Manny's Store

Chicago may be known for its n But there's another meat-centric eatery whose food is synonymous with deluxe delicious comfort. Manny's Keveteria and Delicatessen has kept locals coming back ever since it first opened its doors way back in 1942. Its mountainous corn beef sandwich is one of the tastiest to eat in all of Chicago. Excellent corn beef. Okay, it's the best thing that Chicago has, It's the best corn beef to me in Chicago. You can go all the way to Chicago. It's never going to be I moved to North Carolina as soon as I come home, I have to come here. Manny's is a Jewish jelly, similar to cats' in New York City or Langers in LA. It's basically Eastern European food, comfort foods, usually very large portions, really good quality, homemade. We have great hot entrees, but we're also really known for corn beef pastrami sandwiches. That'stan Raskin. After immigrating to the U. S. , his great-grandfather Jack and Jack's brother Charlie purchased a restaurant called Sonny's in 1942. They changed the name to Manny's after Jack'son Immanuel. The restaurant has been handed down to the family, making Dan the fourth-generation Raskin to own and operate it. We've always, always been known for, The origins of the Jewish deli traced back to the kosher butcher shops that appeared in Jewish communities Pickled meats, beans, and soup began to appear in some butcher shops, with a few even adding tables. Jewish immigrants were under a lot of pressure to assimilate into American culture by toning down the flavor and spices in their home-cooked meals. The Jewish deli became a haven not just to acquire food that was bursting with flavor, but also as a way to participate in American society while maintaining Jewish identity. Traditionally back in the day everybody ate one big meal every day and it was usually lunch, it wasn't dinner. It was always important to be fed in the Jewish culture. We quickly became known for our large corned beef and pastrami sandwiches that were not only large, but really good quality meat and they've been our n Okay, so what is the next step after all this comes down? Grab the right bread. Grab the right bread? Then you put nine ounces. Oh, it'so warm and soft. That'seven. Okay, a little more. Then we have a bigger one that's three quarters of a pound. That's a lot of meat. That's a lot of meat. And so it's literally just a meat sandwich. And we usually ask them if they The size of Manny's towering corned beef sandwich became so renowned throughout Chicago that pre-COVID Manny's was going through 1,000 pounds of corned beef every day. The sandwich is made with nine ounces of brisket, pickled with garlic and other seasonings, thinly sliced and piled high in between two slices of fresh rye bread. It's meant to be topped with horseradish mustard, but it's up to you whether to add just a dollop or spread it everywhere. The way we slice it and the way it's cooked is to make it so it really melts in your mouth. But we also don't put any additives in there. So there's no soy or baking soda or other items in the meat to add fillers, which is very common in deli meats. It'steamed in an oven and then we boil it to get back to temperature where it'served. I mean, there's one bad item on the whole menu here. I don't care what you eat or it's delicious. The sandwich helped make Manny's a Chicago institution and a must for politicians, actors and tourists visiting from out of town. I'm 72 years old. Our dad first took us here when I was around 8 years old. My brother was 11 years old and we've been coming back here ever since. So how long have you been working here? 38 years. 38? I've been coming here about, yeah, about 30 years. Coming from a long line of Jews, it feels great to have Jewish cooking again. Manny's has been known as a melting place of all the different cultures of Chicago coming together. We're just keeping the tradition going. Dan grabbed us a couple of trays so we could try this giant sandwich. That looks amazing. That's good. That was worth the wait. I can see why people want more meat because it looks And so when you take a bite, it doesn't feel as big as it looks. And I know people are going to be I'm telling you. The bread itself is very fluffy, very soft, it's juicy. When you eat it hot, especially it melts in your mouth. The mustard definitely adds tanginess to it. Yeah. But very juicy meat, very juicy meat. But it's not just the meat that keeps people coming. When Manny's deli began to feel the impact of the halt to indoor dining due to the pandemic, Dan put out a call on social media. And in a day, lines of people came to their doors to show their support. This is truly amazing. We really appreciate the support the last few days and hopefully A few weeks ago, we reached out to people and let them know that, hey, our business is really hurting and we need you. Not that the business is about to go out of business right now, but that we don't want to lay off staff. We want to keep everybody working and we need your support. And it was huge. For over two weeks, we had Lyon around the corner from the restaurant. We still have a lot of that support. It's obviously not as big as it was, but we're looking to keep the moment And anything we can do to draw more people in is really survival right now. As soon as we heard that Manny's might be closing, we decided to come that next day and it was packed. So were happy to see that because we enjoy eating here. Oh yeah, we wanted to see how fast he could make a sandwich. Go. What? That was six seconds. Amazing.