In keeping with Seattle’s tradition of worthy museum eateries—think SAM’s Taste and the Frye’s Gallery Café—the culinary installation in the new Northwest African American Museum is an inspired fit. The original St. Clouds earned its reputation as an indispensable third place for its Madrona neighborhood, a generous humanitarian in the form of its monthly Homeless Cooking Project—and a purveyor of killer mac and cheese. Both the community orientation and the Southern comfort food are wholly suited to the new museum, where the café space off the lobby is tiny and shiny but bursts with big soul-rich flavors: sweet potato pudding; slow-roasted, Memphis-style, fruity-sauced ribs; dense, fiery corn bread; even a vegetarian Hoppin’ John burger made with black-eyed peas. So the baked mac and cheese is spiced for the kids—it might just lure more of them to the coolest new museum in town.