Josephine’s Southern Cooking, the longtime soul food restaurant in Greater Grand Crossing at 436 E. 79th Street, is considering relocating to a new location to expand the business.
Josephine Wade opened the restaurant in 1986 before eventually bringing in her son Victor Love and rebranding it to Josephine’s Southern Cooking. Potential relocation sites include Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Lincoln Park, and the South Loop, according to Chicago Business Journal. While nothing is confirmed, Love also plans to revamp the menu to breakfast and brunch only. The restaurant will remain open while the decision is considered, serving classic dishes such as gumbo, wings, and braised short ribs.
“No decision has been made yet about relocation, but it is on the table as an option,” Love tells the Chicago Business Journal. “I expect to make a decision by year-end as to if our current location is feasible to support future expansion plans.”
While the restaurant/ banquet hall, which was initially called Captain’s Hard Time Dining, has been visited by multiple celebrities, including Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, MC Hammer, Busta Rhymes, and Aretha Franklin, it still has flaws. Love says the location on 79th Street is no longer conducive for a sit-down restaurant. On top of that, there is no space to build a parking lot, leaving customers to park on the street. On top of that, the pandemic hit the business hard. Despite all this, Love says his mother was the driving factor behind keeping the restaurant open during tough times.
“The pandemic and the looting that happened back in 2020 hit us and many restaurants hard,” he recalled. “But even before that, my mom had to deal with a lot of challenges as a small business owner in order to keep the business family-owned.”
