TV Restaurants

Is Josephine's Cooking Still Open? Update (Chicago, IL)

Open verified

As of September 2026, Josephine's Cooking is open — confirmed via the restaurant's current website/social account, accessed September 7, 2026.

Primary source
josephinescooking.net ·
Secondary source
Yelp ·

Last verified

What the source shows: The business's own official website remains active describing it as a current Chicago soul-food restaurant; Yelp's separately updated September 2026 listing corroborates ongoing operation at 436 E 79th St.

  • Season / episode Season 15, Episode 1
  • Original air date
  • Address 436 E 79th St, Chicago, IL 60619

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What happened after Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network)?

Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network) opened season 15 with a visit to Josephine's Cooking, a longstanding soul-food restaurant in Chicago's Chatham neighborhood, in the episode "Hard Times at Josephine's," which aired July 20, 2019. The restaurant traces back to 1986, when its founder first opened a restaurant under an earlier name in the same South Side community; by the time of this episode it had operated under the Josephine's Cooking name for years as a fixture of the neighborhood. Chef Robert Irvine's visit focused on the restaurant's serious financial strain and on encouraging a family transition of day-to-day leadership from the aging founder to her son and co-owner, alongside kitchen and service fixes aimed at ending chronically slow ticket times.

Block Club Chicago, a local nonprofit news outlet, covered the episode's local significance, describing the restaurant as a decades-old community staple that had finally received the renovation its supporters felt it deserved. The same coverage noted that the city of Chicago had honored the founder in 2017 by co-naming a stretch of 79th Street after her, underscoring the restaurant's standing in the neighborhood independent of the show.

The restaurant continues to operate today under the Josephine's Cooking name at 436 E 79th St. Its own website, josephinescooking.net, remains active and describes it as a current Chicago soul-food restaurant, and Yelp's listing for the business, last updated in September 2026, shows continuing reviews and current information. No reporting was found describing any closure, rename, or change in ownership since the 2019 episode.

Because the business maintains its own current, official website in addition to a separately updated 2026 Yelp listing, this entry is classified as open with verified confidence. This episode aired in Restaurant: Impossible's fifteenth season, the second season of the show's 2019 return following a multi-year gap after season 13's original run in 2016.

Featured on Restaurant: Impossible

Season / episode
Season 15, Episode 1
Original air date
Episode title
Hard Times at Josephine's
What was featured
Kitchen and service overhaul plus family leadership-transition coaching
Role
Featured restaurant
Name on the broadcast
Josephine's Cooking

Frequently asked questions

Is Josephine's Cooking still open in 2026?

As of September 2026, Josephine's Cooking is open — confirmed via the restaurant's current website/social account, accessed September 7, 2026.

What happened to Josephine's Cooking after Restaurant: Impossible?

Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network) opened season 15 with a visit to Josephine's Cooking, a longstanding soul-food restaurant in Chicago's Chatham neighborhood, in the episode "Hard Times at Josephine's," which aired July 20, 2019. As of September 2026, Josephine's Cooking is open — confirmed via the restaurant's current website/social account, accessed September 7, 2026.

Where is Josephine's Cooking located?

436 E 79th St, Chicago, IL 60619. That is the address on the record as of September 7, 2026.

What season and episode of Restaurant: Impossible featured Josephine's Cooking?

Season 15, Episode 1 of Restaurant: Impossible, first aired July 20, 2019. The episode is titled “Hard Times at Josephine's”.

Did the makeover last at Josephine's Cooking?

The episode first aired July 20, 2019. Our most recent check was September 7, 2026 — 7 years later —: As of September 2026, Josephine's Cooking is open — confirmed via the restaurant's current website/social account, accessed September 7, 2026.

What do reviews say since Restaurant: Impossible?

Its own website, josephinescooking.net, remains active and describes it as a current Chicago soul-food restaurant, and Yelp's listing for the business, last updated in September 2026, shows continuing reviews and current information. We summarise what dated sources report; we do not publish our own rating.

Every status on this site carries a confidence label and a date, and names the source it rests on. Read the Editorial & Corrections Policy for what each label means and how quickly we act on corrections. The questions above are generated from this record's own published fields — we never publish a question we cannot answer from the data.

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Visit info

Address
436 E 79th St, Chicago, IL 60619
Venue type
restaurant
Official website
josephinescooking.net

Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the restaurant — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.

Sources

  • blockclubchicago.org — https://blockclubchicago.org/2019/05/01/chatham-staple-josephines-cooking-has-always-been-there-for-the-community-finally-it-got-the-makeover-it-deserved/
  • josephinescooking.net — https://www.josephinescooking.net/
  • Yelp — https://www.yelp.com/biz/josephines-cooking-chicago-5

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