Englewood fine-dining restaurant that doubles as classroom reopens after 5 years
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An Englewood restaurant that has been closed for five years has reopened. Sikia not only offers fine dining, but teaches City Colleges students about all aspects of operating a restaurant.
A class of 20 students at Washburne Culinary and Hospitality Institute at Kennedy-King College has been putting their skills to the test as Sikia reopens.
It's a hands-on learning experience that sets up the next generation of professionals, with the kitchen doubling as a classroom.
College officials said Sikia is Englewood's only fine-dining white tablecloth restaurant.
"Just because we're in Englewood doesn't mean that we shouldn't and cannot have immensely nice things," said Jewel Mideau, executive dean at Washburne.
Sikia originally opened in 2008, but the restaurant shut down in 2020 due to the pandemic.
"COVID did a number on us, but this is also a learning institution. So there's multi layers, right? So it took time and planning," Mideau said.
Now that the day has come for Sikia to reopen, students are beyond excited.
"I think we're going to rock it. We've been doing a lot of test runs, and this particular crew, from what we've done so far, we're very cohesive. We're ready to help each other," Kennedy-King senior Adrienne Gordon said.
If you'd like to dine at the restaurant, you must make a reservation. A 15% gratuity will be added to every check, and all of that goes to the Washburne Culinary and Hospitality Foundation.
"This is very exciting. I get to learn a lot of things from different chefs," Kennedy-King freshman Destiny Anthony said.
Mideau said, even though this is a fine-dining restaurant, it's still a class. It's only open Tuesdays through Thursdays during the spring semester – January through April – and the fall semester – September through November.