CHICAGO (WLS) -- Juneteenth is coming up on Monday, June 19 and Mariano's is celebrating early, with kickoff party at their Bronzeville location on Friday, June 16, starting at 4 PM.
This free event will celebrate Black-owned businesses and local community groups with music, car shows and samples from local vendors. One of those businesses is Chef Dominique Leach's Lexington Betty Smokehouse in Pullman.
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Chef Leach has a special relationship with Mariano's. Just this year, the grocery store began selling her Lexington Betty Smokehouse x Vander Farmers Wagyu Dogs! The hot dogs are sweeter and more affordable than Japan wagyu beef since they are made from F1 Wagyu beef, a special breed of cow that's half Japanese black cattle and half Holstein-Friesian dairy cow.
Chef Leach's expertise and soulful food earned her a spot on The Food Network's show CHOPPED, recognition as the "Best Barbecue in Chicago" by Good Morning America, and a full brick-and-mortar home for Lexington Betty on the South Side of Chicago following a pilot project to help promote black-owned businesses in the region.
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Chef Leach and her wife's hard work and persistence in a male-dominated industry have helped them to carve out a name for themselves in the culinary world in Chicago and beyond.