not a vegan, but for some reason, likes vegan cookies.  And for a vegan cookie, it was really pretty good; so much so that I’m looking for a recipe to try at home.  (Feel free to share if you have one.)

Pesto Lasagna @ Busboys & Poets

Shrimp & Crab Fritters @Busboys & Poets

Crabcake sandwich @Busboys & Poets

Vegan cookie & vanilla ice cream @Busboys & Poets

After lunch, we hung around in the bookstore part.  I get e-books, and of course, Life in Spades is available on Kindle and nook, but there’s something about physical, touchable, flippable pages.  I am one of those dinosaurs who still wander to the bookstore to kill time and walk out with a stack of books.  As we did this time.  I was excited to be in a book space filled with writing by people of various races and nationalities.

A selection of books at Busboys & Poets

And something I haven’t done in years? I bought a book of poetry.  I love poetry, but admittedly, sadly, rarely buy poetry books.  I picked up Jamaal May‘s debut collection, Hum, and look forward to folding myself into a chair with a cup of tea and gliding through his words.  I also bought Hannah Weyer‘s On the Come Up and James McBride‘s The Good Lord Bird to add to my to-read pile.

As far as hanging out with your kid moments? I enjoyed having my daughter along.  Like me, she’s a reader and has commented before on the lack of diversity in teen books.  There was a bookcase of young adult/teen reads, from which she selected a couple of books.  I was excited to see that she was learning about the Harlem Renaissance in school – the cultural history and the literature.  She knows of the Cotton Club, Hughes, and learned to do the Charleston.  I wonder if I had been exposed, if I had known about Black authors when I was in middle school or high school, what would I have done with that knowledge?

Our reading stack from Busboys & Poets

For one, I would’ve been introduced to Janie and Teacake much sooner in my life.  But at least, I’ve also finally made it to Eatonville, named in honor of Zora Neale Hurston and located across the street from Busboys & Poets.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner there (I had the pecan pie for dessert) last month.

I’m happy to check both of these local “must do’s” off the list – and to return to both soon.