Butterfunk Kitchen

travelbrooklyn

Dec 12

Music festivals are awesome but one of my favorite parts of the travel experience I curated for Afropunk Brooklyn was the FOOD (no surprise there!).

Back in 2018, I hosted an awesome group of women for a 5 day, 4 night experience surrounding the Afropunk Brooklyn music festival. The package included VIP passes to the fest, boutique accommodations, and a curated itinerary that celebrated Black art, fashion, and food with local Brooklyn writers, designers, and restaurateurs. Not to mention, morning yoga, a digital guide to explore Brooklyn during free time, and other perks.

One of the highlights was a private dinner hosted by Top Chef finalist, Chris Scott. At the time, he and his wife, Eugenie Woo, owned Butterfunk Kitchen, a soul food/juke joint restaurant that served heritage cooking at its finest. (You can now find them continuing the tradition at Butterfunk Biscuit!)

The menu for this multi-course feast was astounding. Appetizers included hoe cakes with pulled pork and corn chow chow, pickled watermelon salad, Cornmeal corn on the cob, and mushroom dumplings. The entrees were buttermilk lemonade fried chicken, fried catfish with grits and a green tomato confit, and chicken fried tempeh. And the sides! Collard greens, black eyed peas, kale, mac and cheese, and cornbread with molasses butter. And, somehow, we had room for a dessert of fudgy, cast iron chocolate cake.

kalisa-marie-chris-scott-butterfunk-kitchen-mushroom-dumplings.jpg

kalisa-marie-chris-scott-butterfunk-kitchen-watermelon-salad.jpg

kalisa-marie-chris-scott-butterfunk-kitchen-hoe-cakes.jpg

kalisa-marie-chris-scott-butterfunk-kitchen-fried-chicken.jpg

kalisa-marie-chris-scott-butterfunk-kitchen-macaroni-and-cheese.jpg

kalisa-marie-chris-scott-butterfunk-kitchen-catfish.jpg

kalisa-marie-chris-scott-butterfunk-kitchen-chocolate-cake.jpg

The courses were paired with five delicious wines, thanks to Brooklyn-based dancer-turned-sommelier, Marquita Levy. Her expert selections included Lothar Kettern Riesling Crystalline 2012, Grable Vineyards House Creek Chardonnay 2014, Red Hook Winery Seneca Lake Cabernet Franc 2013, Robert Foley Vineyards The Griffin 2015, and Filipa Pato 3B Sparkling Rose.