#blrw

Marlon James proved himself to be quite a master chef last time he hosted the Riverhead Table for his Man-Booker Prize-winning novel: A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS. So when we read his latest novel—the instant New York Times bestseller BLACK LEOPARD RED WOLF—we knew that we would have to invite him back to #RiverheadTable.

And as you’ve probably noticed, Marlon’s been on the road a lot for this book. Some highlights include chatting with Seth Meyers, sharing a meal with Michael B. Jordan (who is by the way taking on the challenge of adapting this genre-blurring novel into a movie!), giving the J.R.R. Tolkien Lecture at Oxford, and talking to George R.R. Martin about fantasy. Despite his crazy schedule, Marlon capped his food-filled weekend on Grub Street Diet by pairing up with the award-winning chef, Evan Hanczor, and treating us with a ten-course dinner as epic as the book.

Epic meals require epic collaborations, and this time, we teamed up with Chef Evan’s Tables of Contents and Food Book Fair, and the sold-out dinner was hosted at Chef Evan’s Egg Restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The evening was a feast for all five senses from the moment diners walked in: a playlist co-curated by Marlon and Raia Was played in the background, burning custom candles filled the space with fragrances inspired by the book (courtesy of Tanwi Nandini Islam, author and founder of fragrance company HiWildflower), the beautiful cover art served as the visual motif, tying together everything from cocktail napkins to name cards,

and of course—the food! Each course was appropriately accompanied by a bookmark detailing the passage from the book that inspired the dish, which included:

Dates, spiced nuts, and cured pig from La Quercia in medieval pouches

Spicy bone-broth soup, beer from Brooklyn Brewery, and palm wine

Crispy chicken skin, sorghum bread with butter and fat with soft-boiled egg

Blood sausage topped with cream and berries

Textures and shades of green

Lemongrass, fish, and blood

Goat tartare—yes, you read that right!

Crocodile and ugali porridge

Charred antelope

Goat curry—Drew Broussard can attest that it was a big hit of the night!

Millet porridge with extra honey

All of these served with specialty cocktails provided by Forthave Spirits

As the courses wound down, Chef Evan and Marlon shared some food for thought with diners, touching on topics ranging from their creative process in the kitchen and on the page, literary allergies, food imageries in the novel, cultural appropriation, and much more. The perfect evening rounded out with Marlon sipping on coffee and signing books, (sold at the event by McNally Jackson Books), and guests were sent home with an enviable gift bag containing: BLACK LEOPARD RED WOLF enamel pins, BLACK LEOPARD RED WOLF-inspired custom-made candles, and a bag of Egg Restaurant’s famous granola.

BLACK LEOPARD RED WOLF is, fortunately, a trilogy—meaning that we can look forward to at least two more epic Riverhead Tables in the near future. A huge special thank you to everyone who made this night possible!

Chefs from Brownsville Community Culinary Center, who helped Evan and his team in the kitchen

Author Wayetu Moore’s nonprofit, One Moore Book, that publishes culturally sensitive and education stories for children of countries with low literacy rates and underrepresented cultures; proceeds from tickets went toward this amazing nonprofit

Volunteers from Riverhead:

Glory, the mastermind, the architect behind all the Riverhead Tables

Claire and May-Zhee, who were on their feet all night serving food and pouring drinks

Kevin and Helen, who greeted guests warmly at the door

Brooke, who captured the event beautifully in photos

Here are some pictures from the night, and the rest can be found here!

“Rhonda wants to be a mother hen.. Daphne wants to be a chick.. So together they have come to an arrangement that works for both of them👩‍👧🐣🐔”

This is Sun Iris, and my crappy photos really don’t do her justice. She has rainbows in her feathers. Just outstanding. Magnificent. And her temperament is sooo passive. She’s really chill. I’ll be holding onto her for sure. She’s so beautiful, I may get her professionally photographed when she grows up. She’s so beautiful, I would enter her into non-standard categories at competitions like “Prettiest Hen.”

DUDE I just found a page that documented their Blue-laced Red Wyandotte chicks as they grew and it looks like the only difference at this age is the males will have these really pronounced wattles and the females won’t. Mine are at 4 weeks right now so I’m glad it will be so soon. The colors don’t mean ANYTHING for this breed, especially since females can also have that red-rusty color that you look out for on almost every other breed. They also can be “splash” meaning their pattern/colors are variable and not uniform.

Here’s the site if you wanna see it:

http://thesimplefarmgirl.blogspot.com/2011/07/7-week-old-chicks.html

And here is a side-by-side photo of some 6-week old silver laced wyandottes. See the difference?