For decades, juicy corned beef sandwiches and rich chicken soup have lured Chicago politicians to Manny’s Coffee Shop & Deli on South Jefferson Street.
And, for the most part, they were treated like every other Joe in the joint. Not so with President-elect Barack Obama, who attracted a crowd outside and shouts of “I love you” when he stopped by the cafeteria Friday.
His order: three corned-beef sandwiches and two orders of cherry pie.
It’s the kind of fare the Jewish-American deli has been serving since 1942, when Russian-born brothers Jack and Charlie Raskin opened a deli, called The Purity, at Van Buren and Halsted Streets.
Three locations later, it operates at 1141 S. Jefferson, serving the same steam-table Jewish-American chow, heavy on “k” foods: kishke, kreplach, knishes and kasha varnishka. It was named after Jack’s son Emanuel, whose only son, Ken Raskin, runs it today.
A perfect meal for Manny’s first-timers is a bowl of matzo ball soup, a chewy latke, a corned beef sandwich on rye with mustard and a house-made chocolate phosphate. There are desserts. But you won’t have room.
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“On the next visit you can be more adventurous,” says Raskin.
Manny’s corned beef sandwiches ($10.95) pack about three-quarters of a pound of brisket. For an extra buck they’ll throw in a hefty latke.
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