Most restaurants aren’t quite this literary.
U Street’s Eatonville is inspired by author and playwright Zora Neale Hurston, who attended Howard University in the 1920s and founded the university’s student newspaper before going on to write the well-know “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”
Hurston biographer Valerie Boyd visited the Southern-style jazz joint Sunday night to sign copies of “Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston” and toast the restaurant’s six-month mark in the District. Also in attendance was Eatonville, Fla., Mayor Bruce Mount and Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla.
Eatonville, named after the city where Hurston once resided, is owned by restaurateur Andy Shallah, also known for his popular Busboys & Poets franchises.