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Given the president’s dental issues and wealth, the cornmeal used for his hoecakes was probably a finer, higher-quality grind than the coarser meal given to his enslaved community as weekly rations.

African-Americans would make unleavened pone, corn fritters or even hoecakes.

And my mother’s special cornbread became a crude skillet hoecake made from just cornmeal, water and some leftover bacon fat, and that was what composed a meal.

‘Then—us’ll have these nice collards and some hoecake and coffee. And I going to cut me off a few slices of this here white meat and fry it for myself.’

The restaurant, tucked among dozens of high-end retailers, offers an eclectic menu ranging from carrot croquettes to two griddled locally sourced beef patties crammed between hoecakes, or crispy corn bread, a Kentucky specialty.