Make no mistake: Chef Dominique Leach is a force—and one who honors her family, specifically her grandmother.
The chef/co-owner of Lexington Betty Smokehouse (named after her grandmother and her hometown of Lexington, Mississippi), Leach has had a life that is a study of success in the face of adversity. Although she has worked in such fine-dining spots as Spiaggia and the Four Seasons, Leach has also had to deal with discrimination on several fronts as a Black, queer woman. In 2017, as Leach and wife Tanisha had established an independent business with a food truck, the vehicle was set on fire; however, they replaced the truck the following year and eventually opened the restaurant, which is in Chicago’s Pullman neighborhood.
The ever-busy Leach has been featured on The Food Network show Chopped and as a judge/contestant on Food Network Canada Fire Masters; recognized as the “Best Barbecue in Chicago” by Good Morning America; and profiled in such outlets as HuffPost and Food & Wine.
NOTE: This conversation was edited for clarity and length.
Windy City Times: For you, what is it like to be part of the queer community in today’s America?
Dominique Leach: You know, it’s really nice. When I look at the queer community today, I feel like there’s a lot to be proud of. I see a lot of accomplishments and leaders, and I see a trajectory in the way people are thinking and in the representation of our community. There are also trajectories of positivity and transparency.
WCT: Because you’re such an accomplished pitmaster [someone who oversees a barbecue pit], some people might be surprised to know that you have a fine-dining background.
Leach: Yeah, that’s correct. My entire career, up until I established the company and smokehouse, has been in fine-dining settings—hotels and restaurants. So being a pit master has been the shortest part of my career.
WCT: When your food truck was burned down in 2017, how did you and your wife get through that?
Leach: Well, we chose to be optimistic. It wasn’t easy. We spent eight months being homeless but we made the best of it. We owned the building where the truck was set on fire, but the truth is that the fire was the straw that broke the camel’s back. All of my tenants were having problems with some neighbors in the area who maybe were not acclimated to change, with a young lesbian moving into the neighborhood and purchasing the building. Then I bought a food truck and those people were, like, “Hold on—who does she think she is?” That led to a lot of prejudice; it was like they were looking for something to be upset about.
I thought I had something to contribute to the culture—but one thing I’ve learned about life is that sometimes people do not have the capacity to think outside the box. When they can’t do that, it’s very intimidating when someone comes in and is more forward-thinking than they’re used to seeing. Life is sometimes not comfortable for the person on the outside—and I’m not justifying what happened, by any means, but that’s just what it is. You have to be careful when you are investing and building, and people are [affected] by that.
WCT: There are a lot of barbecue restaurants on the South Side, let alone Chicago. What separates your space from the others?
Leach: I don’t know if Chicago has any chefs with the background that I have. I have a classic barbecue approach but also our sides are pretty soulful, although I don’t want [Lexington Betty] to be known as a soul-food restaurant, although it plays a big part in the concept.
With this place, I’m paying homage to my grandmother introducing me to Southern food. My mother is one generation ahead of me, obviously, but she grew up in Chicago; she didn’t grow up in Lexington and didn’t have a lot to offer me in terms of [Southern] culture. My grandmother—that lady is really something. She’s 87 years old and is more proud of me than any other person on Earth—and just based on what she’s overcome in life, I wanted her to feel celebrated. She’s worked as a single mother and grandmother, providing for her family and putting herself second.
WCT: If you could collaborate with any one chef or cook, living or dead, who would that person be?
Leach: Hmmm… It would probably be [former Top Chef contestant] Nina Compton. As far as I know, she was the first Black female chef to win a James Beard Award. I would love to hear her story.
I was [recently] in a room with Chef Erick Williams, the executive chef of Virtue and a leader in the culinary industry. He invited my wife and me, for the second year in a row, to a James Beard event that’s [primarily] for Black people. We celebrate the nominations as well as winners, like from the media awards. We celebrate individuality and everything that makes us special. It’s such an important event because we’ve been so underserved and underrepresented; we don’t control anything, to a degree.
A lot of us felt so lonely in the space because we had this passion and drive for an industry that didn’t look like it was for us; we didn’t have a lot of people to look up to. But I’ve had the benefit of being able to watch the industry change and I now come up in categories with some of my past executive chefs. Some of the chefs held me at a distance as a constant reminder that I was just in a supporting role. Fortunately, I have been aware of my worth and my growth in this industry. I realized that I didn’t have to prove anything to other people—I just had to prove it to myself.