14Forty on Kedzie Keeps North Lawndale's Kitchen Open After Dark

On a Tuesday night at 1440 S. Kedzie Ave., the TVs are on and the kitchen keeps plating ribeye until 11 p.m. The SoulFood Lounge on 16th Street doesn't open on Tuesdays. Over on Homan, Beelove Café closes at 4 p.m. Since late September, this corner of Kedzie has been the part of North Lawndale's dining week that stays lit after everyone else goes home.

14Forty Bar & Grill's late hours are the story here. The neighborhood already had weekend brunch and weekday coffee. What it gained on September 26 was a kitchen that runs late, seven nights a week, in a building that has been a gathering place for most of four decades.

A Family Bar, Closed Around 2013, Back With a Kitchen

The building has history. As the Chicago Defender reported in October, co-owner Shatondrea Cox-Williams's grandparents ran a bar at this address starting in the 1980s. That business closed around 2013. Cox-Williams managed it herself from 2003 until it closed.

"I loved it," she told the Defender. "I loved seeing people in my community, talking to people, and just the energy we all bring together."

She and her husband, Patrick Williams, didn't just reopen the old tavern. They built a bar and grill with a full food menu. Getting there took a while. Cox-Williams applied to the city's Neighborhood Opportunity Fund several times and was turned down three times. She was approved on her fourth try in 2023. Permits, plans, and city applications filled the time between that approval and the grand opening on Saturday, September 26, 2026.

The name started with the street number. The owners added a second meaning: a day has 1,440 minutes, and they want guests to know any of those minutes spent at the bar are appreciated. Cox-Williams told the Defender she hopes the added foot traffic will bring more businesses back to the area she remembers growing up in.

Eleven to Eleven, Every Day

The 14Forty website lists the same hours every day: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Put those next to the posted hours of two well-known neighborhood rooms and the gap it fills is easy to see.

Monday and Tuesday nights, and anything after 8:30 p.m., were the open slots in that grid. 14Forty fills both. Football and basketball season are both on the calendar right now, and the owners built the room with that in mind. The Defender describes TVs throughout the space, and the bar's own site promises the game on every screen. Game-day specials are coming. The Defender reported the team is watching how customers respond before rolling out sports promotions over the next several months. The website sends people to the bar's Instagram for game-night updates.

What Comes Out of the Kitchen

Cox-Williams wanted a menu that goes past wings and burgers. She built it with a menu consultant and chef Marchetta Hawkins, who first learned to cook in her grandmother's kitchen on Sundays. The current online menu, with the usual caveat that prices can change:

• To share: spinach-artichoke dip for $12, eight party wings for $12 or six whole wings for $15, five buffalo shrimp for $15, fried pickles for $10, and catfish bites for $14
• Handhelds: the 14 Forty Smash Burger for $22 and a hot-honey fried chicken sandwich for $23
• Plates: braised chicken for $26, salmon for $28, and ribeye for $40, with sides from $7 to $10

The cocktail list matches the room's colors. Bar manager Greg Arnold has about 25 years of culinary background and built several lavender cocktails around the purple in the decor. He told the Defender one surprise hit has been "Midnight in the Park," a tequila drink with blueberry and lychee that has become one of the bar's best sellers. The website names seven signature cocktails but doesn't post drink prices.

So a burger during a game costs about the same as lunch, and a ribeye with a side makes a full dinner out. One kitchen covers both, so a weeknight dinner and a Sunday afternoon of football can be the same trip.

Building a Week Around a Late Kitchen

Since 14Forty covers the evenings, North Lawndale's daytime spots don't have to. The full week looks like this.

Mornings and weekday lunch belong to Beelove Café at 1111 S. Homan Ave. It serves coffee, specialty drinks, tea, pastries, and quick lunch items. It opens at 7 a.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. on Saturdays. Block Club Chicago's 2025 West Side gift guide also pointed readers to its local honey products, which is good to know with the holidays coming.

Weekend late mornings belong to The SoulFood Lounge on 16th Street. Weekend brunch runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Options include seafood and grits for $38 and the three-entrée Grand Tasting Brunch for $69. The location page advertises live music and BYOB. The regular menu takes soul food in global directions: a fried salmon-and-shrimp po' boy for $19, fire-maple fried chicken for $33, and truffle lobster mac and cheese for $42. The restaurant isn't new. Block Club's Chicago Restaurant Week coverage in January 2026 singled out its $60 three-entrée deal and BYOB policy.

Evenings, early-week nights, and late game times all land on Kedzie. A Saturday can run from brunch on 16th Street to an afternoon game on Kedzie and still finish before the kitchen closes.

Roosevelt Road Could Be the Next Storefront to Light Up

14Forty reached opening day with help from a city grant, and so has a project on Roosevelt Road. In April 2025, the City of Chicago announced a $250,000 grant to RRM Visions LLC to renovate a vacant storefront for a restaurant and event venue. Block Club Chicago reported that the space, Visions Cafe at 3420 W. Roosevelt Rd., would serve American breakfast like bacon, eggs, grits, omelets, and biscuits. The 2025 article listed an August 28 target opening.

That date came and went, but the project is still moving. The city's business license data shows a retail food license for Visions Cafe at that address, issued October 5, 2026. City inspection records show the cafe passed a license re-inspection on September 30, 2026. The cafe hasn't announced an opening day, hours, or menu prices yet. Still, a Roosevelt Road breakfast room would fill the one slot left on the weekly grid: a sit-down breakfast on Sunday, the one day Beelove lists no hours.

Another cafe is planned further out on Ogden Avenue. At 3216 W. Ogden Ave., construction has started on West Edge Arts, a 25,000-square-foot campus with at least 30 murals around a garden and a 6,000-square-foot glass building for classrooms, artist studios, and a cafe. Block Club reported on October 27 that the group is planning a summer 2027 opening. You don't have to wait to see part of it. Dorian Sylvain's "Bring It With You" mural already rises 50 feet over the building. It honors the city's history of migration, including Sylvain's own family's part in the Great Migration. It's an easy stop on a drive from Kedzie over to Ogden.

For now, the late kitchen is the one that's actually open. If your game night needs a table after 8:30, or your Monday needs a ribeye, 1440 S. Kedzie is serving until 11.

Anthony Kirkland follows North Lawndale storefront by storefront, from grant-funded reopenings like 14Forty to the cafe expected on Roosevelt Road. If you'd like to talk about what these new businesses mean for your block or your building, The Ace Broker is happy to help. Let's Connect.