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For a goyim, Chicagoist has a healthy appreciation of kosher delis. Whenever we're in New York we absolutely have to grab a nosh at Katz's Deli or Nussbaum & Wu. Living on the near South Side we've also had our share of experiences at Manny's. It takes someone with chutzpah and mishegas to start up a deli with an aim of being mentioned in the same breath as Manny's, even more so to open a deli less than a mile away from the South Loop mainstay. Apparently Brad Rubin is just the mensch.
Chicagoist has been watching the buildout of Eleven City Diner for a few months. Rubin, a longtime restaurant industry veteran who's worked previously at Michael Kornick's MK (Kornick and former Pickle Barrel owner Norman Robinson helped Rubin develop Eleven City Diner's menu), decided to open a place that celebrates and preserves deli and diner culture. It's a delicate balance: if one declares himself a standard bearer he leaves himself open to critics accusing him of obsequiousness; apply too much schmaltz, and your restaurant is not much different than, say, Ed Debevic's. It reminds Chicagoist of what some musician - we forget who - once said of the Blues Brothers: "too good to be a parody, not good enough to be the real thing."
That's where Rubin stands right now with Eleven City Diner. The ultimate proof, as always, is in the food. Our reviews of some options after the jump
Rubin's concept of Eleven City Diner is to celebrate and preserve the diner culture. This is evident from the moment you pass through the vintage revolving door and are graced by the sounds of organ jazz trios on the house p.a. (Jack McDuff, Hank Marr, Jimmy Smith, and Richard "Groove" Holmes provide the soundtrack of diners at four a.m.), pristine white tile, mahogany booths, polished chrome, and a long counter manned by an in-house soda jerk. Eleven City Diner makes their own phosphates, shakes, floats, and egg creams. Chicagoist's vanilla phosphate had a color more akin to ginger ale and just the faintest hint of vanilla. The egg cream was an amazing experience in chocolate malt.
We started our meal off right with a bowl of Bubbie's chicken soup. A rich chicken broth moat surrounding one of the largest matzoh balls we've ever encountered, this could have served as a meal in itself. But we were just getting started. For our main course we ordered the "Tom Waits 2 a.m. Breakfast 1987". This dish - two eggs, two slices of bacon, two sausage links, two flapjacks, two slices of toast, and diced potatoes - is more than enough food to feed a family of four. We would have asked for a doggie bag, but the Prime Directive at all delis and diners is "finish your plate." Other recommended entrees at Eleven City are the stuffed French toast (with fresh challah, strawberries, bananas, and toasted coconut), the corned beef hash, and a gigantic "2 for $27.00" bagels and lox combo platter.
The staff at Eleven City is attentive, friendly and accommodating with their personal recommendations. With yesterday being their opening day there was a slight case of nerves, as though the staff were aiming to not screw up. Rubin himself was busy kibbitzing with friends and well wishers but still managed to constantly find something for the staff to clean or polish. It's understandable; this wasn't the press opening, this was the real deal. Eleven City Diner is Rubin's baby, after all. But a diner needs some things out of place. Maybe a spot of grease here, or a yellowed poster there. That brings us back to the Blues Brothers reference.
There are a lot of good things about Eleven City Diner. The menu is killer, the staff is friendly, and any place that plays organ jazz at ten a.m. gets a nod from us. Rubin and his staff are sincere in fulfilling his concept for the place, and people will come mainly because the South Loop needs a good diner. The South Loop has its fair share of dining establishments, but it isn't oversaturated like some neighborhoods we can mention. Chicagoist hopes that once they work through the nerves and anxieties of opening a new restaurant that Eleven City does achieve its goal of being mentioned in the same breath as Manny's. Right now it is too good to be an imitation, but it isn't the genuine article at this time.
Eleven City Diner is located at 1112 S. Wabash. The phone number is (312) 212-1112. They're open Monday throuogh Thursday from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., 7 a.m. to 5 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday.
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Thanks for this review. I love Manny's, but do have trouble finding a lot of this stuff around town, and Manny's has really inconvenient hours for me.
I'm so going to check this place out.
You tried a supposed Jewish deli and didn't sample either the corned beef or pastrami sandwich? Those the true benchmarks for an deli. I'm anxious to try the place out -- I'm tired of having to trek out by my parents for decent deli food.
Benjy: Matzoh ball soup? Hello?
Coppoletta: It's real convenient to get there, too. CTA can drop you a block away on Roosevelt via orange, Red, or Green lines.
I went back last night after a long shift behind the bar and had the challah French toast with mixed berries and chocolate chips. I'm eager to see what kind of walk-up traffic they pull from Bongo Room down the street.
My wife and I had breakfast this morning. Other than (what I condisider the usual) newly opened blues of a couple of missing items, things were nice.
The article mentioned Bongo Room South, and the comparison is an interesting one. Eleven certainly seems to have the deeper menu, and the average price of a breakfast at Eleven is probably a couple of bucks less than Bongo. The atmosphere at Eleven is the big winner, though. With ample room and about half the noise, it was a real treat to eat there.
Even if Eleven draws off some of the Bongo crowd, there will still be plenty of people to eat there, and I think both will coexist. That stretch of Wabash really needed a middle-price, open lots restraunt.
We'll be going back.
The pastrami I can vouch for. It's quite good. A little moister and yet a little leaner than manny's, on superb rye bread. The corned beef is also, apparently, good.
I found the matzoh ball soup pretty mediocre. The matzoh ball itself was good, but the soup was unbelievably bland.
Chocolate phosphate was good.
Manny's is a cafeteria, not a deli. Eleven City is a diner, not a deli. Chicago still needs a good jewish deli :)
Yeah, decent matzoh ball soup is an important test for any good deli, too. But those of us of the Jewish faith know no restaurant will ever come close to Mom's...
Corned beef on rye, on the other hand, is the realm of the deli.
Sorry to disappoint, but just because they serve matzoh ball soup - they're not a kosher deli. In fact, if they serve bacon, as you mentioned, they're pretty much just the opposite.
Then there's that whole meat and dairy in the same place thing, so it's pretty much trayf all around.
You should rename the sandwich "M F Macie".
Let's see them drag that into court...
So, I was excited about trying out Eleven City but was disappointed. The service was terrible and the food did not impress. My waiter forgot about my order, no apologies were offered and I was overcharged. I would never consider going back.
I live on the same block as Eleven City and my boyfriend loves the place, so we seemed to go almost everyday for breakfast. My boyfriend is allergic to dairy products so he cannot have the potatoes that come with the eggs and stuff he usually gets. For the first time in the 5 days in a row we had gone we were told it would be an extra 2 dollars for a fruit cup. Now, we had gotten the fruit cup every day that week and the thing is tiny. 2 more dollars on top of the 8 dollars for some eggs is a little ridiculous. We asked for the owner and he came over. We told him we come in at least twice a week etc, but he instead offered tomatoes because fruit is so expensive.
Basically I think the owner is pretty much impressed with himself about what he has made and is more concerned with making a dollar that day than for the future. We decided to leave because he would not take off the simple 2 dollar charge. As we walked out the door he just said goodbye.
In this day loyal customer are hard to come by, we simply informed him that he was going to be out more than the 2 dollars for the fruit after he looses us as customers and everyone we end up telling. He then asked if we could take it outside and it basically turned into him yelling at us.
Needless to say I will never be going back. The owner seems to be a stuck up a****** that does not have much concern for repeat customers paying his business.
I live in the neighborhood and really want to like Eleven City Diner, but just can't. I've been there 4-5 times and had similarly underwhelming, if not negative, experiences each time. I'm done.
The food is OK; greasy, but OK. The service was poor and dismissive each time, despite being helped by different staff each visit. The overall theme is one of self-importance. The prices are high and the portions either huge or tiny. I like the appearance of the room, but again, it's a bit too proud of itself.
The clincher for me is the following - this year's July 4th fell on a Wednesday. Bongo Room down the street was closed and Eleven was open. Flyers were taped to Bongo Room's windows saying, "Hungry? We're open down the street at Eleven City Diner --->" I'll assume that the Bongo Room didn't consent to this stunt, which is incredibly low-class. If they did consent to it, it's just another reason why they'll continue to get my business, and Eleven will not.
Or how about flying the Puerto Rican flag on June 16th, the day of the Puerto Rican Day Parade, which kicked off a few blocks away? I thought it was a Jewish diner/deli -- cheap, transparent, classless pandering for business.