Transitioning to Vegan with Senator Cory Booker, Andy Shallal, and more

The Transitioning to Vegan panel, hosted by the Congressional Vegetarian Staff Association’s Maureen Cohen Harrington and Adam Sarvana took place today at the Russel Senate Office Building. It was a packed house with some awesome vegan advocates and a great introduction to the upcoming DC VegFest celebration highlighting vegan businesses and products.

The panel included:

  • Senator Cory Booker, the Senate’s most outspoken vegan
  • Andy Shallal, founder of Busboys and Poets, an increasingly vegan restaurant and community gathering space
  • Jasmine Leyva, director of The Invisible Vegan, a documentary about the black vegan experience
  • Leilani Münter, a race car driver who has given vegan food to thousands of NASCAR fans at Daytona and Talladega
  • Nzinga Young, Greater NYC Community Events Coordinator, Vegan Outreach (10 Weeks to Vegan Program)
  • Erica Meier, Executive Director, Compassion Over Killing (DC VegFest, VegWeek)
  • Adam Zipkin, Counsel to United States Senator Cory Booker, and vegan
  • Tracye McQuirter, author of recently-released Ageless Vegan, and of By Any Greens Necessary, a national best-seller
  • Dr. Milton Mills, member of the National Advisory Board for Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM)

We were thrilled to provide plant-based vegan options, including our fried cauliflower sandwich, vegetable curry and vegan tofu bites, to support the non-partisan Congressional staff association and introduce attendees interested in vegetarianism to new food possibilities.

Erica Meier of Compassion Over Killing runs the DC VegFest, the largest vegan gathering and celebration on the east coast with upwards of 25,000 people coming to Yards Park in Northeast, DC to explore vegan foods, authors, musicians, and to learn about how to create a sustainable animal-product-free lifestyle.

Busboys has been a sponsor of the DC VegFest for the last 4 years and this year we’ll be running a Busboys beer garden, book tent, food tent, and live music stage with local bands that we’ll be announcing shortly.

This year’s VegFest is September 15th at Yards Park in Northeast, DC from 11am-6pm. Free entry. We encourage you bring cash for beer, food, books, merch and other plant-based, environmentally-friendly items! Hope to see you there!

The Making of Busboys and Poets

A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets

We’re proud to announce A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets, the new memoir from our CEO and Founder, which reveals the vision, challenges, and triumphs behind opening Busboys and Poets. Packed with misadventures, unexpected triumphs, and insights on race, business and politics, Andy Shallal’s memoir takes us on a “How I Built … Continued

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For Langston Hughes on His 123 Birthday

Speech given on February 1, 2024 in Havana, Cuba In 1927 Langston Hughes walked into a Cuba amid an emerging community of artists, intellectuals, and radicals.  He saw a “sunrise in a new land [– a day – in his words]sic – full of brownskin surprises, and hitherto unknown contacts in a world of color.”  … Continued

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Palestine Week 2024

January 18, 2024 – January 25, 2024 In keeping with our ongoing mission of uplifting racial and cultural connections, Busboys and Poets is hosting Palestine Week (January 18 through January 25, 2024). This week-long series of events will offer a diverse range of programming featuring Palestinian food, music, dance, poetry, discussions, and other enriching events. … Continued

New Happy Hour Specials

New Happy Hour Specials

Now enjoy happy hour specials, like 1/2 off Small Plates from 4-7pm at all locations

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Art All Night – The Drive-Thru Art Gallery in Anacostia

Created by local artists in partnership with the Anacostia BID and Busboys and Poets, the Art All Night Drive-Thru Art Gallery brings the Anacostia business corridors to life with an eclectic collection of artistic installations and original work. Follow the CURATED MAP of artwork and businesses throughout the streets of Anacostia. The artistic installations will … Continued

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Watch Angela Davis in conversation with Amy Goodman

Last night a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock opened for a conversation with activist and scholar Angela Davis with Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman at Busboys – 450K.  The private events room at 450K is named after Angela Davis and she signed a photo of herself on the mural created by our founder/CEO Andy … Continued

On Censorship by Salman Rushdie

On Censorship by Salman Rushdie

No writer ever really wants to talk about censorship. Writers want to talk about creation, and censorship is anti-creation, negative energy, uncreation, the bringing into being of non-being, or, to use Tom Stoppard’s description of death, “the absence of presence.” Censorship is the thing that stops you doing what you want to do, and what writers want to talk about is what they do, not what stops them doing it.