Black-Owned Cleo’s Southern Cuisine Opens 2 More Locations Nearly 1 Year After Being Reviewed By Social Media Food Critic Keith Lee

Black-owned Cleo’s Southern Cuisine is still thriving nearly a year since it received a visit from Keith Lee.

The Chicago, IL-based restaurant was founded by Kristen Ashley Harper, and she has swayed the hearts of locals through dishes inspired by her grandmother Cleo and her Southern roots, NBC News reports.

“Technically Biloxi, (MS) — and I went to school at Grambling State University in Louisiana, so I took the Mississippi and the Louisiana and put it together and boom — there was Cleo’s,” Harper told the outlet.

Customers can look forward to staple menu items including fried catfish fillet, fried chicken wings with Belgian waffles and sides that include butter herbed rice, “24-karat gold” muffins, and Creole crab mac and cheese, among others.

In September 2023, the restaurant’s second location on The Loop was visited by Keith Lee, a popular social media food reviewer who currently has 16.5 million followers on TikTok alone. And then Cleo’s was featured in a Google advertisement, in partnership with actress Keke Palmer, centering small Black-owned businesses.

The exposure greatly benefitted the restaurant, and it saw an immediate uptick in sales.

“It has just been insane,” Harper told the Chicago Sun-Times at the time. “Tickets just pouring off the table, the lobby packed, the phones ring at both locations. It has just been amazing.”

About a year later, Cleo’s Southern Cuisine has added a new location in Avondale, and expanded from its original Bronzeville restaurant spot to 4248 South Cottage Grove Avenue, Chicago, IL 60653, in addition to having a location on The Loop.

Lee recently visited the Southern spot on The Loop and ordered a dish named in his honor, “The Ten,” while also commending Harper for the remarkable growth.

“God is amazing. They’ve opened two new locations since we’ve been here, and I want to take this time to say shout to Cleo’s. She been rocking it,” Lee said in a TikTok video shared on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. “People ask me all the time, ‘How long does the Keith Lee effect last,’ and I always use her as an example. It’s been almost a year and she’s still booming from location to location.”