Michele StuevenIn celebration of Black History Month, Hatcheth Hall is featuring their second iteration of Hemings & Hercules every Thursday in February, beginning this Thursday. Hemings & Hercules is an extension of the Culver City favorite’s Fuss & Feathers dinners, where chef Brian Dunsmoor and chef de cuisine Martin Draluck explore American food history using relevant techniques and seasonal ingredients.
Through researching for Fuss & Feathers the team came across the stories of the first two celebrity chefs in the U.S. — Hercules Caesar and James Hemings, who were enslaved by presidents. With few lasting recorded menus or recipes from either man, the dinners are inspired by their potential works and those of countless others who worked in Southern plantation kitchens.
Hemings and Hercules (Courtesy Hatchet Hall)
Everything on the menu is made by hand in the wood-burning hearth, with no assistance from modern technologies. Beverage pairings will follow the same tack, focusing on the tastes of the colonial era, forgotten spirits and indigenous varietals, and each will be produce using minimal intervention. Tickets are $100 (includes food, tax, gratuity) and $140 (includes food, beverage pairings, tax, gratuity.)
Dinner will be all inclusive, including a pre-dinner cocktail hour, wine pairings, and an after-dinner drink in the restaurant’s Old Man Bar.
Black-eyed pea griddle cake with smoked pepper jelly and greens (Courtesy Hatchet Hall)
The eight-course dinners with optional wine pairings for 12 guests each week in the family room include black-eyed pea griddle cake with smoked pepper jelly and greens, salmon with sorghum and grain mustard, head cheese and griddled benne toast with cheddar and chive, sweet potato, chicken roulade, Virginia country ham with chestnuts, mushrooms, sherry and golden beet shrub.
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