After five years of judging Chartwells Higher Education’s annual BBQ Grill Competition held every fall at the University of Chicago in Hyde Park, Chicago pitmaster Dominique Leach was invited to bring her Lexington Betty Smokehouse concept to the university’s Hutchinson Commons food hall. When a vendor spot became available in the main dining hall open to students, faculty, and the public, Chartwells Area Director of Culinary Operations Thomas Gilbert says Dominique was the first person he called. “She’s always been a great partner and very flexible, ready to jump in and help and support in any way she can. We’ve also utilized her food truck on campus before for various events,” he says.
Called Little Betty Smokehouse and officially open in late September, it’s the first expansion in five years for the Chicago-style BBQ concept, which Leach started with her wife Tanisha. What began as a catering company and then food truck settled into a brick and mortar in the Pullman District in Chicago’s South Side in 2019. Besides serving as celebrity judge for events (she’s appeared on five Food Network cooking shows), Leach has always had a strong partnership with Chartwells. “I’ve traveled to speak to the Black student body at different universities or places where they feel like they can use some uplifting, whether it’s for Women’s History Month, Black History Month, national Pitmaster Month, or something around barbecue,” she says.
Gilbert says her concept was a natural fit for the food hall, which features mostly local-owned, global concepts from a Vietnamese coffee and báhn mì to halal-friendly Middle Eastern cuisine. “Hutchinson Commons is a hub where we have most of our vendor partners, many of which have been here for a period of time, but the idea was to have these retail spaces reflect the community,” he says. “You don’t want people traveling to the top ninth university in the country from all around the world, and they’re coming here for a large chain or something like that. So all of our retail concepts are local partners.”…