Homemade Hustle’s menu boasted “Big Guurl Salads” called No You Didn’t!—baked tofu, caramelized onions, snappy green apples, candied walnuts, shredded purple cabbage, avocado, and scallions with ponzu dressing on a bed of greens—and the fantastic Ya Herd Meh?—rigatoni pasta with creamy cauliflower and white lima beans, fresh grape tomatoes, shredded purple cabbage, onions, garlic, and lemon on tahini-dressed greens, with fresh cracked peppercorn.
The sandwiches included the Jesus, Joseph, and Mary—shiitake and trumpet mushrooms with barley, butternut squash purée, garlic kale with caramelized shallots, and avocado on homemade flatbread. One word: holy-mother-of-god. Homemade Hustle also offered the Durty 30—pulled seitan with purple cabbage slaw and sesame aioli on the aforementioned homemade flatbread.
My vagabond friend Marika, back in town from a year hitchhiking through Mexico and Central America, ordered one of the pancake offerings, Mama Said Knock You Out—two vegan “buttermilk” pancakes topped with fresh, seasonal stewed fruit and covered with a whopping dollop of chocolate mousse. Yes, Marika had tears in her eyes—not only because her entrée tasted so good, but because she was too sated to order Fo’ Sho’—Korean pancakes with broccoli, scallions, and kim chi, served with rice vinegar and soy dipping sauce.
A whirlwind of snacks, sweets, and sides rounded out the affair—from Brazilian-Nigerian Acarajes to Badankadonk Bread Pudding. What, with terrific folks and tip-top food, Bollyhood Beats and Brunch is sure to become a local, Saturday institution. Three cheers to Babs and Nikole, the brains behind Homemade Hustle!
