Southern Food

Private chef Emani Roberts is opening Brûlée, a Southern brunch restaurant blocks from McCormick Center, to serve South Loop residents and convention-goers. 

Growing up in Bronzeville, Chloe Gould didn't know that a being a chef was a career or what ginger root was. Now she's opening a restaurant that combines the Southeast Asian flavors of her time in Singapore with her American Southern heritage. 

After a decade in Lincoln Square, Luella's Southern Kitchen is moving to Albany Park to serve just breakfast and brunch. It opens August 6.

With dishes from the South, Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa itself, Mahari aims to draw connections between foods of the African diaspora. 

As Cook's Country launches its 17th season and its editor in chief releases a book called When Southern Women Cook, try a recipe for extra cheesy grits.

The South Shore Cultural Center was once a country club that excluded Black people. Now it's home to a soul food restaurant owned by a Black entrepreneur.

Tyris Bell helped his brother Darnell Reed open Luella's Southern Kitchen and worked there for the past eight years. Now he has opened his own place, an eclectic barbecue joint in Canaryville. Don't worry, it still has mac 'n' cheese.

Damarr Brown, the Chef de Cuisine at Virtue in Hyde Park, wasn't sure he wanted to do Top Chef at first. But after his mentor, Chef Erick Williams, encouraged him to take the opportunity, he went far in the competition. Brown discusses representation in the Chicago restaurant industry and shares his recipe for Chicken and Andouille Jambalaya.