After being closed for nearly two years, Southern Que Barbecue Restaurant, previously located in Carbondale, will reopen in early April in Murphysboro, the barbecue capital of Illinois. 

The Rev. Sidney Logwood, who co-owns the restaurant with his wife Hope, said the restaurant is relocating to 1525 Walnut Street because the small space of the previous location and the lack of students in Carbondale during the summer. 

“You have people over there [in Murphysboro] that support their restaurants,” Sidney said. “You have baby boomers over there with money and if you have good food they’ll come get it, and they’re there all year — as opposed to when the students go home you have all summer where you’re trying to survive.”

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Sidney, a pastor at Rock Hill Missionary Baptist Church, also said the price of rent is inexpensive in Murphysboro compared to Carbondale.

“We’ll have more space available to us and we’ll know how to design our menu to better meet our needs,” Hope said. “Then we’ll be in a setting where people are coming to look specifically for barbecue.”

Illinois lawmakers named Murphysboro the barbecue capital of the state and the Travel Channel listed the city as one of the top barbecue destinations nationwide.

Hope said she was on board to reopen the restaurant — which serves ribs, beef brisket, pulled pork, rib tips and pig snoot, among other things — because she was having trouble finding a suitable job in her field of social work. 

Even though she holds a master’s in social work, she said she actually prefers working in the restaurant business.

“For me it’s a sense of accomplishment and a challenge, and I like challenges,” Hope said. “As a business owner you have a lot of responsibilities, but there’s a certain amount of challenge to it that allows you to be creative and do things the way you want to do them.”

Sidney said he knows that people are still interested in the restaurant.

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“Even after us being closed for a year and a half people are still asking, ‘When are y’all going to reopen? Where are you at?’” he said. 

Sidney said it was frustrating to have to recruit new customers every year after students left the university. He said he annually spent money on advertising to make new students aware of Southern Que.

While he still thinks students will visit, he said they aren’t his target consumer.

Anthony Hudson, a junior from Chicago studying exercise science, said he often ate at Southern Que his freshman year and had nothing but good experiences.

Hudson said when Southern Que closed there was no place in Carbondale where he enjoyed eating barbecue.

“I enjoyed their rib tips and their family friendly service. They always made me smile when I went in there,” he said. “I was upset when they closed.”

Tierra Carpenter can be reached at [email protected] or 618-536-3325.