Joppa Experience, the Chicago soul food restaurant in the River Bend neighborhood, closes on Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. Christine Johnson, who opened the restaurant at 1829 Sixth Ave., Des Moines, in April, announced the closing on Facebook .

“Let me be real with you the way I’ve always been. I can’t afford to keep the doors open anymore. I’ve fought with everything in me — my money, my time, my strength, my tears, homeless and more faith than y’all will ever know. Some days I stood in that kitchen running on nothing but prayer and sheer determination,” she wrote.

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