Roots Turns South Side Church Into Brunch Spot On 75th Street 27%
By Atavia Reed29%
7/21/2026, 12:52:18 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 24 faulty reasoning types, including Optimism Bias, Appeal to Emotion, and Anecdotal, with Attempt to Sell a Product or Service as the most egregious example at 38.9% saturation with 453 hits. Analysis detected 1,227 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,164 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 38.9% and a BS Rank of 27% (14,101 of 19,233 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 73.30% of the article peer group.
GREATER GRAND CROSSING — Hazy skies blotted out the skyline Thursday in Chicago, but it didn’t stop guests from dining at Roots: “The Brunch Experience” on 75th Street.
Tarsha Jackson, who was born and raised in Englewood, opened the Southern-style restaurant about a month ago in a dilapidated former church at 633 E. 75th St.
Crowds haven’t stopped coming to the restaurant since, she said.
From the restaurant’s name to the menu, Jackson’s intention was to create a space that “reflects back on our ancestors,” she said.
Portraits of Black trailblazers and history makers like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Mary Church Terrell and Ida B.
Wells dot the restaurant’s walls.
Jackson kept name plates off the bottom of the images as a “conversation starter,” she said.
She wants guests to wonder who they’re seeing and why.
The pictures on the wall are the first “experience” at Roots: “The Brunch Experience,” Jackson said.
The menu, packed with Southern-style dishes, is the second.
Jackson partnered with executive chef Jada “Juice” Henderson to create Roots’ menu after discovering the chef on TikTok, she said.
They finalized the menu in five weeks.
The Roots signature stack — with fried chicken thighs and cornbread french toast — is served at Roots “The Brunch Experience,” 633 E. 75th St., in Greater Grand Crossing on July 16, 2206.
Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Jackson’s favorite dish is The Ancestors Pot, a gumbo made with collard greens, smoked turkey, chicken and sausage, she said.
Diners can add seafood, like shrimp or fried catfish, to amplify the savory meal’s flavors.
On the sweet side, the Brown Butter Foster French Toast is another of Jackson’s favorites that “melts in your mouth,” she said.
House-made praline pecans, cinnamon icing, caramelized bananas and homemade caramel top the French toast made from slices of banana bread.
There’s also the Roots Signature Stack — a fan favorite, Jackson said.
Boneless fried chicken thighs, corn bread and French toast are skewered and topped with a pour of infused hot honey.
Caramelized peach French toast is served at Roots “The Brunch Experience,” 633 E. 75th St., in Greater Grand Crossing on July 16, 2206.
Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Roots signature wings and a piece of fried catfish are served at Roots “The Brunch Experience,” 633 E. 75th St., in Greater Grand Crossing on July 16, 2206.
Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Roots is Jackson’s first restaurant, she said.
Just a few years ago, she was working as a healthcare client manager, she said.
Jackson was having brunch at a restaurant in Washington, D.C., about four or five years ago when the name “Roots” sprung into her head, she said.
She said she couldn’t stop thinking about how Chicago didn’t have many Black-owned sit-down brunch options on the South Side.
Looking around the D.C. restaurant, she began to ponder how she could bring a similar experience back to Chicago.
Jackson began researching how to open and operate a restaurant.
She quit her job to chase her vision, she said.
“I’m just a South Side kid with dreams and visions,” Jackson said.
“I didn’t have the resources at the time to do it, but I jumped out on faith not knowing if I would even have enough to finish it.
I just decided I was going to do it.
I’m the type of person who doesn’t give up.”
Originally, Jackson wanted her business to be in Bronzeville, with hopes of landing on the 43rd or 47th Street corridors, she said.
When she couldn’t find a location in the neighborhood, she turned toward 75th Street — a booming business corridor home to decades-old institutions.
Jackson was driving back and forth down 75th Street in 2020, searching for a corner building that could house Roots, when she noticed a white dilapidated building without windows, she said.
She searched for the building online until she found the name of an old church and a phone number attached to it.
When Jackson called Grace Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, leaders at the church told her their storefront building wasn’t for sale, but they were curious about her vision for the space, Jackson said.
Eventually, church leaders decided to sell the building to Jackson, she said.
Customers dine in at Roots “The Brunch Experience,” 633 E. 75th St., in Greater Grand Crossing on July 16, 2206.
Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
The former church building sat vacant for a year and a half before Jackson began working on it, she said.
The pandemic was affecting everyone, including businesses, and financially, it didn’t make sense to open a new restaurant, Jackson said.
During that time, Jackson applied and received a $214,000 grant from the city’s Department of Planning and Development for her restaurant, Jackson said.
She began working on the space in 2022.
It took three and a half years to complete the gut rehab at the old church and open Roots, Jackson said.
That work included building a commercial kitchen and adding windows to the space.
“But when I finished, it was a success,” Jackson said.
“It took a long time, but at the same time, it was worth it.”
(Left to right) Jackie, Dee, Yvonne and Lei dine together at Roots “The Brunch Experience,” 633 E. 75th St., in Greater Grand Crossing on July 16, 2206.
Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
In just a month, buzz about Roots has spread across the city.
Delores, a resident of south suburban Matteson, traveled to the South Side restaurant with her three girlfriends after seeing a post about it online, she said.
She ordered the fried catfish with wings, macaroni and cheese and cornbread on the side.
“It’s important to have sit-down restaurants like this in Black neighborhoods,” Delores said.
“We don’t have to go up North or Downtown for a good meal, and everything here is good.”
She planned to come back another time — this time with her husband, she said.
“If I don’t, he’ll be jealous,” Delores said.
Baked mac n cheese with kale in a skillet is served at Roots “The Brunch Experience,” 633 E. 75th St., in Greater Grand Crossing on July 16, 2206.
Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
If business keeps flowing, and once Roots has perfected operations at the 75th Street restaurant, Jackson hopes to open a second location in another community she loves, she said.
“We want to make sure this is the perfect brunch spot before we start looking into another one,” Jackson said.
“But the next stop is definitely the West Side.”
For now, the goal is to keep bringing a one-of-a-kind experience to the South Side, Jackson said.
“I want this to be a go-to spot for people when they visit Chicago or if they live on a different side of the city,” Jackson said.
“I want the experience to stand out.”
Roots is open 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Tuesday-Sunday and closed on Mondays.
The restaurant is BYOB.
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