Southern cooking may be the ultimate culinary hug, a cuisine with roots in a hearty blend of West African, European and Native American traditions. At Faye and Joe’s Southern Bowl in the south Chicago suburb of Hazel Crest, customers get to taste a history of family tradition with that unmistakable signature of soulful, southern cooking.

Since opening its doors in late 2022, restaurant co-owners Dorothy and Mike Jones are cooking up homemade, treasured family recipes, and in doing so, creating an experience that keeps customers coming back.

“Our customers, tell us that they like our customer service. They love our food. They love the hospitality,” explained Dorothy. “They love the environment that we create here.

“We’re all about comfort cooking. That means fried catfish, baked chicken, beef, short ribs, fried chicken, and collard greens. It is authentic southern style food,” said Dorothy with a warm smile.

“Faye & Joe’s Southern Bowl cooks some of the best southern food in all of Chicagoland,” added Dorothy. “Everything we cook is made from scratch. It is authentic southern style food and is prepared in-house daily. Everything your grandmother made for you. We’re really proud of what we’re doing here.”

From fired to inspired

The path to restaurant ownership for Mike Jones started with what could have been a career-ending moment.

“I’ve been in the food industry since I was a teenager. My first job was at McDonald’s, and I was hired to be a cook,” recalled Mike. “I started fixing the filet buns and immediately over-steamed the fillet buns. That job did not last long because I was fired on day one.”

But the thought of just walking away and giving up never entered Mike’s mind.

“The boss told me that I was fired. I needed my job. So, I went out to the parking lot with a broom and a dustpan,” added Mike. “I begin to clean the parking lot. After the rush was over, the manager came out and said, ‘Hey, I thought I fired you. I told you to go home.’ He took a look at the outside of the restaurant and noticed how impeccable everything was. Patted me on the shoulder and then said, ‘Young man, you go ahead and stay here for a while.’ That was the beginning of my restaurant career.”

The stakes were high for Mike. His large family needed the paycheck earned by Mike, who only kept enough for bus fare for his trips to and from work.

“I was one of 11 kids growing up. I took everything that I earned and gave it to my mother,” explained Mike. “Working in those early days taught me a lot and brought me to a place of humility. It proves that hard work will take you places.

“I ended up being with McDonald’s for 15 years and rose through the ranks to become a general manager,” Mike explained with pride. “It was in downtown Chicago. At one point it was the busiest McDonald’s in the whole world.”

But Mike’s time at the golden arches proved to be fortuitous in an unexpected way. One day, the love of his life walked through the doors.

“She (Dorothy) came in looking for a job, and I spotted her at the door and told one of my assistant managers, make sure you hire that young lady,” shared Mike as he looked over at Dorothy with a smile. “Fast forward, she got hired. But I had to fire her pretty quickly, because I couldn’t mix love with McDonald’s. I had to make a choice. We’ve been married 40 years and have five kids together.”

As Mike and Dorothy grew a family, their careers pivoted to commercial cleaning for more than 20 years. Mike said, “the restaurant bug” was always a part of his life, and so in 2022, he decided to take the leap with Dorothy and open Faye and Joe’s Southern Bowl. The restaurant is named after his parents.

“My father was a baker. My mother was a cook, and they worked so hard to take care of us,” Mike recalled. “I wanted to honor them with this restaurant. A lot of what we are serving here are both my mom and my dad’s recipes.”

For Dorothy, the decision to own and run a restaurant took a leap of faith.

“Originally, I was kind of reluctant, because I knew it was a big change from what we were doing,” stated Dorothy looking around the dining room. “I’m so glad we took the leap because, I get to take care of customers, interact with people, meet new people I have not met before, from all walks of life and from, basically every state in America. We get to feed people, make people happy. Give them a taste of southern cooking at the same time and give them a taste of Mike’s parents’ great recipes.”

Building a legacy, one meal at a time

Faye and Joe’s Southern Bowl has built a loyal following that extends far from outside Hazel Crest. In fact, Dorothy and Mike opened a second Southern Bowl in March of 2025 in Merrillville, Indiana, which is roughly a 35-minute drive from the original restaurant. Southern Bowl is truly a family operation with three of their five children working at both restaurant locations.

“We’ve been open now for three years, and we’re really proud of what we’re doing here,” said Dorothy. “We serve a lot of the local community, but we also have some of our customers that drive for miles from places such as Indiana, Aurora, Naperville, Plainfield, Chicago.”

The recipes carry special meaning for Mike. Just about everything on the menu comes from a recipe from the kitchen of his parents.

“A lot of what we serve here are from both my mom and my dad’s recipes, such as the dressings, the greens, the mac and cheese, red beans and rice, banana pudding, peach cobbler, things like that,” said Mike.

The food resonates deeply with the restaurant’s core customer base.

“The vast majority of our customers are African American because these are the foods that we grew up on, that our grandmothers and our parents cooked for us around the holidays and Sundays, around the kitchen table,” shared Dorothy. “These are the kind of foods that they’re used to. This is what we hear from a lot of our customers that they’re this comfort food and this is what they love.”

“I am proud because every day we work real hard to keep a promise to our customers,” continued Mike. “It’s one of the main reasons why our customers come back to see us is because of the commitment we made to take care of them and the food that we serve for them,”

When it comes to advice for aspiring restaurateurs, Dorothy’s wisdom comes from personal experience and the size of ambitions.

“Dream big. Don’t dream small. I would say with myself, Mike might be the visionary. He’s always dreaming big,” said Dorothy smiling at Mike. “Many times, I was kind of reluctant, and my dreams were not big enough. So, I kind of had to kind of catch up with his dreams. Now that I’ve been with him the number of years I have, I’ve also learned to dream big!”

For Mike and Dorothy, Faye and Joe’s Southern Bowl represents a success story rooted in the legacy of family.

“If my in-laws were still alive, I think they would just be overjoyed about the success that Mike has attained from this restaurant,” shared Dorothy with a loving smile. “He’s leaving a legacy behind not just for himself, but for his brothers and sisters. Faye and Joe left this amazing legacy that we’re proudly continuing today. It is such an honor to have their name associated with this restaurant.”

“I’m sure they would be amazed and happy with what they might see,” continued Mike. “What my parents taught us… they would see us putting it
into action and where it brought us today. That hard work with love and food will take you places.

“I think the lesson of my story is realizing that you cannot get far without people,” added Mike. “When I got fired, I learned to listen to what my boss was telling me to do; it taught me to be humble and learn how to respect those in authority. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I did not grow from hard knocks.”

“So, from a guy who has come from sweeping the parking lots of McDonald’s, we have come quite a ways,” noted Mike. “We own two restaurants, both Fay & Joe’s Southern Bowls. We’re very happy for what we have accomplished here.”

“It makes me very happy that we get a chance to work together,” shared Dorothy. “We know that spending time together, we are able to grow together and grow the business. That just makes me happy,”

“Yes, and it makes me happy,” smiled Mike looking at Dorothy. “To be working with you is the most important part of my day.”