The restaurant scene in Boston’s historic South End just got a whole lot more flavorful. Dorchester native Chef Valentine Howell is taking over the kitchen at the subterranean cocktail bar Wink & Nod for a residency with his Afro-diasporic restaurant pop-up Black Cat Eatery.

Howell developed the concept for Black Cat Eatery with partner Renea Adger in 2024 and has been running it as a long-term pop-up. The concept has been highly lauded; it was named Best Meal of 2024 by Boston Magazine and Best Pop-Up of 2024 by Eater Boston.

In addition to his many awards, Howell has kitchen credentials aplenty. While serving as executive chef of the upscale Greek restaurant Krasi in the Back Bay, Howell won his first James Beard Award nomination for Best Chef: Northeast in 2023. He competed on “Top Chef ” in 2024 and has worked with renowned Boston chefs like Lydia Shire.

Howell, who grew up participating in the Chef’s Club program at the Blue Hill Boys and Girls Club, describes Black Cat Eatery as a marriage of Caribbean spices, Afro-diasporic dishes and American culinary execution.

He’ll join a distinguished lineage of residents at Wink & Nod. Chefs Philip Kruta and Jeremy Kean, co-owners of Brassica in Jamaica Plain, launched the concept during their 2014 residency and chef Josh Lewin’s tenure at Wink & Nod the same year resulted in the opening of Juliet in Somerville.

Wink & Nod was one of the original speakeasy-style cocktail bars, opening in the South End in 2014. Since the beginning, it has operated as a rotating incubator with regularly changing cocktail menus and a Culinary Incubator Program that allows local chefs to test drive new restaurant concepts without the overhead costs.

“Our incubator program has always been about giving independent chefs the space to truly develop their ideas,” said Euz Azevedo, owner of Wink & Nod. “By removing the financial and operational barriers of opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant, each residency allows chefs to focus on the food and the experience. They maintain full creative control, while we provide the infrastructure, audience and mentorship needed for those ideas to evolve naturally in a real-world setting.”

The Black Cat Eatery menu at Wink & Nod will include crowd favorites like djon djon fried rice with black mushroom, alliums, peas, fava and dried shrimp; suya beef with pickled shallot, tomato choka and ripe plantain; and smoked “jerk” hamachi with sweet peppers, Scotch bonnet vin and plantain crisps. Don’t miss the Jamaican ginger cake for dessert.

Howell hopes the menu will bring flavors of home to some diners and create an exciting new experience for others.

“I want people to be excited about discovering flavors and dishes they may have never tried before,” Howell said. “More than anything, I want guests to leave Black Cat Eatery feeling satisfied — and carrying a memory of the experience with them long after the meal is over.”

ON THE WEB

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