Luella’s Southern Kitchen Celebrates Family Legacy

Chef Darnell Reed is the owner of Luella’s Southern Kitchen. Photo by Cindy Kurman.
Chef Darnell Reed is the owner of Luella’s Southern Kitchen. Photo by Cindy Kurman.

Luella’s Southern Kitchen Celebrates Family Legacy

By Tia Carol Jones

Chef Darnell Reed got into cooking at a very young age and began professionally at a young age. Growing up, he would watch Chef Justin Wilson on Channel 11. He chose culinary arts in high school while he was attending Dunbar Vocational High School. At 16, he worked in the kitchen at the Palmer House Hilton. Reed opened Luella’s Southern Kitchen in 2015 and recently re-opened the restaurant in a new location in Albany Park.

Reed said working at the Palmer House Hilton was the best experience for him because he was working around a lot of adults and he was able to soak up knowledge from them, as well as build relationships. He loved the job. As someone who loved working in groups, Reed liked the camaraderie of the kitchen and flourished in the environment of working amongst 108 cooks. Culinary school was where he realized he loved to cook. He attended Washburne Trade School and remembers rushing from school to go to work.

“I was in school in the morning and I was working at night, and I was really enjoying my life, and really all I was doing was cooking,” he said.

Reed said that even today, running his restaurant doesn’t feel like a job. He is doing something he enjoys, and cooking is something he happens to get paid to do. He said he cooks, not because of the money, but because it creates a sense of calm in him. He is someone who is always learning and said that is one of the things he enjoys the most about cooking.

He said no matter what he thinks he knows, there is always an opportunity to learn more. He said that in the hospitality industry there is always a push to be better, because someone will always do something better than another person. Reed said even with owning Luella’s, he enjoys working on the line as a cook. He said every now and then he will jump back on the line.

Reed said his great grandmother Luella and his teacher at Dunbar, Ron Martin, were highly influential in inspiring him to open the restaurant. Martin was the one who got him the job at the Palmer House Hilton. He was also the one who signed him up to attend Washburne. Reed said what made him open Luella’s during his time at the Conrad Hotel. He pushed hard to bring Southern cuisine there for a summer terrace series. The corporate food and beverage director and corporate chef came to try the food. He said they loved the food and it gave Reed the validation. After 18 years, Reed decided he wanted a challenge and set out to open his own restaurant.

Reed said his great grandmother was happy to know he named the restaurant after her. It was her food that served as the foundation for him. He said that he digs deep to make Southern classics that people don’t see everywhere else. His goal is to set Luella’s apart from other restaurants that serve Southern cuisine. At Luella’s Reed has a Kentucky Hot Brown on the menu, the open-faced sandwich has turkey, bacon, tomato and cheese.

“We’ve had people from Kentucky that had it, and they told us it’s better than they’ve had when they’re down there,” he said.

Reed said he is still getting comfortable in his new space at 4114 N. Kedzie Ave. He said he knows that people will enjoy the new space as much as they’ve enjoyed the food previously. He is experimenting with different menu items and regional items, while also serving items for breakfast and brunch, like shrimp and grits and chicken and waffles. Reed said the most popular item on the menu and his favorite dish is the shrimp and grits, his shrimp is stuffed with crabmeat.

For more information about Luella’s Southern Kitchen, visit www.luellassouthernkitchen.com.


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