Soul & Smoke’s unique take on Chicago-style barbecue has steadily grown since it started in 2015 as a casual menu option for a fancy catering business. The operation now has multiple counter-service spots, including a seasonal concession stand at Soldier
Field. Its two food trucks can often be found at events around the city. A retail line of bottled sauces and rubs bears its name, too. But on Tuesday, September 1, Soul & Smoke’s husband-and-wife team, chef D’Andre Carter and sommelier Heather Bublick, take their biggest leap yet with the opening of their highly anticipated table service restaurant inside the Evanston building at 1601 Payne Street.
“We’ve been serving thousands of people a year, which has been such a blessing, but it’s always been at festivals with a food truck or with takeout,” says Bublick, who met Carter while working at chef Homaro Cantu’s innovative Michelin-starred restaurant, Moto. “This is the first time we’re able to invite people in and give them the full version of Soul & Smoke.”
Carter’s food at the new restaurant pays respect to his time working in fine dining and his passion for barbecue that took root as a child when he would help his grandmother, the family’s pitmaster, with the grilling for Sunday suppers at her South Side home.
When it opens, Soul & Smoke will feature two menus — an all-day menu more akin to the current options served at Soul & Smoke’s locations across the region, and a new dinner menu with steaks, pastas, and creatively plated bites.
The former reflects the current offerings of its to-go operation located in the rear of the building. There’s prime brisket smoked low and slow, available on its own or in a sandwich. Heritage-bred, Midwest-raised hogs serve as the starting point for smoked pulled pork as well as St. Louis-style ribs and jalapeño cheddar sausage. Smoked Duroc pork rib tips and turkey tips, like most of the menu items, are available by the pound. Soul food has its own section with offerings ranging from smoked chicken gumbo to a vegan smoky joe sandwich. Sides like smoked turkey-infused collard greens and brown butter cornbread muffins harken back to those family gatherings.
Unlike at its counter-service spots, the expanded Soul & Smoke will present its barbecue on plates rather than paper-topped trays, with a roll of paper towels, standard at many barbecue spots, on each table. “That high-low aspect is important,” says Bublick. “We want people to feel comfortable here.”
The dinner menu, available after 4 p.m. along with the all-day menu, moves beyond the barbecue dishes Carter’s known for. “Our goal is to reimagine what a barbecue restaurant could be and take that to the next level,” he says.
The Moto Cigar Bite, an homage to Cantu, features smoked oxtail rolled in a collard green leaf. Resembling a cigar, the starter is plated in an ashtray dusted in sesame ash. Small plates include a grilled halibut collar with coconut curry sauce, fresh pasta with a Cajun tomato sauce, and pastrami burnt ends. Bang bang shrimp pairs fried Gulf shrimp with an umami barbecue sauce.
A daily Niman Ranch certified prime steak cut will be smoked, then grilled. “I’ve always been a big steak guy,” says Carter. He’s putting the finishing touches on a sharable, bone-in beef shank cut nicknamed Thor’s hammer for its resemblance to the mythic Norse weapon. Smoked caviar is available as an add-on for the potato salad deviled eggs, and chilled Gulf oysters, and as a bump, because why not?.
Aiding in Carter’s culinary adventure is an assortment of new kitchen equipment, including a moveable charcoal oven, a robata grill, and two bright-red, 10-foot wood-burning smokers specially built by a company in Texas. “I look at all these tools and equipment as different flavor makers,” says Carter. The counter seats in front of the open kitchen provide a front-row view to the cooking action with the possibility of a special coursed menu down the road.
Former GT Prime pastry chef Casey Doody was brought on to consult on the desserts, which include peach cobbler with butter pecan ice cream and sweet potato pie gussied up with towering marshmallow meringue.
Bublick oversees the beverage program, which, in addition to wine, includes local beer on draft like Beer for the Soul, a Soul & Smoke and Sketchbook Brewing collab. Soul & Smoke’s five draft cocktails, the same ones that get bottled onsite and sent to the other outlets, are featured along with classic and throwback drinks.
Two Icee machines will pour frozen lemonade and a nonalcoholic piña colada with an alcoholic topper available. “We really wanted to make sure kids could enjoy these things,” says Bublick. An extensive tea and coffee menu might eventually morph into a weekday neighborhood coffee shop.
Like at its carryout spots, Soul & Smoke restaurant will operate on a service-charge model. Although here, it will be 18 percent instead of 8 percent. “It goes to all our staff, front and back of house,” says Bublick. “They’re all getting a cut of it, and it really has made for more of an equitable wage.” The line for tipping has been removed from the bill to further drive home their philosophy of no additional gratuity. It’s still included on online orders where it’s needed for delivery drivers.
Another distinction at the new 175-seat restaurant is what Carter and Bublick are calling “a churrasco-esque hybrid service model.” A nod to Brazilian steakhouse style of continuous tableside service, where a visual cue signals servers to come to the table, diners at the new Soul & Smoke can place a card atop the paper towel holder to signal your server. Ordering at Soul & Smoke can be done via paper menus with a server or independently with QR codes or a combination of both.
When it came to designing the restaurant of their dreams, Carter and Bublick knew that featuring art and products that told thoughtful stories about the space, community, and the people who built it was a requirement. Numerous pieces from local artists like Hebru Brantley and Paul Octavious decorate the flagship restaurant’s walls. The wine selection features bottles from BIPOC and woman-owned wineries. And the restaurant continues to maintain its community fridge outside the Soul & Smoke building, which acknowledges those in need in the surrounding Fifth Ward neighborhood. The staff routinely stocks the fridge with 200 bags of house-smoked ribs tips offered daily, along with other prepared food, which dually helps reduce food waste at the restaurant. “The team really loves it, and it’s become part of the culture here,” says Bublick.
Near the entrance is a two-wall mural by local street artist JC Rivera. “We really wanted to bring him indoors,” says Carter. A piece by artist Raspy Rivera (no relation) incorporates Soul & Smoke’s own paper tray liners and stickers. On a barn door original to the building when it opened as a dairy in 1921, artist Dwight White created a mural that honors the close connection between farmers and chefs. Nearby shelves are stacked with books from barbecue greats like Rodney Scott.
The unisex bathrooms offer another chance to experience art. Wallpaper illustrated with flowers with faces by graphic artist Rello lines the walls. In the stalls, portraits from Octavious’s Muse photography collection shine a light on the Black experience. Betty Boop makes an appearance, too, depicted to resemble the Black Jazz Age singer and entertainer Esther Jones, who some say inspired the original cartoon character.
Then there’s the large mural by Brantley, his first in seven years, that features his iconic Flyboy. There was a lot of back and forth to make it happen, but Bublick’s persistence prevailed. She credits the recent return of a long-closed Fifth Ward elementary school as helping to convince the artist. The couple’s 8-year-old daughter got to contribute to the work with small hearts at the bottom of the piece. “He’s the humblest of giants,” says Bublick. “The kids in this neighborhood need to see Black excellence.”
The building that houses Soul & Smoke carries a powerful message, too. The couple initially rented parts of the large single-story space before buying it in 2020. The most recent tenant was Robinson Bus Company, which, as the country’s largest Black-owned transportation company, employed many folks in the surrounding community.
“They used to give people jobs and do good for the neighborhood, which is pretty much what we’re trying to do,” says Carter. “It matters to carry on that legacy.”
Soul & Smoke, 1601 Payne Street, Evanston; beginning September 1, open Sunday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
