Twelve years ago, I drove to Chicago’s Southwest Side to sample a fried chicken that folks were raving about.
Mini Hut in Garfield Ridge was serving what it called “butter crust chicken” — three words that in concert made for an appealing-sounding product.
And after waiting 25 minutes for the chicken, I took my first bite and realized: This was good. Real good.
Compared to the “fried hard” chicken that a Harold’s might serve, Mini Hut’s were more on the lacy-crispy spectrum. And though no actual butter is in the breading, there was a rich buttery flavor baked into the skin. I loved it.
That was the last time I tried Mini Hut. The restaurant, which first opened in 1972, would go on for another eight years, until owner Don Engel passed away in 2022. And Garfield Ridge residents mourned, thinking, that was that. A singular-style of Chicago fried chicken gone, forever.
The restaurant briefly turned into a Columbian restaurant, then sat vacant again.
And that’s when Brett Gomez, who already owned and sold a restaurant in Romeoville called Halsted Street Dawgs, imagined himself resurrecting Mini Hut.
Gomez, now 22, grew up in the neighborhood, and went on to become a star basketball player at Kennedy High School. After graduating, he took on real estate, and followed in his father’s footstep as a restaurateur.
Owning Mini Hut was always a fantasy, but when the space at 6659 W. Archer Ave. became available, it felt like kismet to bring back the restaurant in its longtime space.
It took three-and-a-half years of renovation, permitting, rounding up former employees and cooks, and reaching out to the Engel family for their blessing. And this past February, on Super Bowl weekend no less, Brett Gomez—let me repeat, a 22-year-old entrepreneur—reopened Mini Hut and gave it a second life.
And the chicken is as delicious as ever.
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