Culinary Conversations: Hermene Hartman on Chicago’s Restaurant Renaissance with Chefs and Restaurateurs | N'DIGO STUDIO

Description

What turns a restaurant into a neighborhood staple in Chicago’s vibrant food scene? In this episode of N’DIGO STUDIO, host Hermene Hartman sits down with culinary leaders shaping the city’s dining renaissance: Chef Xavier (Southern Chicago), Chef Emani (Brulee), Chef Royce of (Soul Prime), and Tiffany Burrell, co-owner of Soul Food Lounge.

Together, they explore how social media, particularly viral reviews, are reshaping the landscape for Black-owned restaurants. From the widely discussed “Keith Lee effect” to unexpected celebrity shoutouts, our guests reveal how a single TikTok moment can surge foot traffic, revive struggling businesses, and transform visibility overnight.

But the conversation goes deeper than food trends. The chefs and restaurateurs share candid stories about:

building community through cuisine
navigating Chicago politics and neighborhood revitalization
surviving the highs and lows of the restaurant industry
innovation, authenticity, and menu storytelling
the power and pressure of going viral

This episode shines a light on the resilience, creativity, and cultural influence of Black entrepreneurship in Chicago, where dining is not just a meal, but a movement.

Engaging, insightful, and rooted in real Chicago voices, this conversation will resonate with food lovers, community advocates, and aspiring business owners alike.

Tune in for a rich blend of laughter, cultural commentary, and inspiration, and discover how these culinary changemakers are feeding both the city and the spirit of community.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Transcription

Speaker #0
Hi, I'm Hermine Hartman with Indigo Studio. Welcome. Did you know that Condé Nast said that Chicago was the best city? In America, nine years straight, and I know why. We're having a culinary renaissance right here in Chicago, transforming it into quite the restaurant town. We've got fine dining in the South Loop. We've got soul food in Lincoln Park. We've got food all over, and we're going to talk today to the new chefs who offer global cuisines, Southern cooking, and are innovators, innovators. in restaurants, and we've got new critics. We got social media food critics who can make a restaurant soar, and you don't always know that they're coming. So we got a new language, we got a new community, we got new food, we got creativity, and we got new critics, and we're going to tell you all about it. Chef Royce. She is the proprietor and the executive chef of Soul Prime in Lincoln Park. Your business was struggling and you got a critic review. You got a TikTok review and the Keith Lee effect and it changed your business. Tell us about that.
Speaker #1
It did. Thank you so much for having me, Hermine. It's a pleasure. Having Keith Lee come into Soul Prime at the moment that... We needed a change. We needed a boost. We needed to be lifted. It was absolutely extraordinary, amazing.
Speaker #2
If you've ever been to Soul Prime, you know Auntie Royce throwdown.
Speaker #3
I've been smashing. It's sweet, it's salty. This is remarkable.
Speaker #1
My name is Chef Royce. I am the executive chef and owner at Soul Prime Restaurant. When Keith came to Soul Prime, it immediately changed Soul Prime. We still are receiving the Keith Lee effect.
Speaker #2
Meeting Chef Royce back in 2023 was probably one of the highlights of the food tour for me. So we had to come back to see what was going on. Hey, who's this?
Speaker #1
Hey,
Speaker #2
Auntie.
Speaker #1
I missed you,
Speaker #2
man.
Speaker #4
How you been?
Speaker #1
I did not know the effect that Keith Lee had. I did not know anything about the Keith Lee effect, but God is purposeful and he does things at his own timing. So when Keith came to Soul Prime, I kind of made Keith Lee history because I understood that I was a f***er. first owner that he's ever met while doing his food review. So he was eating in his car because of social anxiety that he suffers. And he actually came in and met me while doing the, his review. So that was extraordinary in itself. While he was there, I had customers to tell me, girl, it's going to change your life. There's going to be people sitting outside. They did. He's, you know, there's going to be people standing outside around the corner, But we did have people standing outside calling. And we have an intimate dining space. And I can say that the very next day, everyone was there.
Speaker #0
And Tiffany, you had a similar experience, but it wasn't with a restaurant critic. All right. So here's Tiffany Burrell. And you have two restaurants, the Soul Food Lounge. Yes. And here you are. Found some time off and you went to the comedy club and Gary Owens posted on social media. Not quite a review, but a kind of little interview with you about your restaurants and about what you do, and it too went viral. Tell me about that.
Speaker #5
Right. Well, of course, I had some time off, so me and one of my actual, well, actually one of my employees at the time, I took her or she took me, we went to the concert together, and it made it so special because I really, really adore Gary Owens and all of his comedy. So when we were there, it was time to check out, and I was actually tipping the server.
Speaker #0
See, that tip works.
Speaker #5
Exactly. I was actually tipping the server, and then he said, is she a good tipper? And so then I said, well, of course I am because I own a restaurant. And there we have the video.
Speaker #6
You own a restaurant? What's it called? The Soul Food Lounge. Well, man, she got all excited. Girl, your grits. I love your shrimp and grits. You like the Soul Food Lounge green dress? Yes,
Speaker #7
I love it.
Speaker #6
Where's it at?
Speaker #7
North Lawn Air.
Speaker #6
Where?
Speaker #7
I don't know where it is.
Speaker #6
I heard you guys are serving soul food in here. Come on, let me in. Let me in. Let me try some of that catfish. Hi. Hey, Chicago. Come on down to the Soul Food Lounge and see the world-renowned chef, Quick Love. Look at all these happy customers at the Soul Food Lounge.
Speaker #5
I had a lot of people in the audience that knew of my restaurant, the Soul Food Lounge. So that gave it an extra push with Gary. So they kept saying, oh my God, we know it, and clapping and applauding. So that gave him that extra push that he needed to make a viral video. And now the Soul Food Lounge is a household name. That video was over four or five million views. And like Chef Royce, we have people coming in every day saying Gary sent me. So that was so amazing. It was extra special because, like I said, again, I really, really enjoy his comedy. And I'm always at his comedy shows. And this time, now you're always at his comedy show. Always at his comedy show. So it was very, very special. And of course, all the restaurants, we need that extra push because word of mouth is how we basically do business because as a small business owners, we do not have a larger platform. So social media is it. And that gave us the push we needed as well.
Speaker #0
And Nicole, Chef Imani, here you are. Just having the time of your life as a private chef with celebrities in Hollywood no less and you decided to come back home and do what you're calling elevated comfort food for breakfast and for brunch. Tell me about
Speaker #3
Brulee. So thank you for having me it's a pleasure. Well I started at the Brulee brand when I was a private chef.
Speaker #0
Who did you work for? Tell us some of your clients.
Speaker #3
So,
Speaker #0
yes, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker #3
So going back, I started my culinary journey cooking for Tyrese Gibson in Atlanta. I was his private chef for about a year while I was in culinary school. So that was a pretty, a pretty, it was a pretty good experience. Definitely for my first gig. A lot of experience, met a lot of people, cooked for Kiki Palmer, John Singleton, rest in peace to him. And just a lot of people and then I got a call to go on tour with New Edition and do their tour, their six-month tour. And then I got a call to cook for Monique and Melvin Rodriguez, the owners of Mayo Organics. So that kind of started. So I'm their private chef currently. I cook for them six days a week,
Speaker #1
three times a day.
Speaker #3
Yeah. So how does this restaurant get into play? So Monique found me to do a brunch for her and I always love to cook brunch. Like I've Since I was a kid, breakfast, brunch food, and then she called me to do brunch, and it just became a thing for me. Everybody called me to do brunch, and I was like, I have to open up a breakfast spot. I'm one person, so I can't be in five different places at once. So that's how the brunch restaurant came about, and I was just like, let's do a brunch spot. And we searched for a spot for three years, and God said not yet, and this year he did. So we found... Brulee actually in February. And now we've been planning for the past six months to open. Congratulations.
Speaker #8
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Speaker #9
Welcome to Hell's Kitchen, Broadway's hit musical from Alicia Keys.
Speaker #10
Every song, If I Ain't Got You, Empire State of Mind is all in the show.
Speaker #9
Meet Allie, a 17-year-old girl full of fire. Meet the musical mentor who changes her life and her family, who lifts her up with exhilarating choreography. Hell's Kitchen is all about finding yourself, your purpose, and the people who inspire you. Hell's Kitchen, playing at the James M. Niederlander Theater, November 11th through 30th.
Speaker #8
At ComEd, we understand a little help can really make someone's day. That's why we provide financial assistance and billing options to help you pay and manage your electric bill. Use the ComEd Smart Assistance Manager to discover bill assistance and savings options designed with you in mind.
Speaker #9
Welcome to Hell's Kitchen, Broadway's hit musical from Alicia Keys.
Speaker #10
Every song, If I Ain't Got You, Empire State of Mind is all in the show.
Speaker #9
Meet Allie, a 17-year-old girl full of fire. Meet the musical mentor who changes her life and her family, who lifts her up. With exhilarating choreography, Hell's Kitchen is all about finding yourself, your purpose, and the people who inspire you. Hell's Kitchen, playing at the James M. Niederlander Theater, November 11th through 30th.
Speaker #0
Chef Xavier, you have got the prettiest restaurant in town in the South Loop with a dress code. And I love that because when I heard you had a dress code, I was like, I'm going to get me a dress. Why? So I can go to the restaurant. How long did it take you? I watched you. I watched you every day because you were right by my house.
Speaker #11
Quite a journey, yes, it was quite a journey. It took us about two and a half, three years to build out the restaurant. Prior to that, I owned a catering company called Vance Events for ten years. So I always knew that I wanted to own a restaurant, it was just about the right timing. And then COVID hit and all of my corporate clients were at home. So I started doing a lot of home catering, just similar to you, like a lot of home catering. And I ran into my partner Troy and I'm like, maybe this is a great time for us to open a restaurant. Found a location. We went in the first day and did the walkthrough and we laid out the entire restaurant in like 30 minutes.
Speaker #0
And we're going to look at your opening night, which was a black tie opening night. It was phenomenal.
Speaker #11
We did the black tie grand opening on Juneteenth and we had so many days that we were shooting to open. It just wasn't right. And we finally had got a great solid team and we're like we want to do the grand opening on Juneteenth and it was absolutely extraordinary.
Speaker #0
Here's a question and this is a question to all of you. Okay, so you all are chefs. So cooking is your thing. That's what you do. How do you choose the menu? How do you choose what goes on the menu?
Speaker #11
I would say for us, we really wanted to make sure that we were hitting our target, which is a Southern American steakhouse. So we really built our menu off of fine dining from that point with adding in those southern staples like braised collard greens and jalapeno cornbread skillet. And then from that point, we listened to the community a lot to see exactly what people wanted us to read because we started off originally as a breakfast and brunch restaurant. Primarily, yeah. And it was like we were going to go in in the morning, have our weekends. Are we the rest of the day? Little did you know. Troy and I were very, very big on exactly what we wanted. We did years of traveling the world to really pull our menu together exactly what we wanted. So it was easy for us.
Speaker #1
For me, how I chose the items to go on our menu is pretty simple. It's our culture. It's our background. It's who we are. We are soul food. This is what we know. So I wanted to particularly wanted to introduce my culture to Lincoln Park. So Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois, is the wealthiest community in Chicago. We don't have very many black and brown businesses represented there. So who doesn't like amazing fried chicken, some baked macaroni and cheese, some red beans? We don't need to know. Period. So I wanted the community because we have, you know, diversity, but I felt like we needed more diversity added because we did not have soul food restaurants in Lincoln Park. So, for me, is really simple. It was my culture, who we are, and to showcase us.
Speaker #0
What about you?
Speaker #5
Well, with us, with the Soul Food Lounge, we're more of a global fusion than a traditional soul food place.
Speaker #0
Global fusion. Now, what does that mean?
Speaker #5
So, basically, every culture has their own type of soul food. Italian restaurant. Right. So, you have Italian, you have Asian. All of these different cultures have their comfort food. So, we just decided, and I rely heavily on my partner, Chef Love, to... curate the menu as well because he has decades of experience. So what we was trying to do is just say, okay, let's, if we were in Italy, what does that feel like if we make it? So, and that's why we did our own variations, our twist on it. And we came up with the, with our menu, such as our Global fusion so we limited because we have a grand tasting so we have a sampler that you can taste a little bit of all the cultures.
Speaker #0
Grand tasting.
Speaker #5
Our grand tasting and that's what we're known for. We try to make it a global fusion so we just go to all the different cultures and then we create a menu like that.
Speaker #3
I felt that Chicago was missing brunch. You know I'm a brunch I go I'm a bruncher I go out to eat.
Speaker #0
What time does brunch start?
Speaker #3
Brunch is about 11 this is the earliest 11 ish is the earliest and i would say till about three o'clock and i've been to three eleven this to three you know you get those people that probably don't want to get up early you know but yeah but they still want some breakfast yeah so i think chicago was definitely missing that brunch scene um and me being down south i lived in atlanta for seven years and that was big and i went down there i'm like chicken and waffles gumbo like you know strip and grits like you know for brunch yes like just having all those things because brunch is breakfast and lunch so you can have eggs you can have your pancakes you can have your sandwiches you can have your salads you can have everything you can have pastas you can have it's literally it's wide range what you can do for brunch so i think we were missing a good soul food brunch and like they said just listening to our neighborhood and saying like hey we need this over here so So it was important to bring that element. to the South Loop of Chicago.
Speaker #1
As a small business, as an entrepreneur, as new businesses, what's the challenge?
Speaker #11
It was a little over $3 million to build out. But that was the first obstacle. The next obstacle was finding great talent.
Speaker #1
Financing is a big challenge. Staffing, I can certainly echo that, is a big challenge. And then being creative and innovative. When it comes to keeping our doors open, we got to always, we're always thinking of ways to change our menu. I change my menu seasonally at Soul Prime.
Speaker #5
Innovation, also in the talent because that's huge because I always teach my staff, you have to have, you have to teach, treat people the way you want to be treated. So you have to get them to buy in to what you're selling and that's hospitality, that's create customer service, creative in the kitchen, in the back of the house. You have to teach them to buy into your dream to make it wonderful for everyone and an exceptional experience. But also with that being said, it is also the support of our community. Yeah. So that's one of the challenges that we have. And that's one reason why Chef Roy's video made her even more successful than she already was. My Gary On video made us more successful because we need the support of the community, not just people who look like us, but just the community. And that's the biggest challenge. If we're going to stay open, we need support. We also need to be innovative and give the people something that they desire.
Speaker #8
Whether you're considering an electric vehicle at work or at home, the tools, resources, and rebates available at ComEd.com slash EV make transitioning to an electric vehicle easier than ever before.
Speaker #9
Welcome to Hell's Kitchen, Broadway's hit musical from Alicia Keys.
Speaker #10
Every song, If I Ain't Got You, Empire State of Mind is all in the show.
Speaker #9
Meet Allie, a 17-year-old girl full of fire. Meet the musical mentor who changes her life and her family, who lifts her up. With exhilarating choreography, Hell's Kitchen is all about finding yourself, your purpose, and the people who inspire you. Hell's Kitchen, playing at the James M. Niederlander Theater, November 11th through 30th.
Speaker #8
At ComEd, we understand a little help can really make someone's day. That's why we provide financial assistance and billing options to help you pay and manage your electric bill.
Speaker #9
Welcome to Hell's Kitchen, Broadway's hit musical from Alicia Keys.
Speaker #10
Every song, If I Ain't Got You, Empire State of Mind, it's all in the show.
Speaker #9
Meet Allie, a 17-year-old girl full of fire. Meet the musical mentor who changes her life and her family, who lifts her up with exhilarating choreography. Hell's Kitchen is all about finding yourself, your purpose, and the people who inspire you. Hell's Kitchen, playing at the James M. Niederlander Theater, November 11th through 30th. Indigo Studio, Indigo Studio.
Speaker #0
So now, Imani, you're coming out of doing private cooking. I like grits. I like my grits with cheese in them every day. And now you're going into public, where we got to have a lot of people kind of liking the same thing. How do you make that transference?
Speaker #3
I would say for me, in my private chef journey, personally, I had total creative control. over my clients so you could fix i can fix whatever i want they didn't know what they were eating so they lift up the plate at six o'clock so um it's about me being creative and just showing the public my creativeness and what i have to offer so i feel like that they're going to gravitate towards it you know um and it's like i'm not open yet so i haven't gotten those customer reviews and you know stuff like that right now but Yeah, I was just like, hey, this is me, this is Imani, this is Imani on the plate. I hope you love it. I hope you enjoy it.
Speaker #0
Now, Xavier, you are a chef. You're teaching others the craft. How do you come up with the creative something? I mean, I'm sure you're constantly thinking of something else, new menu, new way to fix something old, adding another spice that'll make it taste differently. How do you come up with that?
Speaker #11
So I'm really big on flavor and... flavor components overall. And so I create a dish, went in the middle of the night, like literally run it. I get up. It really is. I get up, my entire menu I selected even before we opened, but I was like running. Soon as soon as I put my hood in and my equipment in, I was running recipes nonstop. And so soon as I haul in on the flavors, the presentation, I immediately start from the top and think about how easy this would be training my 15 line cooks. And so I like go, I take one or two, like my senior sous chefs, I take them, I train them first. And then on that following Monday, we'll train the entire staff. And everyone have their own ways of learning new dishes. And so we kind of make it up on the fly to make them understand how important it is for the customer to enjoy the dish, the way that we design it. the way that I designed it, the way that I designed it and make it perfect.
Speaker #0
Here's my final question. How do you, because this is important in restaurants. So the food is one thing and I'm assuming all just wonderful, wonderful cuisine. What about the atmosphere? Atmosphere is very important. How do you create the atmosphere?
Speaker #5
So with us, we always think about what I want and I just feel like I'm an everyday person. So it's What would I like when I go out? And that's how you build your restaurant. We have live music. I want to be able to sit down and feel comfortable, cleanliness. I want nice servers, and I want excellent cuisine. So you just try to build it around there, and I love sexy environments, so we just try to cater our restaurants to what we like.
Speaker #3
That's what you have to go off of. You know, if you are a person that goes out to eat, we've been to... all these restaurants in Chicago, you pick out little things that you like and you implement it in your restaurant.
Speaker #0
What's your favorite dish in your restaurant?
Speaker #11
I love my seafood platter. It's one of my favorites. It comes with a two-pound Maine lobster, oyster Rockefellers.
Speaker #0
What's your favorite?
Speaker #3
I would have to go with my shrimp and grits.
Speaker #0
With what?
Speaker #3
Shrimp and grits. Shrimp and grits. Yes, it comes with smoked gouda grits. Apple chicken sausage and then you have a Cajun Creole sauce and then yeah it's amazing with some cherry tomatoes.
Speaker #1
Okay what's your favorite dish?
Speaker #5
Our Carolina salmon pan polenta. So polenta yeah fried grits and salmon and shrimp.
Speaker #1
At the moment because our menu changes my favorite dish at Soul Prime is our branzino and so my branzino is pan seared and it comes with heirloom tomatoes and an amazing butter wine cream sauce and it is butter wine butter wine cream sauce and it fresh garlic but it's also paired with our southern creamy grits and our Cajun greens no substitutions but all three of those if you eat them together they go perfectly together perfectly
Speaker #0
paired
Speaker #1
Perfectly paired.
Speaker #0
Is that what they say? That's what they say.
Speaker #5
We are about fine. We are. I see.
Speaker #0
I see. I see. Now that you all have made me hungry, I want to thank you for being with us today. Thank you for having us. Thank you for telling me about your restaurants. Here's my final question. What makes Chicago, I asked it, but I'm going to ask it again. What makes Chicago a restaurant town? I go to New York, example. And you go into a restaurant no bigger than this and pay a million dollars for something. You go to Italy. Same thing. Restaurants, not big, very small. Food, just spectacular. And I don't know what the secret is. I don't know if we're just going to do good food, crazy atmosphere, maybe some music or something kind of stupid going on in the restaurant. But what makes Chicago that restaurant?
Speaker #1
We care. We care. Because we don't do that. We literally care. We don't do some of that. My colleagues that I know, we care about our. food. We care about the presentation. We care about the temperature. We care about the quality. We care about what we're presenting to our guests because we want those guests to be repeat customers. And we would like to give our guests the same thing that we that we would like to eat.
Speaker #0
So it's the experience.
Speaker #3
It's the experience. It's the skill set from your it's the skill set as well. I feel like we have a lot of skill. We have talent here. Oh, yeah, we have a lot of talent here. At first, me coming out of culinary school here in Chicago, I went to school with some amazing people who's doing some amazing things right now. The skill set is literally here. Top tier. Top tier. Okay,
Speaker #0
so here's another final question. So there is a possibility of a new law in Chicago for dogs to come into a restaurant. You all familiar with that? No. Oh, yeah. You heard about it? No. No, no. This is this. In the restaurant. In the restaurant. Yeah. Your thoughts on that. Would you let dogs in your restaurant?
Speaker #1
If it's a law, I guess we have to abide by the law. But I don't think that having that experience, I don't think that dogs belong in a restaurant. I think they belong in parks and at homes with their families, but not to dine. I think that's an opportunity for the owners and their dogs to be separated and have their own time. So, no, I don't think if it's a service dog, if it's something that's needed, which I have had before, but on a regular basis, absolutely not.
Speaker #5
That's right. I do not agree with animals being in a restaurant either. Just because we have to keep the restaurant clean.
Speaker #11
I don't agree with that. It's already hard enough.
Speaker #1
So I was in Germany once and I was eating and I looked down.
Speaker #0
Oh my God, there was this German shepherd and my appetite, everything went. Because I was like, is he getting ready to... You know, is he going to jump? Is they going to give him some food? Or what's going to happen? But you know that's a thing. In New York, they're doing it. I would say,
Speaker #11
I wouldn't mind, next summer, we're opening up our outdoor patio.
Speaker #5
Outside, in the front.
Speaker #11
And we'll be able to seat 100 people. I wouldn't mind people bringing their... their pets on our outdoor patio. I know.
Speaker #5
But you have to make accommodations. If it's disturbed,
Speaker #11
then it would be, yeah, then it would definitely be an issue, you know, for sure. But I am a pet lover. I have a dog. And Milo and I will have sat at Beatrix and had coffee and coffee cake in the mornings.
Speaker #0
But you're not letting that dog in that restaurant. No, no. You have never seen him out there. No. All right.
Speaker #11
But not in the inside. But outside, you know, some guests, we already have a host stand outside. So there's no actual contact coming in the inside at all. So I don't think, I don't see a problem there. But the inside, absolutely not. Absolutely not.
Speaker #0
Thank you so much for being with us. Congratulations to all of you. I now have new restaurants to go to and I will be visiting and I'm going to see if those favorite dishes become my favorite dishes. And I'm going to be a line cook. I'm coming to learn.
Speaker #11
Come on, Ms. Harvey. Come on.
Speaker #0
Thank you so much for being with us. You got to remember Chicago, number nine, nine years, the best city in America. And it's because of our guests today. We got the restaurant.
Speaker #7
Dump Studio

Chapters

Introduction to Chicago's Culinary Scene
22sec
Chef Royce's Journey and the Keith Lee Effect
1min
Tiffany Burrell's Viral Moment with Gary Owens
3min
Chef Emani's Transition from Private Chef to Restaurant Owner
6min
Chef Xavier's Fine Dining Experience and Dress Code
10min
Challenges Facing Small Restaurant Owners
16min
Creating Atmosphere in Restaurants
21min
What Makes Chicago a Restaurant Town?
24min

About N'DIGO STUDIO

Experience Chicago's Most Influential Voices | N'DIGO STUDIO

Immerse yourself in the heart of Chicago's culture, politics, and breaking stories with N'DIGO STUDIO, the premier podcast spotlighting the city's most compelling conversations. Cultural powerhouse Hermene Hartman brings you unfiltered access to Chicago's changemakers, from grassroots activists to bestselling authors and political giants.

Each episode cuts through the noise to deliver raw, authentic discussions that matter. Whether we're unpacking the latest political shakeups, celebrating Chicago's vibrant arts scene, or tackling tough conversations about race and culture, N'DIGO STUDIO brings you the stories behind the headlines.

What you'll discover:

- In-depth interviews with Chicago's most influential voices

- Fresh perspectives on politics, culture, and social justice

- Exclusive conversations with bestselling authors and artists

- Behind-the-scenes insights into Chicago's power players

- Candid discussions about issues affecting Black Chicago and beyond

Join the conversation as Hermene Hartman delivers thought-provoking dialogue that informs, challenges, and inspires.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About N'DIGO STUDIO

Experience Chicago's Most Influential Voices | N'DIGO STUDIO

What you'll discover:

- In-depth interviews with Chicago's most influential voices

- Fresh perspectives on politics, culture, and social justice

- Exclusive conversations with bestselling authors and artists

- Behind-the-scenes insights into Chicago's power players

- Candid discussions about issues affecting Black Chicago and beyond

Join the conversation as Hermene Hartman delivers thought-provoking dialogue that informs, challenges, and inspires.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Description

But the conversation goes deeper than food trends. The chefs and restaurateurs share candid stories about:

building community through cuisine
navigating Chicago politics and neighborhood revitalization
surviving the highs and lows of the restaurant industry
innovation, authenticity, and menu storytelling
the power and pressure of going viral

This episode shines a light on the resilience, creativity, and cultural influence of Black entrepreneurship in Chicago, where dining is not just a meal, but a movement.

Engaging, insightful, and rooted in real Chicago voices, this conversation will resonate with food lovers, community advocates, and aspiring business owners alike.

Tune in for a rich blend of laughter, cultural commentary, and inspiration, and discover how these culinary changemakers are feeding both the city and the spirit of community.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Transcription

Speaker #0
Hi, I'm Hermine Hartman with Indigo Studio. Welcome. Did you know that Condé Nast said that Chicago was the best city? In America, nine years straight, and I know why. We're having a culinary renaissance right here in Chicago, transforming it into quite the restaurant town. We've got fine dining in the South Loop. We've got soul food in Lincoln Park. We've got food all over, and we're going to talk today to the new chefs who offer global cuisines, Southern cooking, and are innovators, innovators. in restaurants, and we've got new critics. We got social media food critics who can make a restaurant soar, and you don't always know that they're coming. So we got a new language, we got a new community, we got new food, we got creativity, and we got new critics, and we're going to tell you all about it. Chef Royce. She is the proprietor and the executive chef of Soul Prime in Lincoln Park. Your business was struggling and you got a critic review. You got a TikTok review and the Keith Lee effect and it changed your business. Tell us about that.
Speaker #1
It did. Thank you so much for having me, Hermine. It's a pleasure. Having Keith Lee come into Soul Prime at the moment that... We needed a change. We needed a boost. We needed to be lifted. It was absolutely extraordinary, amazing.
Speaker #2
If you've ever been to Soul Prime, you know Auntie Royce throwdown.
Speaker #3
I've been smashing. It's sweet, it's salty. This is remarkable.
Speaker #1
My name is Chef Royce. I am the executive chef and owner at Soul Prime Restaurant. When Keith came to Soul Prime, it immediately changed Soul Prime. We still are receiving the Keith Lee effect.
Speaker #2
Meeting Chef Royce back in 2023 was probably one of the highlights of the food tour for me. So we had to come back to see what was going on. Hey, who's this?
Speaker #1
Hey,
Speaker #2
Auntie.
Speaker #1
I missed you,
Speaker #2
man.
Speaker #4
How you been?
Speaker #1
I did not know the effect that Keith Lee had. I did not know anything about the Keith Lee effect, but God is purposeful and he does things at his own timing. So when Keith came to Soul Prime, I kind of made Keith Lee history because I understood that I was a f***er. first owner that he's ever met while doing his food review. So he was eating in his car because of social anxiety that he suffers. And he actually came in and met me while doing the, his review. So that was extraordinary in itself. While he was there, I had customers to tell me, girl, it's going to change your life. There's going to be people sitting outside. They did. He's, you know, there's going to be people standing outside around the corner, But we did have people standing outside calling. And we have an intimate dining space. And I can say that the very next day, everyone was there.
Speaker #0
And Tiffany, you had a similar experience, but it wasn't with a restaurant critic. All right. So here's Tiffany Burrell. And you have two restaurants, the Soul Food Lounge. Yes. And here you are. Found some time off and you went to the comedy club and Gary Owens posted on social media. Not quite a review, but a kind of little interview with you about your restaurants and about what you do, and it too went viral. Tell me about that.
Speaker #5
Right. Well, of course, I had some time off, so me and one of my actual, well, actually one of my employees at the time, I took her or she took me, we went to the concert together, and it made it so special because I really, really adore Gary Owens and all of his comedy. So when we were there, it was time to check out, and I was actually tipping the server.
Speaker #0
See, that tip works.
Speaker #5
Exactly. I was actually tipping the server, and then he said, is she a good tipper? And so then I said, well, of course I am because I own a restaurant. And there we have the video.
Speaker #6
You own a restaurant? What's it called? The Soul Food Lounge. Well, man, she got all excited. Girl, your grits. I love your shrimp and grits. You like the Soul Food Lounge green dress? Yes,
Speaker #7
I love it.
Speaker #6
Where's it at?
Speaker #7
North Lawn Air.
Speaker #6
Where?
Speaker #7
I don't know where it is.
Speaker #6
I heard you guys are serving soul food in here. Come on, let me in. Let me in. Let me try some of that catfish. Hi. Hey, Chicago. Come on down to the Soul Food Lounge and see the world-renowned chef, Quick Love. Look at all these happy customers at the Soul Food Lounge.
Speaker #5
I had a lot of people in the audience that knew of my restaurant, the Soul Food Lounge. So that gave it an extra push with Gary. So they kept saying, oh my God, we know it, and clapping and applauding. So that gave him that extra push that he needed to make a viral video. And now the Soul Food Lounge is a household name. That video was over four or five million views. And like Chef Royce, we have people coming in every day saying Gary sent me. So that was so amazing. It was extra special because, like I said, again, I really, really enjoy his comedy. And I'm always at his comedy shows. And this time, now you're always at his comedy show. Always at his comedy show. So it was very, very special. And of course, all the restaurants, we need that extra push because word of mouth is how we basically do business because as a small business owners, we do not have a larger platform. So social media is it. And that gave us the push we needed as well.
Speaker #0
And Nicole, Chef Imani, here you are. Just having the time of your life as a private chef with celebrities in Hollywood no less and you decided to come back home and do what you're calling elevated comfort food for breakfast and for brunch. Tell me about
Speaker #3
Brulee. So thank you for having me it's a pleasure. Well I started at the Brulee brand when I was a private chef.
Speaker #0
Who did you work for? Tell us some of your clients.
Speaker #3
So,
Speaker #0
yes, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker #3
So going back, I started my culinary journey cooking for Tyrese Gibson in Atlanta. I was his private chef for about a year while I was in culinary school. So that was a pretty, a pretty, it was a pretty good experience. Definitely for my first gig. A lot of experience, met a lot of people, cooked for Kiki Palmer, John Singleton, rest in peace to him. And just a lot of people and then I got a call to go on tour with New Edition and do their tour, their six-month tour. And then I got a call to cook for Monique and Melvin Rodriguez, the owners of Mayo Organics. So that kind of started. So I'm their private chef currently. I cook for them six days a week,
Speaker #1
three times a day.
Speaker #3
Yeah. So how does this restaurant get into play? So Monique found me to do a brunch for her and I always love to cook brunch. Like I've Since I was a kid, breakfast, brunch food, and then she called me to do brunch, and it just became a thing for me. Everybody called me to do brunch, and I was like, I have to open up a breakfast spot. I'm one person, so I can't be in five different places at once. So that's how the brunch restaurant came about, and I was just like, let's do a brunch spot. And we searched for a spot for three years, and God said not yet, and this year he did. So we found... Brulee actually in February. And now we've been planning for the past six months to open. Congratulations.
Speaker #8
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Speaker #9
Welcome to Hell's Kitchen, Broadway's hit musical from Alicia Keys.
Speaker #10
Every song, If I Ain't Got You, Empire State of Mind is all in the show.
Speaker #9
Meet Allie, a 17-year-old girl full of fire. Meet the musical mentor who changes her life and her family, who lifts her up with exhilarating choreography. Hell's Kitchen is all about finding yourself, your purpose, and the people who inspire you. Hell's Kitchen, playing at the James M. Niederlander Theater, November 11th through 30th.
Speaker #8
At ComEd, we understand a little help can really make someone's day. That's why we provide financial assistance and billing options to help you pay and manage your electric bill. Use the ComEd Smart Assistance Manager to discover bill assistance and savings options designed with you in mind.
Speaker #9
Welcome to Hell's Kitchen, Broadway's hit musical from Alicia Keys.
Speaker #10
Every song, If I Ain't Got You, Empire State of Mind is all in the show.
Speaker #9
Meet Allie, a 17-year-old girl full of fire. Meet the musical mentor who changes her life and her family, who lifts her up. With exhilarating choreography, Hell's Kitchen is all about finding yourself, your purpose, and the people who inspire you. Hell's Kitchen, playing at the James M. Niederlander Theater, November 11th through 30th.
Speaker #0
Chef Xavier, you have got the prettiest restaurant in town in the South Loop with a dress code. And I love that because when I heard you had a dress code, I was like, I'm going to get me a dress. Why? So I can go to the restaurant. How long did it take you? I watched you. I watched you every day because you were right by my house.
Speaker #11
Quite a journey, yes, it was quite a journey. It took us about two and a half, three years to build out the restaurant. Prior to that, I owned a catering company called Vance Events for ten years. So I always knew that I wanted to own a restaurant, it was just about the right timing. And then COVID hit and all of my corporate clients were at home. So I started doing a lot of home catering, just similar to you, like a lot of home catering. And I ran into my partner Troy and I'm like, maybe this is a great time for us to open a restaurant. Found a location. We went in the first day and did the walkthrough and we laid out the entire restaurant in like 30 minutes.
Speaker #0
And we're going to look at your opening night, which was a black tie opening night. It was phenomenal.
Speaker #11
We did the black tie grand opening on Juneteenth and we had so many days that we were shooting to open. It just wasn't right. And we finally had got a great solid team and we're like we want to do the grand opening on Juneteenth and it was absolutely extraordinary.
Speaker #0
Here's a question and this is a question to all of you. Okay, so you all are chefs. So cooking is your thing. That's what you do. How do you choose the menu? How do you choose what goes on the menu?
Speaker #11
I would say for us, we really wanted to make sure that we were hitting our target, which is a Southern American steakhouse. So we really built our menu off of fine dining from that point with adding in those southern staples like braised collard greens and jalapeno cornbread skillet. And then from that point, we listened to the community a lot to see exactly what people wanted us to read because we started off originally as a breakfast and brunch restaurant. Primarily, yeah. And it was like we were going to go in in the morning, have our weekends. Are we the rest of the day? Little did you know. Troy and I were very, very big on exactly what we wanted. We did years of traveling the world to really pull our menu together exactly what we wanted. So it was easy for us.
Speaker #1
For me, how I chose the items to go on our menu is pretty simple. It's our culture. It's our background. It's who we are. We are soul food. This is what we know. So I wanted to particularly wanted to introduce my culture to Lincoln Park. So Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois, is the wealthiest community in Chicago. We don't have very many black and brown businesses represented there. So who doesn't like amazing fried chicken, some baked macaroni and cheese, some red beans? We don't need to know. Period. So I wanted the community because we have, you know, diversity, but I felt like we needed more diversity added because we did not have soul food restaurants in Lincoln Park. So, for me, is really simple. It was my culture, who we are, and to showcase us.
Speaker #0
What about you?
Speaker #5
Well, with us, with the Soul Food Lounge, we're more of a global fusion than a traditional soul food place.
Speaker #0
Global fusion. Now, what does that mean?
Speaker #5
So, basically, every culture has their own type of soul food. Italian restaurant. Right. So, you have Italian, you have Asian. All of these different cultures have their comfort food. So, we just decided, and I rely heavily on my partner, Chef Love, to... curate the menu as well because he has decades of experience. So what we was trying to do is just say, okay, let's, if we were in Italy, what does that feel like if we make it? So, and that's why we did our own variations, our twist on it. And we came up with the, with our menu, such as our Global fusion so we limited because we have a grand tasting so we have a sampler that you can taste a little bit of all the cultures.
Speaker #0
Grand tasting.
Speaker #5
Our grand tasting and that's what we're known for. We try to make it a global fusion so we just go to all the different cultures and then we create a menu like that.
Speaker #3
I felt that Chicago was missing brunch. You know I'm a brunch I go I'm a bruncher I go out to eat.
Speaker #0
What time does brunch start?
Speaker #3
Brunch is about 11 this is the earliest 11 ish is the earliest and i would say till about three o'clock and i've been to three eleven this to three you know you get those people that probably don't want to get up early you know but yeah but they still want some breakfast yeah so i think chicago was definitely missing that brunch scene um and me being down south i lived in atlanta for seven years and that was big and i went down there i'm like chicken and waffles gumbo like you know strip and grits like you know for brunch yes like just having all those things because brunch is breakfast and lunch so you can have eggs you can have your pancakes you can have your sandwiches you can have your salads you can have everything you can have pastas you can have it's literally it's wide range what you can do for brunch so i think we were missing a good soul food brunch and like they said just listening to our neighborhood and saying like hey we need this over here so So it was important to bring that element. to the South Loop of Chicago.
Speaker #1
As a small business, as an entrepreneur, as new businesses, what's the challenge?
Speaker #11
It was a little over $3 million to build out. But that was the first obstacle. The next obstacle was finding great talent.
Speaker #1
Financing is a big challenge. Staffing, I can certainly echo that, is a big challenge. And then being creative and innovative. When it comes to keeping our doors open, we got to always, we're always thinking of ways to change our menu. I change my menu seasonally at Soul Prime.
Speaker #5
Innovation, also in the talent because that's huge because I always teach my staff, you have to have, you have to teach, treat people the way you want to be treated. So you have to get them to buy in to what you're selling and that's hospitality, that's create customer service, creative in the kitchen, in the back of the house. You have to teach them to buy into your dream to make it wonderful for everyone and an exceptional experience. But also with that being said, it is also the support of our community. Yeah. So that's one of the challenges that we have. And that's one reason why Chef Roy's video made her even more successful than she already was. My Gary On video made us more successful because we need the support of the community, not just people who look like us, but just the community. And that's the biggest challenge. If we're going to stay open, we need support. We also need to be innovative and give the people something that they desire.
Speaker #8
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Speaker #9
Welcome to Hell's Kitchen, Broadway's hit musical from Alicia Keys.
Speaker #10
Every song, If I Ain't Got You, Empire State of Mind is all in the show.
Speaker #9
Meet Allie, a 17-year-old girl full of fire. Meet the musical mentor who changes her life and her family, who lifts her up. With exhilarating choreography, Hell's Kitchen is all about finding yourself, your purpose, and the people who inspire you. Hell's Kitchen, playing at the James M. Niederlander Theater, November 11th through 30th.
Speaker #8
At ComEd, we understand a little help can really make someone's day. That's why we provide financial assistance and billing options to help you pay and manage your electric bill.
Speaker #9
Welcome to Hell's Kitchen, Broadway's hit musical from Alicia Keys.
Speaker #10
Every song, If I Ain't Got You, Empire State of Mind, it's all in the show.
Speaker #9
Meet Allie, a 17-year-old girl full of fire. Meet the musical mentor who changes her life and her family, who lifts her up with exhilarating choreography. Hell's Kitchen is all about finding yourself, your purpose, and the people who inspire you. Hell's Kitchen, playing at the James M. Niederlander Theater, November 11th through 30th. Indigo Studio, Indigo Studio.
Speaker #0
So now, Imani, you're coming out of doing private cooking. I like grits. I like my grits with cheese in them every day. And now you're going into public, where we got to have a lot of people kind of liking the same thing. How do you make that transference?
Speaker #3
I would say for me, in my private chef journey, personally, I had total creative control. over my clients so you could fix i can fix whatever i want they didn't know what they were eating so they lift up the plate at six o'clock so um it's about me being creative and just showing the public my creativeness and what i have to offer so i feel like that they're going to gravitate towards it you know um and it's like i'm not open yet so i haven't gotten those customer reviews and you know stuff like that right now but Yeah, I was just like, hey, this is me, this is Imani, this is Imani on the plate. I hope you love it. I hope you enjoy it.
Speaker #0
Now, Xavier, you are a chef. You're teaching others the craft. How do you come up with the creative something? I mean, I'm sure you're constantly thinking of something else, new menu, new way to fix something old, adding another spice that'll make it taste differently. How do you come up with that?
Speaker #11
So I'm really big on flavor and... flavor components overall. And so I create a dish, went in the middle of the night, like literally run it. I get up. It really is. I get up, my entire menu I selected even before we opened, but I was like running. Soon as soon as I put my hood in and my equipment in, I was running recipes nonstop. And so soon as I haul in on the flavors, the presentation, I immediately start from the top and think about how easy this would be training my 15 line cooks. And so I like go, I take one or two, like my senior sous chefs, I take them, I train them first. And then on that following Monday, we'll train the entire staff. And everyone have their own ways of learning new dishes. And so we kind of make it up on the fly to make them understand how important it is for the customer to enjoy the dish, the way that we design it. the way that I designed it, the way that I designed it and make it perfect.
Speaker #0
Here's my final question. How do you, because this is important in restaurants. So the food is one thing and I'm assuming all just wonderful, wonderful cuisine. What about the atmosphere? Atmosphere is very important. How do you create the atmosphere?
Speaker #5
So with us, we always think about what I want and I just feel like I'm an everyday person. So it's What would I like when I go out? And that's how you build your restaurant. We have live music. I want to be able to sit down and feel comfortable, cleanliness. I want nice servers, and I want excellent cuisine. So you just try to build it around there, and I love sexy environments, so we just try to cater our restaurants to what we like.
Speaker #3
That's what you have to go off of. You know, if you are a person that goes out to eat, we've been to... all these restaurants in Chicago, you pick out little things that you like and you implement it in your restaurant.
Speaker #0
What's your favorite dish in your restaurant?
Speaker #11
I love my seafood platter. It's one of my favorites. It comes with a two-pound Maine lobster, oyster Rockefellers.
Speaker #0
What's your favorite?
Speaker #3
I would have to go with my shrimp and grits.
Speaker #0
With what?
Speaker #3
Shrimp and grits. Shrimp and grits. Yes, it comes with smoked gouda grits. Apple chicken sausage and then you have a Cajun Creole sauce and then yeah it's amazing with some cherry tomatoes.
Speaker #1
Okay what's your favorite dish?
Speaker #5
Our Carolina salmon pan polenta. So polenta yeah fried grits and salmon and shrimp.
Speaker #1
At the moment because our menu changes my favorite dish at Soul Prime is our branzino and so my branzino is pan seared and it comes with heirloom tomatoes and an amazing butter wine cream sauce and it is butter wine butter wine cream sauce and it fresh garlic but it's also paired with our southern creamy grits and our Cajun greens no substitutions but all three of those if you eat them together they go perfectly together perfectly
Speaker #0
paired
Speaker #1
Perfectly paired.
Speaker #0
Is that what they say? That's what they say.
Speaker #5
We are about fine. We are. I see.
Speaker #0
I see. I see. Now that you all have made me hungry, I want to thank you for being with us today. Thank you for having us. Thank you for telling me about your restaurants. Here's my final question. What makes Chicago, I asked it, but I'm going to ask it again. What makes Chicago a restaurant town? I go to New York, example. And you go into a restaurant no bigger than this and pay a million dollars for something. You go to Italy. Same thing. Restaurants, not big, very small. Food, just spectacular. And I don't know what the secret is. I don't know if we're just going to do good food, crazy atmosphere, maybe some music or something kind of stupid going on in the restaurant. But what makes Chicago that restaurant?
Speaker #1
We care. We care. Because we don't do that. We literally care. We don't do some of that. My colleagues that I know, we care about our. food. We care about the presentation. We care about the temperature. We care about the quality. We care about what we're presenting to our guests because we want those guests to be repeat customers. And we would like to give our guests the same thing that we that we would like to eat.
Speaker #0
So it's the experience.
Speaker #3
It's the experience. It's the skill set from your it's the skill set as well. I feel like we have a lot of skill. We have talent here. Oh, yeah, we have a lot of talent here. At first, me coming out of culinary school here in Chicago, I went to school with some amazing people who's doing some amazing things right now. The skill set is literally here. Top tier. Top tier. Okay,
Speaker #0
so here's another final question. So there is a possibility of a new law in Chicago for dogs to come into a restaurant. You all familiar with that? No. Oh, yeah. You heard about it? No. No, no. This is this. In the restaurant. In the restaurant. Yeah. Your thoughts on that. Would you let dogs in your restaurant?
Speaker #1
If it's a law, I guess we have to abide by the law. But I don't think that having that experience, I don't think that dogs belong in a restaurant. I think they belong in parks and at homes with their families, but not to dine. I think that's an opportunity for the owners and their dogs to be separated and have their own time. So, no, I don't think if it's a service dog, if it's something that's needed, which I have had before, but on a regular basis, absolutely not.
Speaker #5
That's right. I do not agree with animals being in a restaurant either. Just because we have to keep the restaurant clean.
Speaker #11
I don't agree with that. It's already hard enough.
Speaker #1
So I was in Germany once and I was eating and I looked down.
Speaker #0
Oh my God, there was this German shepherd and my appetite, everything went. Because I was like, is he getting ready to... You know, is he going to jump? Is they going to give him some food? Or what's going to happen? But you know that's a thing. In New York, they're doing it. I would say,
Speaker #11
I wouldn't mind, next summer, we're opening up our outdoor patio.
Speaker #5
Outside, in the front.
Speaker #11
And we'll be able to seat 100 people. I wouldn't mind people bringing their... their pets on our outdoor patio. I know.
Speaker #5
But you have to make accommodations. If it's disturbed,
Speaker #11
then it would be, yeah, then it would definitely be an issue, you know, for sure. But I am a pet lover. I have a dog. And Milo and I will have sat at Beatrix and had coffee and coffee cake in the mornings.
Speaker #0
But you're not letting that dog in that restaurant. No, no. You have never seen him out there. No. All right.
Speaker #11
But not in the inside. But outside, you know, some guests, we already have a host stand outside. So there's no actual contact coming in the inside at all. So I don't think, I don't see a problem there. But the inside, absolutely not. Absolutely not.
Speaker #0
Thank you so much for being with us. Congratulations to all of you. I now have new restaurants to go to and I will be visiting and I'm going to see if those favorite dishes become my favorite dishes. And I'm going to be a line cook. I'm coming to learn.
Speaker #11
Come on, Ms. Harvey. Come on.
Speaker #0
Thank you so much for being with us. You got to remember Chicago, number nine, nine years, the best city in America. And it's because of our guests today. We got the restaurant.
Speaker #7
Dump Studio

Chapters

Introduction to Chicago's Culinary Scene
22sec
Chef Royce's Journey and the Keith Lee Effect
1min
Tiffany Burrell's Viral Moment with Gary Owens
3min
Chef Emani's Transition from Private Chef to Restaurant Owner
6min
Chef Xavier's Fine Dining Experience and Dress Code
10min
Challenges Facing Small Restaurant Owners
16min
Creating Atmosphere in Restaurants
21min
What Makes Chicago a Restaurant Town?
24min

About N'DIGO STUDIO

Experience Chicago's Most Influential Voices | N'DIGO STUDIO

What you'll discover:

- In-depth interviews with Chicago's most influential voices

- Fresh perspectives on politics, culture, and social justice

- Exclusive conversations with bestselling authors and artists

- Behind-the-scenes insights into Chicago's power players

- Candid discussions about issues affecting Black Chicago and beyond

Join the conversation as Hermene Hartman delivers thought-provoking dialogue that informs, challenges, and inspires.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About N'DIGO STUDIO

Experience Chicago's Most Influential Voices | N'DIGO STUDIO

What you'll discover:

- In-depth interviews with Chicago's most influential voices

- Fresh perspectives on politics, culture, and social justice

- Exclusive conversations with bestselling authors and artists

- Behind-the-scenes insights into Chicago's power players

- Candid discussions about issues affecting Black Chicago and beyond

Join the conversation as Hermene Hartman delivers thought-provoking dialogue that informs, challenges, and inspires.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Embed

Introduction to Chicago's Culinary Scene

22sec

Chef Royce's Journey and the Keith Lee Effect

1min

Tiffany Burrell's Viral Moment with Gary Owens

3min

Chef Emani's Transition from Private Chef to Restaurant Owner

6min

Chef Xavier's Fine Dining Experience and Dress Code

10min

Challenges Facing Small Restaurant Owners

16min

Creating Atmosphere in Restaurants

21min

What Makes Chicago a Restaurant Town?

24min

Transcription

Speaker #0
Hi, I'm Hermine Hartman with Indigo Studio. Welcome. Did you know that Condé Nast said that Chicago was the best city? In America, nine years straight, and I know why. We're having a culinary renaissance right here in Chicago, transforming it into quite the restaurant town. We've got fine dining in the South Loop. We've got soul food in Lincoln Park. We've got food all over, and we're going to talk today to the new chefs who offer global cuisines, Southern cooking, and are innovators, innovators. in restaurants, and we've got new critics. We got social media food critics who can make a restaurant soar, and you don't always know that they're coming. So we got a new language, we got a new community, we got new food, we got creativity, and we got new critics, and we're going to tell you all about it. Chef Royce. She is the proprietor and the executive chef of Soul Prime in Lincoln Park. Your business was struggling and you got a critic review. You got a TikTok review and the Keith Lee effect and it changed your business. Tell us about that.
Speaker #1
It did. Thank you so much for having me, Hermine. It's a pleasure. Having Keith Lee come into Soul Prime at the moment that... We needed a change. We needed a boost. We needed to be lifted. It was absolutely extraordinary, amazing.
Speaker #2
If you've ever been to Soul Prime, you know Auntie Royce throwdown.
Speaker #3
I've been smashing. It's sweet, it's salty. This is remarkable.
Speaker #1
My name is Chef Royce. I am the executive chef and owner at Soul Prime Restaurant. When Keith came to Soul Prime, it immediately changed Soul Prime. We still are receiving the Keith Lee effect.
Speaker #2
Meeting Chef Royce back in 2023 was probably one of the highlights of the food tour for me. So we had to come back to see what was going on. Hey, who's this?
Speaker #1
Hey,
Speaker #2
Auntie.
Speaker #1
I missed you,
Speaker #2
man.
Speaker #4
How you been?
Speaker #1
I did not know the effect that Keith Lee had. I did not know anything about the Keith Lee effect, but God is purposeful and he does things at his own timing. So when Keith came to Soul Prime, I kind of made Keith Lee history because I understood that I was a f***er. first owner that he's ever met while doing his food review. So he was eating in his car because of social anxiety that he suffers. And he actually came in and met me while doing the, his review. So that was extraordinary in itself. While he was there, I had customers to tell me, girl, it's going to change your life. There's going to be people sitting outside. They did. He's, you know, there's going to be people standing outside around the corner, But we did have people standing outside calling. And we have an intimate dining space. And I can say that the very next day, everyone was there.
Speaker #0
And Tiffany, you had a similar experience, but it wasn't with a restaurant critic. All right. So here's Tiffany Burrell. And you have two restaurants, the Soul Food Lounge. Yes. And here you are. Found some time off and you went to the comedy club and Gary Owens posted on social media. Not quite a review, but a kind of little interview with you about your restaurants and about what you do, and it too went viral. Tell me about that.
Speaker #5
Right. Well, of course, I had some time off, so me and one of my actual, well, actually one of my employees at the time, I took her or she took me, we went to the concert together, and it made it so special because I really, really adore Gary Owens and all of his comedy. So when we were there, it was time to check out, and I was actually tipping the server.
Speaker #0
See, that tip works.
Speaker #5
Exactly. I was actually tipping the server, and then he said, is she a good tipper? And so then I said, well, of course I am because I own a restaurant. And there we have the video.
Speaker #6
You own a restaurant? What's it called? The Soul Food Lounge. Well, man, she got all excited. Girl, your grits. I love your shrimp and grits. You like the Soul Food Lounge green dress? Yes,
Speaker #7
I love it.
Speaker #6
Where's it at?
Speaker #7
North Lawn Air.
Speaker #6
Where?
Speaker #7
I don't know where it is.
Speaker #6
I heard you guys are serving soul food in here. Come on, let me in. Let me in. Let me try some of that catfish. Hi. Hey, Chicago. Come on down to the Soul Food Lounge and see the world-renowned chef, Quick Love. Look at all these happy customers at the Soul Food Lounge.
Speaker #5
I had a lot of people in the audience that knew of my restaurant, the Soul Food Lounge. So that gave it an extra push with Gary. So they kept saying, oh my God, we know it, and clapping and applauding. So that gave him that extra push that he needed to make a viral video. And now the Soul Food Lounge is a household name. That video was over four or five million views. And like Chef Royce, we have people coming in every day saying Gary sent me. So that was so amazing. It was extra special because, like I said, again, I really, really enjoy his comedy. And I'm always at his comedy shows. And this time, now you're always at his comedy show. Always at his comedy show. So it was very, very special. And of course, all the restaurants, we need that extra push because word of mouth is how we basically do business because as a small business owners, we do not have a larger platform. So social media is it. And that gave us the push we needed as well.
Speaker #0
And Nicole, Chef Imani, here you are. Just having the time of your life as a private chef with celebrities in Hollywood no less and you decided to come back home and do what you're calling elevated comfort food for breakfast and for brunch. Tell me about
Speaker #3
Brulee. So thank you for having me it's a pleasure. Well I started at the Brulee brand when I was a private chef.
Speaker #0
Who did you work for? Tell us some of your clients.
Speaker #3
So,
Speaker #0
yes, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker #3
So going back, I started my culinary journey cooking for Tyrese Gibson in Atlanta. I was his private chef for about a year while I was in culinary school. So that was a pretty, a pretty, it was a pretty good experience. Definitely for my first gig. A lot of experience, met a lot of people, cooked for Kiki Palmer, John Singleton, rest in peace to him. And just a lot of people and then I got a call to go on tour with New Edition and do their tour, their six-month tour. And then I got a call to cook for Monique and Melvin Rodriguez, the owners of Mayo Organics. So that kind of started. So I'm their private chef currently. I cook for them six days a week,
Speaker #1
three times a day.
Speaker #3
Yeah. So how does this restaurant get into play? So Monique found me to do a brunch for her and I always love to cook brunch. Like I've Since I was a kid, breakfast, brunch food, and then she called me to do brunch, and it just became a thing for me. Everybody called me to do brunch, and I was like, I have to open up a breakfast spot. I'm one person, so I can't be in five different places at once. So that's how the brunch restaurant came about, and I was just like, let's do a brunch spot. And we searched for a spot for three years, and God said not yet, and this year he did. So we found... Brulee actually in February. And now we've been planning for the past six months to open. Congratulations.
Speaker #8
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Speaker #9
Welcome to Hell's Kitchen, Broadway's hit musical from Alicia Keys.
Speaker #10
Every song, If I Ain't Got You, Empire State of Mind is all in the show.
Speaker #9
Meet Allie, a 17-year-old girl full of fire. Meet the musical mentor who changes her life and her family, who lifts her up with exhilarating choreography. Hell's Kitchen is all about finding yourself, your purpose, and the people who inspire you. Hell's Kitchen, playing at the James M. Niederlander Theater, November 11th through 30th.
Speaker #8
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Speaker #9
Welcome to Hell's Kitchen, Broadway's hit musical from Alicia Keys.
Speaker #10
Every song, If I Ain't Got You, Empire State of Mind is all in the show.
Speaker #9
Meet Allie, a 17-year-old girl full of fire. Meet the musical mentor who changes her life and her family, who lifts her up. With exhilarating choreography, Hell's Kitchen is all about finding yourself, your purpose, and the people who inspire you. Hell's Kitchen, playing at the James M. Niederlander Theater, November 11th through 30th.
Speaker #0
Chef Xavier, you have got the prettiest restaurant in town in the South Loop with a dress code. And I love that because when I heard you had a dress code, I was like, I'm going to get me a dress. Why? So I can go to the restaurant. How long did it take you? I watched you. I watched you every day because you were right by my house.
Speaker #11
Quite a journey, yes, it was quite a journey. It took us about two and a half, three years to build out the restaurant. Prior to that, I owned a catering company called Vance Events for ten years. So I always knew that I wanted to own a restaurant, it was just about the right timing. And then COVID hit and all of my corporate clients were at home. So I started doing a lot of home catering, just similar to you, like a lot of home catering. And I ran into my partner Troy and I'm like, maybe this is a great time for us to open a restaurant. Found a location. We went in the first day and did the walkthrough and we laid out the entire restaurant in like 30 minutes.
Speaker #0
And we're going to look at your opening night, which was a black tie opening night. It was phenomenal.
Speaker #11
We did the black tie grand opening on Juneteenth and we had so many days that we were shooting to open. It just wasn't right. And we finally had got a great solid team and we're like we want to do the grand opening on Juneteenth and it was absolutely extraordinary.
Speaker #0
Here's a question and this is a question to all of you. Okay, so you all are chefs. So cooking is your thing. That's what you do. How do you choose the menu? How do you choose what goes on the menu?
Speaker #11
I would say for us, we really wanted to make sure that we were hitting our target, which is a Southern American steakhouse. So we really built our menu off of fine dining from that point with adding in those southern staples like braised collard greens and jalapeno cornbread skillet. And then from that point, we listened to the community a lot to see exactly what people wanted us to read because we started off originally as a breakfast and brunch restaurant. Primarily, yeah. And it was like we were going to go in in the morning, have our weekends. Are we the rest of the day? Little did you know. Troy and I were very, very big on exactly what we wanted. We did years of traveling the world to really pull our menu together exactly what we wanted. So it was easy for us.
Speaker #1
For me, how I chose the items to go on our menu is pretty simple. It's our culture. It's our background. It's who we are. We are soul food. This is what we know. So I wanted to particularly wanted to introduce my culture to Lincoln Park. So Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois, is the wealthiest community in Chicago. We don't have very many black and brown businesses represented there. So who doesn't like amazing fried chicken, some baked macaroni and cheese, some red beans? We don't need to know. Period. So I wanted the community because we have, you know, diversity, but I felt like we needed more diversity added because we did not have soul food restaurants in Lincoln Park. So, for me, is really simple. It was my culture, who we are, and to showcase us.
Speaker #0
What about you?
Speaker #5
Well, with us, with the Soul Food Lounge, we're more of a global fusion than a traditional soul food place.
Speaker #0
Global fusion. Now, what does that mean?
Speaker #5
So, basically, every culture has their own type of soul food. Italian restaurant. Right. So, you have Italian, you have Asian. All of these different cultures have their comfort food. So, we just decided, and I rely heavily on my partner, Chef Love, to... curate the menu as well because he has decades of experience. So what we was trying to do is just say, okay, let's, if we were in Italy, what does that feel like if we make it? So, and that's why we did our own variations, our twist on it. And we came up with the, with our menu, such as our Global fusion so we limited because we have a grand tasting so we have a sampler that you can taste a little bit of all the cultures.
Speaker #0
Grand tasting.
Speaker #5
Our grand tasting and that's what we're known for. We try to make it a global fusion so we just go to all the different cultures and then we create a menu like that.
Speaker #3
I felt that Chicago was missing brunch. You know I'm a brunch I go I'm a bruncher I go out to eat.
Speaker #0
What time does brunch start?
Speaker #3
Brunch is about 11 this is the earliest 11 ish is the earliest and i would say till about three o'clock and i've been to three eleven this to three you know you get those people that probably don't want to get up early you know but yeah but they still want some breakfast yeah so i think chicago was definitely missing that brunch scene um and me being down south i lived in atlanta for seven years and that was big and i went down there i'm like chicken and waffles gumbo like you know strip and grits like you know for brunch yes like just having all those things because brunch is breakfast and lunch so you can have eggs you can have your pancakes you can have your sandwiches you can have your salads you can have everything you can have pastas you can have it's literally it's wide range what you can do for brunch so i think we were missing a good soul food brunch and like they said just listening to our neighborhood and saying like hey we need this over here so So it was important to bring that element. to the South Loop of Chicago.
Speaker #1
As a small business, as an entrepreneur, as new businesses, what's the challenge?
Speaker #11
It was a little over $3 million to build out. But that was the first obstacle. The next obstacle was finding great talent.
Speaker #1
Financing is a big challenge. Staffing, I can certainly echo that, is a big challenge. And then being creative and innovative. When it comes to keeping our doors open, we got to always, we're always thinking of ways to change our menu. I change my menu seasonally at Soul Prime.
Speaker #5
Innovation, also in the talent because that's huge because I always teach my staff, you have to have, you have to teach, treat people the way you want to be treated. So you have to get them to buy in to what you're selling and that's hospitality, that's create customer service, creative in the kitchen, in the back of the house. You have to teach them to buy into your dream to make it wonderful for everyone and an exceptional experience. But also with that being said, it is also the support of our community. Yeah. So that's one of the challenges that we have. And that's one reason why Chef Roy's video made her even more successful than she already was. My Gary On video made us more successful because we need the support of the community, not just people who look like us, but just the community. And that's the biggest challenge. If we're going to stay open, we need support. We also need to be innovative and give the people something that they desire.
Speaker #8
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Speaker #9
Welcome to Hell's Kitchen, Broadway's hit musical from Alicia Keys.
Speaker #10
Every song, If I Ain't Got You, Empire State of Mind is all in the show.
Speaker #9
Meet Allie, a 17-year-old girl full of fire. Meet the musical mentor who changes her life and her family, who lifts her up. With exhilarating choreography, Hell's Kitchen is all about finding yourself, your purpose, and the people who inspire you. Hell's Kitchen, playing at the James M. Niederlander Theater, November 11th through 30th.
Speaker #8
At ComEd, we understand a little help can really make someone's day. That's why we provide financial assistance and billing options to help you pay and manage your electric bill.
Speaker #9
Welcome to Hell's Kitchen, Broadway's hit musical from Alicia Keys.
Speaker #10
Every song, If I Ain't Got You, Empire State of Mind, it's all in the show.
Speaker #9
Meet Allie, a 17-year-old girl full of fire. Meet the musical mentor who changes her life and her family, who lifts her up with exhilarating choreography. Hell's Kitchen is all about finding yourself, your purpose, and the people who inspire you. Hell's Kitchen, playing at the James M. Niederlander Theater, November 11th through 30th. Indigo Studio, Indigo Studio.
Speaker #0
So now, Imani, you're coming out of doing private cooking. I like grits. I like my grits with cheese in them every day. And now you're going into public, where we got to have a lot of people kind of liking the same thing. How do you make that transference?
Speaker #3
I would say for me, in my private chef journey, personally, I had total creative control. over my clients so you could fix i can fix whatever i want they didn't know what they were eating so they lift up the plate at six o'clock so um it's about me being creative and just showing the public my creativeness and what i have to offer so i feel like that they're going to gravitate towards it you know um and it's like i'm not open yet so i haven't gotten those customer reviews and you know stuff like that right now but Yeah, I was just like, hey, this is me, this is Imani, this is Imani on the plate. I hope you love it. I hope you enjoy it.
Speaker #0
Now, Xavier, you are a chef. You're teaching others the craft. How do you come up with the creative something? I mean, I'm sure you're constantly thinking of something else, new menu, new way to fix something old, adding another spice that'll make it taste differently. How do you come up with that?
Speaker #11
So I'm really big on flavor and... flavor components overall. And so I create a dish, went in the middle of the night, like literally run it. I get up. It really is. I get up, my entire menu I selected even before we opened, but I was like running. Soon as soon as I put my hood in and my equipment in, I was running recipes nonstop. And so soon as I haul in on the flavors, the presentation, I immediately start from the top and think about how easy this would be training my 15 line cooks. And so I like go, I take one or two, like my senior sous chefs, I take them, I train them first. And then on that following Monday, we'll train the entire staff. And everyone have their own ways of learning new dishes. And so we kind of make it up on the fly to make them understand how important it is for the customer to enjoy the dish, the way that we design it. the way that I designed it, the way that I designed it and make it perfect.
Speaker #0
Here's my final question. How do you, because this is important in restaurants. So the food is one thing and I'm assuming all just wonderful, wonderful cuisine. What about the atmosphere? Atmosphere is very important. How do you create the atmosphere?
Speaker #5
So with us, we always think about what I want and I just feel like I'm an everyday person. So it's What would I like when I go out? And that's how you build your restaurant. We have live music. I want to be able to sit down and feel comfortable, cleanliness. I want nice servers, and I want excellent cuisine. So you just try to build it around there, and I love sexy environments, so we just try to cater our restaurants to what we like.
Speaker #3
That's what you have to go off of. You know, if you are a person that goes out to eat, we've been to... all these restaurants in Chicago, you pick out little things that you like and you implement it in your restaurant.
Speaker #0
What's your favorite dish in your restaurant?
Speaker #11
I love my seafood platter. It's one of my favorites. It comes with a two-pound Maine lobster, oyster Rockefellers.
Speaker #0
What's your favorite?
Speaker #3
I would have to go with my shrimp and grits.
Speaker #0
With what?
Speaker #3
Shrimp and grits. Shrimp and grits. Yes, it comes with smoked gouda grits. Apple chicken sausage and then you have a Cajun Creole sauce and then yeah it's amazing with some cherry tomatoes.
Speaker #1
Okay what's your favorite dish?
Speaker #5
Our Carolina salmon pan polenta. So polenta yeah fried grits and salmon and shrimp.
Speaker #1
At the moment because our menu changes my favorite dish at Soul Prime is our branzino and so my branzino is pan seared and it comes with heirloom tomatoes and an amazing butter wine cream sauce and it is butter wine butter wine cream sauce and it fresh garlic but it's also paired with our southern creamy grits and our Cajun greens no substitutions but all three of those if you eat them together they go perfectly together perfectly
Speaker #0
paired
Speaker #1
Perfectly paired.
Speaker #0
Is that what they say? That's what they say.
Speaker #5
We are about fine. We are. I see.
Speaker #0
I see. I see. Now that you all have made me hungry, I want to thank you for being with us today. Thank you for having us. Thank you for telling me about your restaurants. Here's my final question. What makes Chicago, I asked it, but I'm going to ask it again. What makes Chicago a restaurant town? I go to New York, example. And you go into a restaurant no bigger than this and pay a million dollars for something. You go to Italy. Same thing. Restaurants, not big, very small. Food, just spectacular. And I don't know what the secret is. I don't know if we're just going to do good food, crazy atmosphere, maybe some music or something kind of stupid going on in the restaurant. But what makes Chicago that restaurant?
Speaker #1
We care. We care. Because we don't do that. We literally care. We don't do some of that. My colleagues that I know, we care about our. food. We care about the presentation. We care about the temperature. We care about the quality. We care about what we're presenting to our guests because we want those guests to be repeat customers. And we would like to give our guests the same thing that we that we would like to eat.
Speaker #0
So it's the experience.
Speaker #3
It's the experience. It's the skill set from your it's the skill set as well. I feel like we have a lot of skill. We have talent here. Oh, yeah, we have a lot of talent here. At first, me coming out of culinary school here in Chicago, I went to school with some amazing people who's doing some amazing things right now. The skill set is literally here. Top tier. Top tier. Okay,
Speaker #0
so here's another final question. So there is a possibility of a new law in Chicago for dogs to come into a restaurant. You all familiar with that? No. Oh, yeah. You heard about it? No. No, no. This is this. In the restaurant. In the restaurant. Yeah. Your thoughts on that. Would you let dogs in your restaurant?
Speaker #1
If it's a law, I guess we have to abide by the law. But I don't think that having that experience, I don't think that dogs belong in a restaurant. I think they belong in parks and at homes with their families, but not to dine. I think that's an opportunity for the owners and their dogs to be separated and have their own time. So, no, I don't think if it's a service dog, if it's something that's needed, which I have had before, but on a regular basis, absolutely not.
Speaker #5
That's right. I do not agree with animals being in a restaurant either. Just because we have to keep the restaurant clean.
Speaker #11
I don't agree with that. It's already hard enough.
Speaker #1
So I was in Germany once and I was eating and I looked down.
Speaker #0
Oh my God, there was this German shepherd and my appetite, everything went. Because I was like, is he getting ready to... You know, is he going to jump? Is they going to give him some food? Or what's going to happen? But you know that's a thing. In New York, they're doing it. I would say,
Speaker #11
I wouldn't mind, next summer, we're opening up our outdoor patio.
Speaker #5
Outside, in the front.
Speaker #11
And we'll be able to seat 100 people. I wouldn't mind people bringing their... their pets on our outdoor patio. I know.
Speaker #5
But you have to make accommodations. If it's disturbed,
Speaker #11
then it would be, yeah, then it would definitely be an issue, you know, for sure. But I am a pet lover. I have a dog. And Milo and I will have sat at Beatrix and had coffee and coffee cake in the mornings.
Speaker #0
But you're not letting that dog in that restaurant. No, no. You have never seen him out there. No. All right.
Speaker #11
But not in the inside. But outside, you know, some guests, we already have a host stand outside. So there's no actual contact coming in the inside at all. So I don't think, I don't see a problem there. But the inside, absolutely not. Absolutely not.
Speaker #0
Thank you so much for being with us. Congratulations to all of you. I now have new restaurants to go to and I will be visiting and I'm going to see if those favorite dishes become my favorite dishes. And I'm going to be a line cook. I'm coming to learn.
Speaker #11
Come on, Ms. Harvey. Come on.
Speaker #0
Thank you so much for being with us. You got to remember Chicago, number nine, nine years, the best city in America. And it's because of our guests today. We got the restaurant.
Speaker #7
Dump Studio

Chapters

Introduction to Chicago's Culinary Scene

22sec

Chef Royce's Journey and the Keith Lee Effect

1min

Tiffany Burrell's Viral Moment with Gary Owens

3min

Chef Emani's Transition from Private Chef to Restaurant Owner

6min

Chef Xavier's Fine Dining Experience and Dress Code

10min

Challenges Facing Small Restaurant Owners

16min

Creating Atmosphere in Restaurants

21min

What Makes Chicago a Restaurant Town?

24min