More Than a Meal: How Smack Dab Is Feeding Chicago Neighbors and Giving Back This Holiday Season

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The Love Fridge

Community Care Holy Trinity

Macaroni and Cheese

Smack Dab celebrates community care with 250 donated holiday sides and a commitment to Indigenous land and water stewardship.

CHICAGO, IL, UNITED STATES, November 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- For Smack Dab, a neighborhood brunch and catering restaurant in Chicago's Rogers Park community, feeding people has always meant more than serving a delicious meal. It's about creating connections, caring for neighbors, and making sure everyone has a place at the table. This Thanksgiving, the restaurant is carrying that philosophy into the holiday season with the return of its popular Holiday Sides Menu, a commitment to feeding neighbors experiencing food insecurity, and a new partnership supporting Indigenous stewardship of the Great Lakes.

Known for its creative comfort food, inclusive menu options, and community-first philosophy, Smack Dab has built a business around a simple idea: Eat Good, Do Good. That philosophy shows up throughout the year in its mutual aid initiatives, volunteer opportunities, and efforts to make nourishing food accessible to people regardless of their ability to pay.

During Thanksgiving week, Smack Dab will donate 250 full-size holiday sides, valued at approximately $3,500, to its neighborhood Love Fridge, helping ensure that more Chicago residents can enjoy comforting holiday food with dignity.

The restaurant is also pledging 5% of its Holiday Sides Menu sales to the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC), an organization serving 11 Ojibwe tribes in protecting treaty-reserved rights and stewarding the lands and waters of the Great Lakes region.

COMMUNITY CARE IS A YEAR-ROUND COMMITMENT

Smack Dab's holiday giving is an extension of work that happens throughout the year.

Through its Holy Trinity mutual aid meal, anyone experiencing food insecurity can visit the restaurant during business hours and request a simple meal without needing to explain their circumstances or demonstrate financial hardship.

The restaurant also hosts Pack the Pantry: A Day of Service on the second Wednesday of each month. Neighbors and volunteers gather to portion and pack food for the nearby Love Fridge, including rice, beans, lentils, vegetables, and other staples that help families prepare meals at home.

During one recent Day of Service, volunteers prepared more than 490 pounds of food for community distribution. These programs reflect Smack Dab's belief that food access should be rooted in dignity, community participation, and shared responsibility.

CARING FOR THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND

This year's Indigenous giving partner, the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, represents another dimension of Smack Dab's community-centered philosophy.

Founded in 1984 by Ojibwe treaty tribes, GLIFWC supports tribal treaty rights, natural resource protection, and responsible stewardship of lands and waters across Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. Its work integrates scientific research and traditional ecological knowledge to protect resources for future generations.

For Smack Dab co-owner Teeny, the connection between feeding neighbors and protecting the environment is a natural extension of the restaurant's values.

"We talk a lot about 'Eat Good, Do Good' at Smack Dab, and for us, that means recognizing that taking care of our community isn't just about what happens inside our restaurant," said Teeny, co-owner of Smack Dab. "We have a responsibility to the people around us, but also to the land that sustains us. We want to honor that land, care for it, and recognize the people who have been doing that work for generations. Feeding our neighbors is one way we show up for our community. Partnering with organizations that actively protect the land and water is another. To us, those things aren't separate. They're all part of taking care of each other."

HOLIDAY COMFORT FOOD THAT GIVES BACK

Smack Dab's annual Holiday Sides Menu has become a seasonal tradition for Chicago families looking to spend less time in the kitchen and more time together.

Last year, the restaurant sold more than 1,000 holiday sides. This year, the team hopes to reach 1,200, with its beloved comfort food offerings including Mac + Cheese, Sweet Potato Crunch, quiche, and Breakfast Sammie Kits.

With the exception of just two items, everything on the Holiday Sides Menu is vegetarian, with many vegan and gluten-free offerings available.

The restaurant's seasonal Cranberry Chutney Sammie is also returning, featuring an Indian-inspired cranberry chutney paired with roasted garlic spread, hash browns, arugula, smoked gouda, and a choice of chicken or plant-based sausage, with vegan and gluten-free modifications available. The cranberry chutney will also be available for holiday customers to purchase separately.

Throughout the holiday ordering period, customers can contribute additional funds through the ordering platform to help Smack Dab provide meals to neighbors experiencing food insecurity.

HOLIDAY PRE-ORDERS OPEN NOVEMBER 3

Smack Dab's Holiday Sides Menu opens for pre-orders on Tuesday, November 3, at 8 a.m., with orders accepted through Friday, November 20.

Customers can receive 10% off their orders using promo code EARLYBIRD through November 13.

All orders will be available for pickup at Smack Dab, located at 6730 N. Clark Street in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. Pickup dates and times will be provided through the holiday ordering platform.

This year, Smack Dab will not offer its Holiday Sides Menu in December, as the restaurant shifts its focus toward in-house seasonal offerings. Customers interested in enjoying their holiday favorites later in the season are encouraged to order in November and freeze items for future celebrations.

For Smack Dab, the holiday season is an opportunity to demonstrate what happens when local businesses and their customers work together to make a difference. Every holiday side purchased helps support a neighborhood restaurant that continues to invest in the people and community around it.

ABOUT SMACK DAB

Founded in 2015, Smack Dab is an independently owned brunch restaurant located in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. Known for its creative breakfast sandwiches, scratch-made comfort food, and inclusive vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free offerings, Smack Dab has made community care central to its business. Through mutual aid meals, food donations, neighborhood volunteer events, and partnerships with community organizations to host private events, the restaurant demonstrates its belief that good food can do good in the world.

Teeny Forrester
Smack Dab Chicago
+1 872-241-9111