A Listening Room

Theaster Gates’s Rebuild Foundation Is Giving South Side Chefs a Chance | Eater Chicago

"Located on Garfield Boulevard just west of Washington Park, I’ve watched the Retreat at Currency Exchange Cafe become a Rebuild Foundation-operated culinary incubator where South Siders can explore their culinary passions and hone their craft through a chef-in-residence program that began officially hosting residents in July 2021. The program lets local culinary talent learn real-world disciplines—cooking, coffee service, craft cocktail creation, and more—while gaining responsibility and creative control; current chef-in-residence Ariya Taylor says it’s more responsibility than she’s used to but less stressful, and she enjoys being in control when she cooks. Since November Taylor has helped run the kitchen, planning her own menu (served 11 a.m.–3 p.m. daily and 5–9 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays) with dishes inspired by Black foodways and fusion ideas like a Nayarit-style po’ boy, shrimp etouffee with cornbread, and a breakfast plate with beef kefta, shakshuka, and baked eggs (her menu runs through the end of January). The cafe, part of Theaster Gates’s Rebuild Foundation—founded in 2009 and stewarding cultural development on the South Side for 13 years—has hosted chefs such as Lamar Moore of Eleven Eleven and Cliff Rome of Peach’s Restaurant and previously partnered with participants including CTRL Z Coffee, Dozzy’s Grill, chef Jazer Syed, Monday Coffee Company, and Pour Souls Cocktail Club. Rebuild intentionally centers professional development, culinary entrepreneurship, and Black cultural space—guided by principles that Black people, Black spaces, and Black objects matter—so local talent can get brick-and-mortar experience without having to travel north or overcome historic barriers; to Taylor, composing dishes here is like painting a picture on a plate, and she hopes to gather her community to show that we can eat really good food on the South Side." - Brandon Summers-Miller