Anas "Andy" Shallal () (born March 21, 1955) is an Iraqi-American artist, activist, philanthropist and entrepreneur. He is best known as the founder and CEO of the Washington, D.C., area, restaurant, bookstore, and performance venue Busboys and Poets. He is also known for his opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He was a candidate for the city's mayoral election in 2014.
Early life
Shallal moved to the United States with his family in 1966. His father was Ambassador of the Arab League, a position he held until Saddam Hussein seized power, after which they could not return. He graduated from Catholic University of America and later enrolled in Howard University medical school. Shallal earned his MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. Shallal worked as a researcher in medical immunology at the National Institutes of Health.
Busboys and Poets
In September 2005, he opened Busboys and Poets (a phrase from the works of poet Langston Hughes) at 14th and V, in the historic U Street neighborhood. The restaurant features a bookstore, performance space and a mural painted by Shallal. The restaurant was an instant success, embraced by the neighborhood and the progressive community, especially among activists opposed to the Iraq War.
There are seven locations in the Washington, D.C., area. Shallal opened a second Busboys location in Arlington in July 2007, and a third location in D.C. at 5th & K NW in 2008. A fourth location opened in Hyattsville, Maryland, in summer 2011. In 2014 Busboys and Poets opened in Brookland. In 2015 Busboys and Poets opened in Takoma. The seventh location opened in Anacostia in Southeast, D.C.
The next openings are projected for 2020 in Baltimore and Columbia, MD. Busboys and Poets The Peace Ball was noted to have more star power than Donald Trump's Inaugural Ball.
In 2017, Andy Shallal closed his stores for the day in solidarity with A Day Without Immigrants.
Peace Ball
Shallal is the founder of the Peace Ball inaugural balls. The 2017 Peace Ball took place at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Shallal spoke about the significance of the recently opened museum. He included in the evening's program a poem from Langston Hughes.
Eatonville
Eatonville was a Southern-inspired restaurant that opened in 2009 and closed in 2015. It was located across the street from the Busboys and Poets restaurant in U Street Corridor, Washington, DC. Placing an emphasis on history and culture, the restaurant was named after and takes its concept from Eatonville, the hometown of Zora Neale Hurston, an American folklorist and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance.
Background
Shallal always wanted to use Hurston as an inspiration for the restaurant. In 2007, while talking about his plans for the restaurant, Shallal said: "I'd like to incorporate Zora Neale Hurston into the name. I like taking literary [authors] and using them as springboards." He chose her because had studied the Harlem Renaissance during college, and wanted to use someone who lived during that period and had a connection to Washington. Eatonville pays homage to Hurston through the murals, which were painted by a local artist. Shallal said she "was the life of the party, so I wanted the space to look lively and gregarious. And she wrote a lot about the porch at Eatonville where the townspeople tell stories, so we put in an area [with rocking chairs] for people to have drinks." According to Shallal, Carla Hall from Top Chef judged a "reality TV-style contest" to select Eatonville Restaurant's chef.
Amy Cavanaugh in the Decider: DC writes "With this spring's opening of Eatonville, his Zora Neale Hurston-themed restaurant, Andy Shallal is trying to mend a decades-old literary rift between the author and her contemporary, Langston Hughes, whom Shallal's Busboys And Poets chain is named in honor of. The two writers tried to collaborate on a play, Mule Bone, but things went sour: “They fought over copyright issues, but I think they wanted to be friends,” says Shallal. Since the restaurants are across the street from each other, Shallal sees it as a chance to reunite the two writers."
Shallal's green initiatives
Busboys and Poets was awarded one of the first "REAL" restaurants by the United States Healthful Food Council. REAL (Responsible Epicurean Agricultural Leadership) Certification is a program of the USHFC to help connect people who want healthful and sustainable food and beverages with the restaurants that provide them.
Busboys and Poets and Eatonville Restaurant are members of the American Sustainable Business Council.