Throughout the pandemic, and a summer of protests triggered by the killing of George Floyd, and now the scramble for vaccines, Chicago’s Black-owned restaurants have remained vital centers in their communities. As the country observes Black History Month, we present the stories of eight of these restaurant owners to recognize the importance of their businesses to the community and to Chicago history.
MacArthur’s: ‘Right now, we are pulling our own’
MacArthur’s owner and namesake Mac Alexander describes his cafeteria-style restaurant on the West Side of Chicago as Southern style, not soul food. “I think Southern food is a little lighter than soul food,” said Alexander, 75, born and raised in Lexington, Mississippi.
The steam table does offer familiar Black American comfort food. “I think we’re best known for our macaroni and cheese, and perhaps chicken, fried and baked,” he said. The radiant peach cobbler should finish every meal. A customer wall of fame attests to their success, with photos of celebrities and politicians, including former President Barack Obama.
The restaurateur’s staff are the first on his mind when asked how he and his business are doing in the South Austin neighborhood.
“We’re existing and making ends meet,” said Alexander. “Thank God for that PPP program.”
“We got approximately $60,000. I was able to bring 90% of my people back. We got about 20 right now,” he said. “Had we not got that I don’t know whether or not we could’ve survived, but right now we are pulling our own.”
Hecky’s Barbecue: ‘We know we’re an institution in Evanston and we want to live up to that reputation’
Hecky Powell believed in divine order, as does his wife, Cheryl Judice, owner of Hecky’s Barbecue. They opened the restaurant nearly 40 years ago in Evanston, just north of Chicago.
“My husband was quite a force in the community,” said Judice, a sociologist and author. “He was always called the unofficial mayor of Evanston, but his real goal was to operate our business pretty much as a social service for many years.”
A lifelong champion and challenger of the progressive suburb north of the city, Powell died at age 71 in May of COVID-19 complications. He was the face of the business. Judice had always worked in the background, handling its finances, taxes and accounting. Those are her forte, she said.
“It’s not as if I’ve stepped into something I don’t know about,” said Judice. “The only thing that I didn’t really know about was the day-to-day operations of the business.”
Hecky’s still has familiar faces. General manager Floyd Johnson started as a dishwasher two weeks after the restaurant opened. Assistant manager Aracely Rodriguez has worked behind the counter about a dozen years. Daughter Gigi Powell is in the restaurant almost all the time. Sister-in-law Patsy Powell returned last summer to where she worked with her brother in the ’80s.
Virtue: ‘We’re in survival mode’
If last year had been any other year, chef Erick Williams would have received another round of awards for Virtue. His American Southern restaurant in the Hyde Park neighborhood on the South Side earned a three-star review in 2019 with dishes including collard greens crowned with pulled smoked turkey. Last March, Williams was named Chef of the Year by the Chicago Tribune, seven days before the pandemic was declared.
He adapted with curbside pickup and donated meals, plus collaborations ranging from an Italian beef sandwich to an acclaimed artist’s dinner. Now an old challenge has returned.
“The weather in Chicago can wreak havoc on the restaurant business, if not the community at large,” said Williams. “It’s the first quarter, which is historically challenging. We’re in survival mode.”
He and his team try to stay focused on their sustainability, he said. “We’re not spending a lot of time trying to focus on emotional space,” said Williams. “I feel like I’ve gotten really thorough advice from the elders in my family, and from my ancestry, and that advice is, in times of trouble take it one day at a time.”
The Licking is ‘one of the fortunate ones that’s making it through’
When The Licking restaurant opened on the West Side of Chicago in 2019, the spotlight turned to hip-hop star DJ Khaled, the highest profile partner of the parent company based in Miami. Yet the person in charge is a Chicago entrepreneur.
“How we set it up is kind of tricky, but I am the owner of this location,” said Lenny Coffey Weston. “I actually grew up four or five blocks from my restaurant, right on Waller and Washington.”
The location, with lobster on a soul food menu, surprised even neighbors from across the street in the South Austin neighborhood. Khaled and many celebrity friends have stopped by the small strip mall next to a McDonald’s.
“The neighborhood was up at one point, but now it’s at a low point,” said Weston. “I want to rebuild the area where I’m from.”
Lem’s Bar-B-Q thrives with fire and family
Lem’s Bar-B-Q, the oldest Black-owned barbecue restaurant in Chicago, has survived with a history powered by fire and family. Brothers Bruce and Myles Lemons opened in 1954, then in 1968 added the iconic location in the Chatham neighborhood. “They brought in my father, James B. Lemons,” said Carmen Lemons, owner of the only Lem’s left standing.
Her sister and manager, Lynn Walker Harvey, worked alongside their late legendary pitmaster father from the beginning on 75th Street. Longtime employees are related by blood or barbecue. “If a person is not a member of our family, they’ve been with us for at least 15 to 20 years, so we treat everyone as part of our family,” said Lemons.
The takeout-only stand never had to close any part of the business due to the coronavirus restrictions, but did cut its hours, which had a surprising effect.
“That was a blessing, because we had very long hours before the pandemic,” said Lemons. Lem’s was open until 2 a.m. on weekdays, and 3 a.m. on weekends, but now until 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. respectively. “We’re going to keep these hours, because it was tiring and it was wearing us out. And we found out that we can make almost the same amount of money.”
Brown Sugar Bakery has taken a few hits in pandemic, but owner Stephanie Hart is seeing successes too
If you ask Stephanie Hart about her business, Brown Sugar Bakery and Confections, she talks first about her South Side neighbors, as if she’s going to bake them birthday cakes.
“Some of my neighbors include Lem’s Bar-B-Q that’s been in business for over 66 years, Original Soul Vegetarian that’s been there 40 years, 5 Loaves with nearly 20 years and myself coming up quickly on 20 years,” said Hart, who founded her Southern-style bakery in 2004. “That just goes to show that minority businesses can make it. We can grow and prosper in our community even in these amazingly challenging times.”
Brown Sugar, best known for caramel cake sliced in luminous layered slabs, has also had locations at Navy Pier and on the West Side of the city. Both are closed, the former temporarily, but the latter permanently.
“The entire pier was shut down,” said Hart. “When we had to close at Navy Pier, it was really devastating; but sometimes you really have to take a step back in order to be in a position to move forward. It is hard to think about that business just sitting there not operating, because I cannot operate.”
Shawn Michelle’s is serving a community along with artisan ice cream
When Yahya Muhammad talks about ice cream, his voice sounds as smooth and soothing as slowly churning custard.
“We have some of the old-school flavors,” said Muhammad, owner of Shawn Michelle’s Homemade Ice Cream in Chicago. “But we bring modern appeal. We have butter pecan of course, but it’s a bourbon butter pecan. We have vanilla, but it’s a brown sugar vanilla cream. We have black cherry, but it’s black cherry with chocolate brownies.”
The chocolate is not just called chocolate at the artisan ice cream shop on the South Side. It’s Melanin Magic.
“We make real custard with real milk, cream, sugar and eggs,” said Muhammad. Many ice cream makers now use mixes, but not Shawn Michelle’s. “We literally cook custard every day, and slow churn our ice cream every single day.”
Despite the winter freeze, the Tiffany-blue jewel box of a shop remains open in the Bronzeville neighborhood. The store anchors a corner of the historic Rosenwald Courts apartment building at 47th Street and Wabash Avenue.
“We have online ordering and you can do curbside pickup,” said Muhammad. He’s stopped indoor dining since the start of the pandemic. You can order for delivery too, but there’s one service offered only to some customers. “I offer delivery to seniors in the Bronzeville, Kenwood and Woodlawn area free of charge on Saturday morning. We don’t have the philosophy that we’re just doing some business. We have the philosophy that we’re providing a service.”
Uncle Remus is supporting the community with jobs and free meals
The 94-year-old founder of Uncle Remus Saucy Fried Chicken in Chicago has never stopped working during the pandemic.
“I got my COVID shot today so that adds to my great day, but all of my days are great anyway,” said Gus Rickette, laughing. “I’m still on the battlefield. My work schedule is the same, I’m off one day. We’ve had our masks on. I really don’t have anything that hurts me, by the blessing of God, unlike normal people, so maybe I’m a little abnormal.”
He and his late wife, Mary Rickette, opened their first restaurant, G & G Chicken Shack, in 1963, then Royal Chicken in 1964, where they secretly fed the Black Panthers during the riots of 1968 after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
The Uncle Remus name came in 1969 from a sign left behind at a shop, sold cheap to the couple. The oldest location on the West Side has evolved into an iconic institution with Chicago-style fried chicken that’s scratch-made, double-battered and extra crunchy, then drizzled or drenched in the singular condiment known as mild sauce.
Their daughter Charmaine Rickette, 57, now owns the business. As CEO, she’s expanded to three more locations, including one on the South Side in the Bronzeville neighborhood on 47th Street, and two in the suburbs, in Broadview and Bolingbrook. The latter opened just last November.
“We started the project before the pandemic,” she said. “When COVID first hit, we had a 70% loss of revenue. Things were put on pause, but we were still expected to pay rent on the empty space.”
The West Side location remains takeout only, but the newer locations were designed for dining in too. For now, though, all of the tables and chairs have been removed.
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