Evelyn's Food Love Is Getting a Rooftop — And It's Just the Beginning of Washington Park's Investment Boom
By Socialhood News · Washington Park ·
Washington Park is about to get one of the South Side's most anticipated new dining destinations, and it's coming from a restaurant that's already a neighborhood staple. Evelyn's Food Love, the beloved restaurant and event space at 5522 S. State St., is expanding — and a $483,000 city grant is making it happen.
The Chicago City Council approved the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund (NOF) grant in March 2026, following a proposal from Mayor Brandon Johnson. The funding will support the addition of a rooftop deck and bar to the existing space, doubling Evelyn's footprint to approximately 2,900 square feet and pushing its seating capacity from around 40 to 80 guests. Total project costs are estimated at $644,000, with the NOF grant covering the lion's share. Once complete, the expansion is expected to create up to 15 additional full-time positions — a meaningful local jobs boost for the surrounding community.
The Neighborhood Opportunity Fund is a mechanism designed specifically for moments like this one. It draws on fees paid by large downtown construction projects and redirects that money to support commercial corridor investment on Chicago's South, Southwest, and West sides — essentially asking downtown development to pay it forward to neighborhoods that have historically been left behind. For Washington Park, where commercial vacancy has long been a stubborn reality, a nearly half-million-dollar city investment in a single homegrown business carries real weight.
Evelyn's Food Love has already carved out a distinctive identity on S. State Street — a full-service restaurant and event venue in a neighborhood that has not always had an abundance of either. The rooftop addition would make it something rarer still: an outdoor dining and bar destination on the South Side, the kind of amenity that draws both neighborhood regulars and visitors from across the city. A rooftop deck changes not just the capacity of a restaurant but its gravitational pull — and on a stretch of State Street that has seen its share of vacant storefronts, that kind of anchor investment can shift the energy of an entire block.
The Evelyn's expansion is part of a broader pattern of serious, concrete investment taking shape in Washington Park right now. Sunshine Gospel Ministries is planning a three-story, $36.9 million community center on vacant lots bounded by 60th and 61st Streets, King Drive and Calumet Avenue — a project that received a $5 million city funding boost and is on track to open in late 2026 or early 2027. Plans for the Sunshine Community Center include a café with a stage for performances, a gym with a roller skating rink, a fitness area, visual and graphic arts classrooms, a recording studio, and a tech room. Public programs at the center are planned to be free, with fees only for rental of event space and fitness center access.
Taken together — new two-flats on East 56th Street, a citywide mural program launching here first, a landmark community center on the horizon, and now a rooftop bar coming to State Street — Washington Park is in the middle of a stretch of investment that its residents have been working toward for years. These aren't abstract planning documents. They're buildings going up, grants getting approved, and a restaurant owner getting ready to open the doors to a bigger, bolder version of what she's already built.
For neighbors who want to see Evelyn's Food Love before the rooftop goes up, the restaurant is located at 5522 S. State St. Follow the project's progress by keeping an eye on city permit filings and the Washington Park Chamber of Commerce at thewashingtonparkcofc.org. And for those who want to weigh in on neighborhood development priorities — from restaurant corridors to community centers — the Washington Park Advisory Council meets every third Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. Visit washingtonpark.org for meeting schedules and updates.
Sources:
1. https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dcd/provdrs/ec_dev/news/2026/march/grant-funding-will-support-expansion-of-washington-park-restaura.html
2. https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dcd/provdrs/ec_dev/news/2026/february/grant-funding-would-support-washington-park-restaurant-expansion.html
3. https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/02/07/washington-park-community-center-project-gets-5m-boost-from-city/