This year marks the fifth anniversary of Black Restaurant Week Midwest in Chicago. 

More than 60 Black-owned eateries across the city are participating over the next week and half to highlight the rich cultural cuisines throughout the Black diaspora.

Black Restaurant Week was conceived in 2016 in Houston to address the financial hurdles faced by many Black chefs and restaurateurs.

Terri Evans of Windy City Ribs understands this struggle well. 

When she was an up-and-coming restaurant owner seeking the resources to take up shop at Navy Pier, she ran into financial roadblocks before finally succeeding.

Windy City Ribs is the first restaurant at the pier owned by a Black woman.

“We have the grit and intelligence to ensure that our restaurants are successful,” Evans said. “The challenge is the capital, right? When you don’t have the resources to do the additional stuff that’s necessary in order to grow in scale like marketing, you’re going to need that extra push.”

The barbecue spot is offering its sampler at a discounted rate, as well as a catfish and smoked wings combination for the non-pork eaters.

Evans said she stands on the shoulders of those who came before her. 

“My great-great-grandfather sold whiskey as a freed slave,” she said. “If he could do that as a freed slave and sell whiskey to be able to create an educational opportunity for his family, I’m three generations later selling whiskey. … We always go back to the roots.”

Similarly, Aisha Murff with Haire’s Gulf Shrimp is continuing the legacy of her family-run business that’s been serving Chicago’s South Side for two decades.

Murff’s late husband and the restaurant’s founder, Finnie Haire, built the business with his mother in mind.

The famous shrimp po boy that’s being served in honor of Black Restaurant Week was Finnie’s mother’s recipe from the Louisiana gulf area. The restaurant continues to honor that tradition by cutting and deveining the shrimp by hand.

“That’s why we have that one-of-a-kind, distinct taste,” Murff said.

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