Englewood’s only fine dining restaurant is getting a refresh

It’s been many years, but Golden Moore remembers her “beautiful” meal at Sikia clearly.

Moore, a patron and former culinary student at Washburne Culinary & Hospitality Institute, recalls low lighting, soft background music with drum beats and the murmur of chatter.

“It was beautiful,” Moore said. “It was warm, it was friendly, and it was inviting.”

Then, in 2020, like many businesses, Sikia closed down. Now, the staff at Washburne is hoping to bring it back with a new look.

Moore, who lives in Auburn Gresham, is excited about Sikia’s return.

“I’m ecstatic. I can’t wait,” she said. “It will be good for the community, somewhere to sit down and dine in. It’s not somewhere that you’re just pushed out the door with a brown paper bag.”

Sikia, at 740 W. 63rd St., shows there is a need for fine dining in neighborhoods like Englewood, Moore said. To her, the restaurant shows that people are putting value on the space, residents and the neighborhood.

Alex Wroblewski/For The Sun-Times

Kennedy-King College will host a luncheon Wednesday for community members to see the restaurant one last time before a renovation and grand opening in the fall of 2024.

Before it closed, Sikia was a place where neighbors would come for dates, business meetings or dinner with their family. The space holds a lot of memories for Katonja Webb-Walker, president of Kennedy-King College, who would go to Sikia to get a three-course meal for $12.

“That is absolutely unheard of for the quality of food that we got,” she said. “For me, the food rivaled anything I would find downtown.” Webb-Walker recalled a grilled octopus dish that she said called “amazing” and “atypical” of the usual restaurant fare on the South Side.

Sikia was about making something special for the community, she said.

“It was a way for us to engage the community, to provide something to the community that they weren’t able to engage without having to pick up and drive to Hyde Park or to drive downtown or take public transportation,” she said.

After closing down due to COVID-19, Webb-Walker said she and other Kennedy-King staff realized it had been 15 years since the restaurant opened, and it was time for a refresh.

Instead of just reopening the restaurant as it was, Webb-Walker said the staff wanted to get the community’s thoughts on what they’d like to see in the restaurant.

Alex Wroblewski/For The Sun-Times

For the reopening next year, Washburne Executive Dean Jewel Mideau, has big plans.

As it stands, the restaurant’s walls are paneled with wood. Many tables are surrounded by diner-style booths with retro-geometric patterned cushioning and brown leather seats. Long cylindrical yellow lights hang from the ceiling, as do sconces placed throughout the space.

The general tones of the restaurant are warm, with brown carpeting throughout and splashes of red paint on some walls. The tables are round or square and white, with a crisp white tablecloth covering them during service.

The college plans to renovate the space using $500,000 of a $5 million grant to Kennedy-King College from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, Mideau said.

Mideau is hoping to transform Sikia’s interior, changing the carpet out with wood flooring, painting over the red walls with a brighter paint, getting new furniture and redesigning the layout of the restaurant.

Mideau said she’s hoping Sikia can again become a space that community members frequent.

“This is an experience, not just food, but an experience that some people don’t have an opportunity to get any other time,” Mideau said. “So making the room fresh and open and airy, it makes it more inviting. And as a community college, and as a college that serves this South Side community, that’s the environment that we wanted to create.”

Teaching the next generation

For Washburne culinary students, Sikia will be a place where they learn real-world restaurant service. This not only includes cooking, but restaurant management, ownership and service to the community, Mideau said.

To prepare for the luncheon, eight culinary students are serving employees who work at the Hyatt Hotels Corp., 150 N. Riverside Plaza. On a day-to-day basis, they serve anywhere from 250 to 300 people, chief instructor Gabriel Alvarez said.

As Charles Cruz, 22, prepared for lunch service at the Hyatt on Oct. 18, he held a cup against the light above him, looking for blemishes. Once he saw which portions of the cup had water stains, he used a damp towel to clean them off.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

This is just one of the many details Cruz has been taught during his time at Washburne. On any given day before service at the Hyatt, Cruz said he shines about 300 pieces of flatware.

Fellow student Jasmin Antúnez said she’s learned French techniques, Thai techniques and more from other cuisines. She’s also learned how to make ingredients from scratch, whether bread or sauces.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Antúnez said she’s hoping the Sikia luncheon, where the students will be putting some of these techniques to use, helps deliver a memorable experience to the community.

The menu for the luncheon is inspired by Midwest ingredients and fall flavors and includes entrees such as dry-aged duck breast and salmon glazed in jerk sauce. The starter will be a salad, and the meal will finish with pumpkin creme brûlée or apple crisp with homemade vanilla bean ice cream.

Antúnez, who grew up in Little Village, said it can be difficult to access high-level and high service food in certain neighborhoods.

“I’m just hoping that it gives everybody a new experience without having to [go] too far away,” she said.

As he added seasonings to a bowl of shrimp for lunch service, Christopher Benford, 20, said one of his biggest takeaways from his two years at Washburne was gaining confidence as a chef.

When he started, Benford said he was nervous in the kitchen. Benford’s father is a chef, and he felt like he had a lot to live up to. When he first entered the kitchen, he felt like a “rookie,” as though maybe he didn’t belong, he said.

“Now I feel like I can go in any kitchen, and I feel like I’m at the right place,” he said.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Having worked at Washburne for 15 years, Alvarez remembers what Sikia was before it closed. He remembers the importance it held for the community, how they used to call it their “gem.”

“They want something that isn’t quick service, and they’re excited for it, and we’re ready to give it to them,” Alvarez said.