Luella’s Southern Kitchen, the beloved restaurant best known for its buttermilk fried chicken or perhaps crab stuffed shrimp with house-smoked grits, has made a long-anticipated move after 10 years in Lincoln Square — along with a big menu change.

Chef and owner Darnell Reed celebrated the grand opening in Albany Park on Aug. 6.

But he’s not serving dinner.

“We’re a brunch location,” said Reed. “And we are still truly serving Southern cuisine.”

So why the menu change?

“That was the best way for me to balance my work life,” said the chef. “I just want to be able to spend more time with my family.” He and his wife, Jocelyn Reed, have two kids aged 7 and 10.

Now, when the restaurant gets busy and the chef needs to stay late, that means he leaves work at 5 p.m. instead of late into the night.

“I feel like the industry sometimes makes you choose,” said Reed. “Like it’s your family or the industry.”

Luella’s is still open five days a week, Wednesday through Sunday, though that could change in the future.

“But the shift to serve brunch means I’m in the restaurant every day we’re open,” said the chef. “From open to close.”

Meanwhile, some menu items went away, and some are new, including one he’s most excited about, his Kentucky Hot Brown.

A hot brown is traditionally an open-faced turkey and bacon sandwich smothered in a Mornay and then broiled until the cheesy sauce bubbles and the bread toasts.

Luella’s hot brown differs from the classic invented 99 years ago at The Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, where they now use Texas toast in their recipe.

“We make our own brioche,” said Reed.

The Kentucky Hot Brown open-faced sandwich at Luella’s Southern Kitchen. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

He sources roast turkey from Slagel Farms in Fairbury and thick-cut bacon from Nueske’s in Wisconsin, and makes a traditional Mornay sauce, adding fontina cheese and slow-roasted tomato too.

So why the move from Lincoln Square for the award-winning Luella’s?

“Our lease was up at the end of October of last year,” said Reed. “We got very lucky that our landlord allowed us to stay as long as we stayed.”

After a lengthy search across the city, a contractor friend tipped the chef off about the location in Albany Park with a coveted back patio.

Reed bought the building, marking ownership for the ode to his great-grandmother Luella Funches, who migrated from Morgan City, Mississippi, in 1943.

Outside the restaurant, you’ll see Luella’s Southern Kitchen painted in Carolina blue and white. Inside, the airy and light dining room seats about 50, with a bar on your right, and the kitchen to the left and straight ahead. The back patio seats 40 or so more. Sunlight warms the space inside and out.

The golden puffy domed buttermilk pancakes are newish.

“Our pancakes are still the pancakes we’ve always served,” Reed said. “But now we’re serving them a lot fluffier.”

Luella’s Southern Kitchen chef-owner Darnell Reed at his Albany Park restaurant on Aug. 27, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

Reed and his wife have been to Golden Diner in New York City, where people wait in hourslong lines for the signature honey butter pancakes.

“I’ve had them, and I love them,” said the chef. “They’re adding yeast, which gives them more rise, depth and flavor.”

Luella’s puffy pancakes are served with blueberry compote, maple syrup and brown butter.

Also look for a weekly changing French toast, boudin sausage breakfast sandwich and eggs Benedict with house-made tasso ham.

One of the bestselling food items at Luella’s remains the buttermilk fried chicken, but it’s running neck and neck with the crab stuffed shrimp and grits.

“We had a group of eight sisters come in,” said the chef. “All they wanted was the shrimp stuffed with crab.”

The new location is BYOB at this point, but Reed is working to get that changed.

“And our sweet tea is very popular,” he said. “It’s a specific type of English breakfast tea from Stivers Coffee, where we get our coffee from too.”

Greg Stivers pioneered coffee roasting in Pilsen 40 years ago.

The fan favorite beignets made the move, but the return of Baye’s Little Bakery (named for his great-grandmother’s nickname) will have to wait.

“We were going to make our sticky donuts,” said Reed. “But the one area of the kitchen where we prep became too hot.”

They may bring them back in the fall, said the chef, but luckily, beignets love humidity.

4114 N. Kedzie Ave., 773-961-8196, luellassouthernkitchen.com

New restaurant openings, in alphabetical order:

Adalina Prime

Chef Soo Ahn has become a partner at Adalina Italian’s new globally inspired sibling steakhouse. Adalina Prime opened in Fulton Market on Sept. 2. Executive chef Nemanja Milunović brings a truffled Balkan burek on the secret menu, alongside a main menu large format dino short rib served with a fried sticky rice cake, plus a dessert menu hot pink strawberry layer cake by pastry chef Amy Arnold.

360 N. Green St., 312-690-3333, adalinaprime.com

Creepies

Michelin-starred Elske’s chefs, owners and spouses Anna and David Posey quietly debuted a neighborhood bistro next door. Creepies crept into the West Loop on Aug. 22. Chef de cuisine Tayler Ploshehanski leads the kitchen, offering a Chicago-accented French menu with steamed mussels, fennel giardiniera and Pernod; a tavern-style tarte flambé; and an Is/Was Brewing and Creepies collab elderflower and bitter orange saison beer.

1360 W. Randolph St., 312-579-2727, creepieschicago.com

Ithaki Estiatorio

The former Parthenon space has been transformed into a sleek Greek restaurant by owner Kosti Demos, who grew up working at his family’s restaurant Costa’s, another neighborhood favorite before it burned down in 2010. Ithaki Estiatorio journeyed home to Greektown on Aug. 29. Look for flaming saganaki (where it was invented in 1968, according to one claim), and a modern watermelon carpaccio with barrel-aged feta too.

314 S. Halsted St., 312-741-9105, ithakichicago.com

Little Lark

Meadowlark Hospitality (Lardon, Union, The Meadowlark) has thrown down a wood-fired pizzeria at Guild Row coworking space and social club. Little Lark started slicing up in Avondale on Aug. 27. Look for Lardon’s house-made finocchiona and fennel on a pie, a tiramisu ice cream sandwich and a pizza Negroni with basil.

3132 N. Rockwell St. (at Guild Row), littlelarkchicago.com

SHŌ

Chef Mari Katsumura (whose parents founded Yoshi’s Cafe) and Adam Sindler (whose grandmother founded Kamehachi) have partnered to create their own Japanese restaurant. SHŌ began serving in Old Town on Aug. 12. Katsumura, who earned a Michelin star at Yugen, dropped a 10-course tasting menu featuring a milk bread grilled cheese, a Loch Etive steelhead trout oshizushi hand roll and seasonal soft serve for dessert.

1533 N. Wells St., sho-chicago.com

Trino

Diego chef and owner Stephen Sandoval has fired up a steakhouse and Latin restaurant. Trino started sizzling in the West Loop on Aug. 6. The 22-ounce, 48-day dry aged Creekstone Farms ribeye is the house favorite out of seven steaks on the menu, available with a huitlacoche bordelaise, and duck fat refried beans on the side.

738 W. Randolph St., 312-446-9043, trinochicago.com

In community food mission news:

Kitchen Possible, recipient of a 2025 Tribune Critic’s Choice Award for their outstanding work empowering kids through cooking, kicked off their sixth annual fundraising collaboration with 52 of the best restaurants across the city all September, with $1 donated from every olive burger at J.T.’s Genuine Sandwich Shop, flaming saganaki at Avli, pulled pork po’boy at Soul & Smoke, meatballs at Peanut Park, spicy loaded gyoza at Monster Ramen, the Kitchen Possible ‘za at Pizza Friendly Pizza, and much more.

kitchenpossible.org/empowering-menus-fundraiser

In new location and reopening news:

Bocadillo Market, the excellent Spanish and American Southern-inspired restaurant by chef James Martin, moved from Lincoln Park to West Town on Aug. 1.

1117 W. Grand Ave., bocadillomarket.com

Haire’s Gulf Shrimp, the South Side destination for fried shrimp and spaghetti, launched a seasonal location on the Riverwalk on July 27.

91 E. Riverwalk Drive, hairesgulfshrimp.com

Kitchen + Kocktails By Kevin Kelley, the stylish Southern comfort food and cocktail import from Dallas, relocated to a bigger space in River North on Aug. 6.

339 N. Dearborn St., 312-847-5543, kitchenkocktailsusa.com/chicago

Milly’s Pizza in the Pan, the award-winning pizzeria by Robert Maleski, found a new home with a rare Middleby Marshall oven in West Town on July 17.

925 N. Ashland Ave., 224-809-7192, millyspizzachi.com

Redhot Ranch, the hot dog stand equally renowned for burgers, shrimp and fresh-cut fries, celebrated the grand opening of a third location in Skokie on Aug. 19.

4811 Dempster St. (in Oberweis Ice Cream and Dairy Store), Skokie; 224-470-6118; redhotranchchicago.com

S.K.Y., chef Stephen Gillanders’ creative contemporary American restaurant with global influences, traveled from Pilsen to Lincoln Park on Aug. 1.

2300 N. Lincoln Park W. (in the Belden-Stratford), 312-846-1077, skyrestaurantchicago.com

In closing news:

George’s Deep Dish in Harwood Heights, the second location of the award-winning pizzeria by George Bumbaris, has closed after mere months, according to an announcement on Aug. 16, but the out-of-this-world original flagship in Edgewater remains open.

Twisted Spoke, the neighborhood biker bar and grill, closed permanently after 30 years in West Town on Aug. 31.

In food media news:

Ashok Selvam, the James Beard award-winning editor of Eater Chicago, was among 15 members of the Vox Media Union who were laid off on Aug. 8. He has organized a GoFundMe to support his fellow journalists.

Do you have notable restaurant news in the Chicago area? Email restaurant critic Louisa Kung Liu Chu at lchu@chicagotribune.com.

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https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/09/restaurant-news-luellas-southern-kitchen/