At Reid’s Southern Kitchen & Smokehouse, the menu is loaded with mouth-watering options.

Plates of smoked ribs, beef brisket and pulled pork as well as other dishes such as “chicken and waffles” are among the popular fare.

But there’s no charge for a side-order of southern charm from Amanda Racz, the restaurant’s proprietress as well as an evangelist for Southern food.

Racz is a native of St. Simons Island, a Georgia beach town about an hour south of Savannah. She came to Chicago to take a hotel concierge position and met her husband. They settled in south suburban Tinley Park, and for eight years she operated a dance studio in nearby Palos Heights.

“Next, I ventured into interior design — and then this happened,” she said, with a smile and a wave at the restaurant’s interior.

She had been approached by the building’s owner, who wanted her to open a restaurant.

“I was already working for him doing interior design and managing contractors for his real estate ventures,” she said.

For decades, the building at 1402 Peoria St., Peru, has been a restaurant. Most recently, it housed Mark Allen’s American Kitchen for 16 years, until 2022.

In 2023, the building became the home of Annie’s Restaurant and Pancake House. But it closed the following year.

Racz decided to take the owner’s challenge — with the proviso that the establishment would be named after her son Reid, now age 5.

“I felt that would make it more meaningful,” she said.

After five months of preparation, and feeling a little apprehensive, Racz opened Reid’s in December 2024.

“It was definitely a bold move for me because, while I had been a business owner before, I had never owned a restaurant before,” she said. “Both are equally as stressful. But I would say the restaurant gives me more pleasure because I get to meet so many of the different people who come here.”

Her son Reid also interacts with the customers when he’s there.

“He greets them and shows them his dance moves and toys,” Racz said. “He’s a trip.”

Their family dog, a pug named Sir Winston Franklin, also is often on hand.

Besides her early years as a waitress and bar manager, Racz decided to lean heavily on family recipes to fill the menu.

“I originally started with just my own family’s recipes,” she said. “But now that the staff is kind of part of my family, I let them contribute.”

Customers who are leery of unfamiliar menu items get encouragement from Racz.

“If people don’t know what things are — like fried okra — I want them to try it. So I’ll bring out a sample because I’m sure they’re going to like it. And most of the time they love it.”

Customers also are hesitant to try the collard greens — a nutritious leafy vegetable in the cabbage family typically simmered in a broth with bacon, ham and other ingredients.

“I get that people here don’t like collard greens, but typically they’ve never tried them,” Racz said. “So we bring them out a little sample, and they’re hooked.”

And then there are boiled peanuts. They are prepared by simmering unshelled peanuts in salt water until tender.

“I know a lot of Northerners kind of frown on mushy peanuts,” she said. “But they are a Southern delicacy, so I encourage my customers to at least try them.”