On Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, pitmaster Dominique Leach opens the dining room at Lexington Betty Smokehouse in Pullman to Ken Polk, executive chef of Batter & Berries, for a multi-course dinner that tastes like the best Thanksgiving either of them grew up with. It is the next night of South Side & Friends, Leach’s guest-chef dinner series, and the house is calling it the South Side’s official Friendsgiving. Doors open at 6 p.m., dinner starts at 6:30, and seats are $130 on Eventbrite.
Two classically trained chefs with Southern parents and grandmothers in their cooking, one famous for brisket and rib tips, the other for French toast flights that fill your feed: that is the pairing. Expect smoke, butter, sugar, technique and a long table of people who came hungry.
Lexington Betty Smokehouse Chicago: the Pullman smokehouse hosting the night
Lexington Betty Smokehouse sits at 756 E. 111th St., in the historic Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side, in the brick building that started life as the One Eleven Food Hall. Leach and her wife, Tanisha Leach, built the business from a catering company in 2016 into a food truck, pop-ups, a Galewood storefront and then this room, which became the restaurant’s home in 2022. The name honors Leach’s grandmother, Betty King of Lexington, Mississippi, whose kitchen set the bar for everything on the menu.
On a normal day the counter moves brisket at $34 a pound, rib tips over seasoned barbecue fries, Betty Beef (brisket Italian beef with spicy giardiniera, dipped or dry), brisket mac and cheese, candied yams, greens and banana pudding. Wagyu steak dogs come Chicago style with relish, sport peppers and celery salt. The house calls itself a vegan-friendly restaurant, so mixed groups eat well here.
Meet the chefs: a pitmaster with fine-dining hands and a brunch star with a teacher’s streak
Leach came up in serious kitchens before she ever lit a smoker, cooking under Tony Mantuano and Sarah Grueneberg at Spiaggia and with Raghavan Iyer at the Art Institute. That training shows in how she plates a dinner like this one. She won season four of Food Network’s BBQ Brawl in 2023, taking the Master of ‘Cue title with dishes like her jerk shrimp and a Chicago-style skirt steak with mild sauce. She cooked on Chopped’s “Playing With Fire” season in 2021 and has judged and competed on Food Network Canada’s Fire Masters. In September 2026 she opened Little Betty Smokehouse inside Hutchinson Commons at the University of Chicago, a second home for her barbecue in Hyde Park.
Ken Polk grew up on family cookouts and Sunday breakfasts made by two Southern parents. He trained at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago, worked the lines at Carlos’, Nick’s Fishmarket and OneSixtyBlue, cooked at The Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta and spent years teaching with Chicago Public Schools, Le Cordon Bleu and C-CAP. Today he runs the kitchen at Batter & Berries, the Lincoln Park brunch favorite that USA Today named one of the best places for breakfast in Chicago in 2021. Its French toast flight stacks strawberry, blueberry, lemon and caramel slices on one plate, and the weekly specials have lately run from taffy apple to bourbon cherry cheesecake.
What you will eat at South Side & Friends
The chefs keep the exact menu close until the night, but the shape is clear: an elevated, multi-course Southern dinner where professional technique meets generations of family recipes. Picture the things that make a Thanksgiving table worth fighting over, cooked by two people who have spent decades refining them. Leach brings smoke and slow-cooked meat; Polk brings the sweet-and-savory instincts behind his brunch menu, the same hand that braises short ribs in cider and bourbon and fries catfish for his executive special.
Past nights in the series give a sense of the range. Pastry chef Maya-Camille Broussard of Justice of the Pies joined Leach in February 2026. Caviar Dream founder Kendra Anderson brought a full caviar party with Nouvie’s alcohol-free bubbles in March. Chef Rah of Mahari cooked recipes from across the African diaspora in May, and Emani Roberts of the South Loop brunch spot Brûlée, the 2026 Chicago Tribune Readers’ Choice Best New Restaurant, cooked with Leach in September. Each guest shapes the menu, so the Polk dinner will taste like Polk.
Where you will sit and how the night runs
South Side & Friends is an intimate dinner with limited seats, set at Lexington Betty this time after earlier nights at House of GAZ in Bridgeport. Arrive at 6 p.m. to get settled and grab a drink, and plan to sit down at 6:30 for the courses. The ticket page lists three hours for the evening, all ages and free parking, which makes Pullman an easy drive from the Loop or the south suburbs. Come dressed for a good dinner with friends.
Tickets are $130 a seat before Eventbrite fees, about $140.56 at checkout, and they are nonrefundable, so book once your night is certain. As of Nov. 4, 2026, seats were still available on Eventbrite.
Make a day of it in Pullman
Pullman rewards an early arrival. The Pullman National Historical Park visitor center and the clock tower sit a few blocks west on 111th Street, and the neighborhood’s red-brick rowhouses are worth a slow loop before dinner. If you cannot make the 12th, Lexington Betty’s regular hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., closed Monday, and the rib tip and chicken wings combo at $20 is the move for a first visit.
For more South Side barbecue, Leach’s campus spinoff is a good lunch stop, and you can read our look at Little Betty Smokehouse at the University of Chicago. Hyde Park also has Sanders BBQ Prime, the newer restaurant from the Sanders BBQ Supply Co. team.
Lexington Betty Smokehouse Chicago at a glance
- Event: South Side & Friends with chefs Dominique Leach and Ken Polk
- Date: Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026; doors 6 p.m., dinner 6:30 p.m.
- Where: Lexington Betty Smokehouse, 756 E. 111th St., Chicago (Pullman)
- Price: $130 per ticket plus Eventbrite fees (about $140.56); no refunds
- Tickets: Eventbrite
- Good to know: all ages, free parking, limited seats
- Regular hours: Tue to Sat 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sun noon to 6 p.m., closed Mon
Lexington Betty Smokehouse Chicago FAQ
When is the South Side & Friends dinner at Lexington Betty Smokehouse Chicago?
The South Side & Friends dinner with Ken Polk is Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, at Lexington Betty Smokehouse, 756 E. 111th St. in Pullman. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the multi-course dinner begins at 6:30 p.m., with about three hours planned for the evening.
How much are tickets for the Lexington Betty Smokehouse dinner with Ken Polk?
Tickets for the Nov. 12, 2026, South Side & Friends dinner at Lexington Betty Smokehouse are $130 per person before fees, which comes to about $140.56 at Eventbrite checkout. Sales are final with no refunds, and seating is limited for the intimate Pullman dinner.
Who is Ken Polk?
Ken Polk is the executive chef of Batter & Berries, the Chicago brunch restaurant known for its French toast flight. A Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago graduate, he cooked at Carlos’, Nick’s Fishmarket and OneSixtyBlue and taught with Chicago Public Schools, Le Cordon Bleu and C-CAP before leading the Batter & Berries kitchen.
What is Lexington Betty Smokehouse known for?
Lexington Betty Smokehouse in Pullman is known for Dominique Leach’s Chicago-style barbecue: brisket, rib tips over seasoned fries, Betty Beef brisket Italian beef, Wagyu steak dogs and brisket mac and cheese. Leach won season four of Food Network’s BBQ Brawl in 2023 and opened Little Betty Smokehouse at the University of Chicago in September 2026.
What are the hours at Lexington Betty Smokehouse Chicago?
Lexington Betty Smokehouse at 756 E. 111th St. is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. It is closed on Mondays. Special events such as the Nov. 12, 2026, South Side & Friends dinner run on their own ticketed schedule.
Further reading
- South Side & Friends with Chef Ken Polk, tickets on Eventbrite
- Lexington Betty Smokehouse official site
- Batter & Berries official site
- Chef Ken L. Polk official site
- 10 pop-up food and drink events in Chicago this November, Chicago Tribune (Nov. 2, 2026)
- Lexington Betty Smokehouse Chef Wins Food Network’s BBQ Brawl, Block Club Chicago (Sept. 18, 2023)
- Dominique Leach Is Staking a Claim for Black Women in the Barbecue World, Food & Wine
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