Brunch Hotspot Muscadine Reveals a New Side: Themed Dinners

Muscadine, the Northeast Prescott Avenue restaurant that hit the limelight last year when Esquire named it one of the country's best new restaurants, already has a large following for brunch and lunch—especially that fried chicken that comes with the Meat + Three plate. Now it's doing dinner, replete with themes, on a limited basis.

The O broke the news, reporting Muscadine will roll out a "bi-monthly dinner series" beginning June 22, and owner Laura Rhoman confirms with Eater dinners will take place twice a month on Wednesdays. The theme of the June 22 dinner will be Edna Lewis, the African American chef and food writer renowned for championing Southern cooking. Items are a la carte and dinner is by reservation only by emailing muscadinepdx@gmail.com.

"This first theme is pretty personal," Rhoman tells Eater, "as I was fortunate enough to briefly know her and train under her protege, Scott Peacock, early in my career. " Lewis and Peacock co-authored The Gift of Southern Cooking, and Laura Rhoman worked with Peacock, who won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Southeast in 2007, at Watershed restaurant, in Atlanta, GA.

Rhoman says the below menu is likely final, so expect Southern dishes steeped in tradition, like the Country Captain, a Low Country chicken curry from the 18th Century with grits, candied kumquats, Edna's chutney, and yogurt. Other dishes include pork shanks served with spoonbread and baked tomatoes and deep-fried catfish, which, like the fried chicken, comes in either buttermilk or Nashville Hot:

Prototype of Muscadine Edna Lewis Dinner Menu 6.9.16