Chicago Black Restaurant Week 2024: 6 specials we’re excited to try, from Haitian cuisine to nonalcoholic wine

Fried chicken on cocoa waffles, topped with caramel rum ice cream, is just one of the new specials created for the annual Chicago Black Restaurant Week.

The event, in its ninth year, is a celebration of Black-owned food, beverage and dessert businesses, said founder Lauran A. Smith.

Like Chicago Restaurant Week, CBRW specials will actually run for more than a week, this year from Feb. 11 to 25.

“It’s just another effort to get people out in the neighborhood to see what’s around the neighborhood,” Smith said.

Those neighborhoods across the city include the South and West sides, as well as the suburbs.

Asked if she had to pick one place among 52 participants, Smith replied without hesitation.

“I’m going to try what Batter & Berries in Olympia Fields has going on, because they have partnered with Shawn Michelle’s Homemade Ice Cream,” she said.

The breakfast and brunch restaurant has indeed created a collaboration with the ice cream shop, which they’re calling The Collab for $24.24, featuring buttermilk fried chicken with crisp cocoa waffles and house-made hot molasses by Batter & Berries, served a la mode with caramel rum ice cream by Shawn Michelle’s.

The special will also be available at the original Batter & Berries in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

At the flagship Shawn Michelle’s in Bronzeville (at the historic Rosenwald Courts Apartments building) and the ice cream shop’s location in Olympia Fields, they’re offering banana pudding custard in original, caramel, Oreo cookie or strawberry shortcake flavors in medium size for $4.99.

Smith launched the first Chicago Black Restaurant Week in February 2016, but its history goes back nearly 100 years.

She starts the event every second week in February to honor Dr. Carter G. Woodson. The renowned historian held the first Negro History Week in 1926.

Woodson chose the second week in February for three reasons; the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, as well as Valentine’s Day, a symbolic day of love, according to the late Ramon Price, former chief curator of the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center.

The idea for the week began at the landmark Wabash Avenue YMCA. The week became Black History Month, first celebrated in 1970, and federally recognized in 1976.

Chicago Black Restaurant Week kicked off with a sold-out event on Feb. 8.

The Mix & Mingle event at Kitchen + Kocktails in River North was co-hosted by The Shop Docs and Medmilah. The Shop Docs, founded by Dr. Annette Grotheer, is a volunteer organization partnering with barbers to provide free health resources to combat health disparities. Medmilah is Dr. Kamilah Evans, an OB-GYN resident physician and content creator in Chicago.

The first restaurant to ever sign up for CBRW was one owned by a high school friend of Smith, who works in digital marketing. Flavor Brunch & Bar in Hazel Crest, however, is not participating this year.

“People get really busy,” Smith said. But they’ll always have a spot, she added. “I think they’re just really busy in the business of everything.”

It’s a privilege to be able to participate in restaurant weeks because not everybody can afford to offer a special or a discount. But there’s one restaurant that’s back with a bomb bag deal.

Haire’s Gulf Shrimp in Greater Grand Crossing has participated since the second year, Smith said.

“They’ve done it every single year since,” she added. This year they’re offering their small bomb bags for $14.24, normally $16.65. “You get a large amount of the shrimp in the bag.”

But, she warns, if you want to make it home with your bag, don’t touch it, because you won’t be able to stop eating the golden fried shrimp.

“It’s not going to make it home,” she said laughing. “Period.”

This year, Smith has created new theme days.

“Every day has a theme,” she said. From couples to medical professionals and essential workers, plus one theme day that’s very personal to Smith: Black Saluki Day.

“I am a very proud graduate of Southern Illinois University Carbondale,” she said. The saluki (a longhaired, greyhound-like dog) is the mascot for the university. “I just told all of my college buddies, put your apparel on, go to all the restaurants all over the city, take pictures, grab the crew, order food to take over to the house. Show people how Salukis come out to support, because we definitely support our own in a major way.”

For the full list of participating businesses and details on all specials, visit chiblackrestaurantweek.com.

Here are six more Chicago Black Restaurant Week specials we can’t wait to try.

— Louisa Chu, food critic

1308

This Black- and woman-owned spot that opened in West Town in 2012 embraces the speakeasy feel in a small and cozy space hidden away in a courtyard.

Their $42 Chicago Black Restaurant Week menu begins with blue cornbread served with house-cultured butter and sea salt as the appetizer. For the entree, diners can choose between fried chicken paired with sauteed black-eyed peas and collard and mustard greens, or a vegetarian option of mushroom and savory grits.

Finish the meal with either banana cream pie or peanut butter fluff moon pie for dessert. If you want to indulge more, you can sip on bourbon and sweet tea for $12.

The restaurant has limited seating, so reservations are encouraged.

1308 N. Elston Ave., 773-658-3139, 1308chicago.com – Kayla Samoy

2048 Non-Alc Wine Shop

Why not keep the Dry January vibe going all winter long? The recently-opened Black-owned nonalcoholic and low-alcohol wine shop in Ukrainian Village is offering 24% off guided wine tastings with the code CBRW. It will also hold a nonalcoholic whiskey tasting Feb. 24 from 6 to 9 p.m., special for Chicago Black Restaurant Week.

2048 W. Chicago Ave., nonalcwineshop.com – Lauryn Azu

Lior’s

Sample Haitian cuisine at Lior’s Cafe, which says it is the first Haitian restaurant on Chicago’s South Side and opened last year in Washington Heights. It will serve a prix fixe menu for $55 per person for Black Restaurant Week. Appetizers include pate (a Haitian beef patty) and accra fritters. Choose between a salad or chicken and dumplings for the first course, then pick poule avec sauce (stewed chicken), goat pot pie or griot (pork shoulder) for the second course, along with crispy fried plantains or pickled vegetables as side dishes. For dessert, enjoy either pound cake or banana ice cream pudding.

10500 S. Halsted St., liorscafe.com, 773-239-5467 – L.A.

Mabe’s Sandwich Shop

Sisters Avery Kincaid, Lyndsey Kincaid-Gutierrez and their family took over the cozy sandwich shop in Chatham in 2021 named for the original owner’s grandmother, Mae Anna. This year you can name-drop Chicago Black Restaurant Week for the following specials: buy one Turkey Cristo sandwich, and get a second for 24% off; find a French toast breakfast sandwich with smothered potatoes and lemonade for $15.24; and get a turkey burger bite boxed lunch special (including chocolate chip cookies and a jug of lemonade) or a featured dinner salad and bowl of soup, both sets for $20.24 each.

312 E. 75th St., 773-891-1798, mabesss.com — L.C.

The Duplex

Owner Le’Qoinne Rice began with two ghost kitchens downtown before transforming a modern space overlooking Logan Square with a rotating roster of rising chefs who change the menus about every six months. The Duplex is offering a special CBRW three-course menu for $59 per person featuring the restaurant’s own signature dishes. For your starter, choose between vegan chestnut gnocchi with wild mushrooms, or broccolini with farro and shawarma spices; for your main, choose pork roast with white beans, or roasted butternut squash with maple glazed brussel sprouts; and for dessert, choose olive oil cake with honey whipped ricotta, or chocolate cake with creamy caramel and passionfruit coulis.

3137 W. Logan Blvd., 773-697-4153, theduplexchicago.com — L.C.

Soul Prime

Soul Prime, which offers elevated soul food, opened in 2023. This Lincoln Park restaurant recently got boosted into the social media spotlight when popular Las Vegas-based TikToker Keith Lee stopped by in September and posted a video of himself eating and rating the restaurant’s food.

Its Black Restaurant Week options offer modest discounts on some menu staples, including the collard green dip ($17), smoked salmon Cesar ($23), and red beans and rice ($9). The restaurant also offers a special cocktail for Black Restaurant Week for $13.

1969 N. Halsted St., 312-526-3049, soulprimechicago.com – K.S.

lchu@chicagotribune.com, lazu@chicagotribune.com, ksamoy@chicagotribune.com