Photo: (From left) Artist Tabitha “Tab” Rasul, Black Eden Brews Owner/Manager Nicolena Stubbs and an unidentified art lover at the “Sacred Lakes and Places” art opening inside the coffee shop. Photo courtesy of Nicolena Stubbs.
Black Eden Brews, “where coffee and community jive”
By Kevin Howell
Opening day for Black Eden Brews was still several weeks away when I stopped by the seasonal Idlewild coffee shop for a visit with Owner/Manager Nicolena Stubbs. The coffee-and-breakfast restaurant is entering its third year, and Stubbs and her crew, Chef Lauren Johnson and all-around helper Zavier Inniss, were cleaning and refreshing the shop after its winter closure.
Stubbs explained that the coffee shop began as a tease among friends.
“I’m an early riser and I’m a coffee fanatic. My nickname is Cocoa, so the joke for friends and neighbors is asking if Cocoa’s ‘coffee shop’ is open, meaning you can pop over (to my residence) at some ridiculous hour in the morning for a cup of coffee,” Stubbs said with a ready grin.
The joke about Stubbs’ coffee shop became real when friends Blair Evans and Susan Mateus offered Stubbs a space at Morton’s Motel. The motel is located east of Baldwin in the middle of Idlewild — a once-thriving Black resort community taking steps to return to its former vibrancy. The coffee bar/restaurant is part of the 16-room historic motel listed in the former “Negro Motorist Green Book,” updated annually from 1936-66 by Victor Hugo Green. The book was a directory of safe places to travel and stay for Black people during the Jim Crow era of discrimination and segregation.
Reclaiming Idlewild’s history and energy
Idlewild’s residents and summer folk are currently building on their community’s cultural past, renovating structures and offering lively activities at its popular beach and lakes. Stubbs and friends Evans and Mateus are board members of the Lake County Merrymakers, a 501(c)(3) organization that works to bring attention to and rejuvenate the area by investing in cultural and community events.
“Now they’re working towards teaching people about solidarity in economy and teaching about being a self-sustaining community,” Stubbs explained.
Evans and Mateus are also part of the Historic Idlewild Preservation Society (HIPS) which includes other Idlewilders. Evans said in 2011 families pooled their private monies and purchased the motel, which had been in a bank foreclosure with a previous owner who lost possession. HIPS resumed motel operations.
Black Eden Brews is born
Zoom in a few years later, and Cocoa’s “coffee shop” found a new home.
“Morton’s always had food service in one form or another,” Evans said, “from its founding in the 1950s.”
He explained that the group wanted to serve food, and Black Eden Brews operates under a restaurant license obtained under the name Bistro 1912.
“It provides a service to the motel guests and to the community at large, plus provides a food entrepreneur a means to build a business,” Evans added.
Nicolena Stubbs is the owner and manager. In the spring of 2024, Evans told her she should “really think about” opening the coffee shop because she liked to entertain.
She replied that she knew nothing about running a restaurant.
“I realized he was dead serious, he was fearless about it, and it gave me some fearlessness,” Stubbs recalled. “I said, ‘You know you’re right; it can’t hurt to try.’”
Black Eden’s menu includes Stubbs’ own specialty coffees, like the Pink Flamingo, named after the Flamingo Club, and Blue Moon over Black Eden Affogato. I confess I had to look up the word affogato. According to Wikipedia, it literally means “drowned in coffee” and is an Italian dessert made with a scoop of gelato topped with espresso. In this case, it’s Blue Moon ice cream from Jones Homemade Ice Cream in Baldwin.
Except for a few regular offerings, other items on the menu change on a weekly basis. Some items include fresh French toast, Creole shrimp and grits and Billie’s brisket and grits, the latter named for a supportive friend.
“We make homemade apple butter that we named after a beloved member of our community, one of our elders, Miss Betty: Betty’s Apple Butter, things like that,” Stubbs said.
“We have homemade jam; we really keep the menu quite simple,” she continued. “We have Idlewild Hot Brown Sandwich, which is a breakfast sandwich on a grilled croissant with an egg your way.”
Soups, like Yumbo Gumbo, are a specialty and can be ordered for take-out after the shop is closed.
A space for multiple uses
The coffee shop has an easy-going, comfortable feel and serves more than one purpose. Besides offering good food and coffee, Black Eden Brews has become an exhibition space for art that shares the history and ambiance of Idlewild. Community members can also meet casually there.
“We certainly saw a need in the community for gathering places for people because Idlewild doesn’t have a lot of that,” Stubbs remarked.
Folks are free to sit and sip their drink inside, or if the shop is busy, they may wander outside to patio tables and chat with friends or make new ones.
Stubbs is an artist and founded the “Idlewild about Art” program. Works by artists are displayed throughout the community.
“I think it’s very uplifting for people to see beauty all around them, and obviously beauty is different to all different people,” Stubbs said. “It gives people something to think about, regardless if you happen to like a particular piece of art, or if you don’t it does certainly give you something to talk about or take interest in or take pride in when you see art. It also encourages conservation.”
For the second year, Stubbs has invited artists with some tie to Idlewild — either as summer visitors, summer residents or those with a connection to Idlewild — to create art according to a theme and submit it to her to display in the coffee shop. This year’s theme is “Sacred Lakes and Places.”
“The artists can take whatever adaptation of that they want,” she said. “…It doesn’t have to a be a firm view of those themes. We want them to be as creative as they like, whatever form that they usually choose. Last year our artists sold over 20 pieces of original artwork right off of our walls,” Stubbs said.
Her own ties to Idlewild run deep. Originally from Detroit, she spent summers as a child and time throughout the year at her family’s Idlewild property.
When and where to visit
Black Eden Brews opened this year on June 13, the morning after the artists’ reception for “Sacred Lakes and Places.” Hours of operation are Saturdays and Sundays, 8 a.m.-1p.m., with soups typically available for take-out on Friday evenings. Stubbs said they are considering adding more items on Fridays, since they are there prepping anyway, but no decision had been made at press time.
The kitchen wasn’t open when I visited, so I didn’t get a chance to sample the food, but I plan to return to sample Chef Lauren’s grits, which I hear are most excellent!
Black Eden Brews is located at 6389 Tacoma.
Follow Black Eden Brews on Facebook HERE and on Instagram. For information, call (231) 880-6604.
Follow the “Idlewild about Art” initiative on Facebook.
Find more online about Morton’s Motel at www.experienceidlewild.com/projects/the-morton’s-motel. To reserve a room, call (231) 745-7773 or visit mortonsinidlewild.com.
Kevin Howell is a freelance writer living in Mason County. He loves the Michigan woods, lakes and Michigan craft beers — not necessarily in that order.
READ MORE STORIES ABOUT IDLEWILD HERE.
