Soul Food Spot Oooh Wee It Is Reopens
Beloved Chicago soul food restaurant Oooh Wee It Is is reopening in a new Chatham location. The expanded menu will now feature breakfast classics alongside its signature dishes, tapping into the enduring appeal of authentic neighborhood-driven comfort food.
The Oooh Wee It Is brand began with sweet tea. In 2014, owner Mark Walker started selling his Oooh Wee Sweet Tea at a Harold's Chicken, selling 286,000 cups in the first year alone before he and his wife Shae expanded into restaurants. The previous Chatham location, which opened in February 2021, was a 5,000-square-foot establishment known for its eclectic decor featuring swings for seats and life-size statues of comic book characters like Iron Man and Batman. The spot also featured a cereal bar with more than 75 varieties for a whimsical, millennial-focused twist. This isn't the brand's first expansion effort. After opening their initial carry-out spot in Burnham in late 2020 and the first Chatham restaurant in 2021, the Walkers announced plans for two more locations in Wicker Park and Beverly. The Wicker Park outpost was intended to have live music and exclusive menu items like lobster pop tarts. The restaurant gained national buzz after a mention from Golden Globe winner Ayo Edebiri. The menu is known for what the owners call "soul food with a twist," including popular dishes like pot roast cupcakes, Hennessy wings, and fried lobster, which created long lines at its previous locations. The reopening is part of a larger narrative in the Greater Chatham area, which has been working to revitalize its commercial corridors and has branded its 75th Street as a "Restaurant Row." Despite some population decline in the area, the number of restaurants has been on an upward trend over the past decade.
