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Lunchtime in the Loop is a beautiful thing. Like an elaborate dance sequence, busy downtown hot spots service customers with a graceful efficiency, and businessmen rub elbows with the bike messengers for an “everyman’s meal” – fries and a dog, Italian beef, or a back-to-basics deli sandwich.
You can see this happening every weekday at Perry’s Deli downtown, where at lunchtime the line regularly stretches out the door. Any sandwich you get here will be a monstrosity of deli meat and bread, but we are partial to the Perry’s Combo. Our explanation will be as simple as the ‘wich: a heaping of turkey, ham, Russian dressing, tomatos, and a scoop of cole slaw. With a choice of side and a pickle, the sandwich will run you about $8.50, but the sandwiches are so big that Perry’s automatically wraps up half, and hands it over in a paper bag.
This no-frills approach permeates throughout the whole of the establishment, such as the signage warning that cell phone use is strictly forbidden, adding, “If you are that important that you must be using a cell phone, you should be eating in a much more upscale restaurant.” Perry’s is not kidding about the cell phones, because as soon as a patron whips out a ringing phone, an alarm sounds, causing everyone to sneer at the embarrassed offender. If the customer doesn’t make the connection, a Perry’s employee will come over to issue a scolding, if the deli's regulars don’t get there first.
Perry's Deli is located at 174 N. Franklin. Cash only except on orders of $25 or more.
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Their 3 foot long hot dog is KILLER. It comes with a gallon of smiles. (for free of course).
russian dressing. how come no one ever talks about russian dressing anymore? and what exactly *is* the difference between russian and french dressing?
You know, I'm sure the sandwiches are just wonderful, but that whole sanctimonious 'no cell phones' crap just rubs me the wrong way. This isn't 1995. Having a cell phone in 2008 doesn't mean you're 'important', or even that you 'think' you're important. It just means you're breathing and possibly employed. I have a cell phone, I'll use the cell phone if I need to. If Perry is too much of a luddite to understand that, too damned bad.
@Oph: And if you're too much of a technophile to understand that, in 2K8, a privately owned business like Perry's can still refuse service to customers who don't show what they expect to be a bare minimum of courtesy when they walk into their establishment, too damned bad.
@ smussy: Who are you? Jerry Seinfeld?
its like that other post about proprietor signage. people seemed to think that was inappropiate, too.
i personally think that, within reason, the owner of a business has a right to clearly state how he expects his customers to act.
Yeah, yeah, yeah...if he wants to say "please be courteous when using your phone," or "please refrain from using your phone when ordering," or even "please respect other customers by turning off your ringer while in the restaurant," that's fine. But having an ALARM go blaring if someone's phone DARES to go off in his precious dive is just that restaurant owner being a dick.
I hope they create hot dogs in the shape of "cell" phones. Or just hot dog bricks.
I think it's not the request to abstain from cell phone use, but rather the tone of the request that is offensive.
I agree that defining me as someone who 'thinks they are so important' if I pull out my phone while eating a sandwich is a big turn off. It was after I read the language of the sign that I lost interest in trying the place.
If the sign had simply read "no cellphones allowed, ever", I don't think I would have balked. I don't deny being sensitive... I read the sign as an insult.
Oh, just another thought, does this include pagers, or "beepers"?
HOT DOG BEEPERS FOR EVERYONE!
For quiet during lunchtime in the Loop try St.Peter's in the Loop.
I am not joking they have great programming,queit, a bookstore and more.
I know, I am lunch lady librarian.
I go to Perry's occasionally, and the place is always packed for lunch!
If you do not want to go to Perry's b/c of their cell phone policy, no...big...deal.
Don't go.
The place is always packed at lunch with people!
I think it is quite amusing that die hard cell phone users are feeling "disrespected" by the sign. That "disrespect" is EXACTLY how I feel when I have listen to some jackass on their cell phone on a train or bus yapping away about what bar they are going to later.
For that, I thank Perry's...for it is a place where I can go and not encounter the aforementioned jackass.
Irishman - I agree wholeheartedly. No one has to go to Perry's if they don't want to - or if they want to blabber on the phone while at lunch.
Places that are cell phone free are a tiny fraction of businesses and a welcome one. As Jerry the barber used to tell the rare customer whose phone rang in his shop, "This is where I conduct my business. If you want to conduct yours, step outside."
talk about jerry seinfeld ... is perry the "cell phone nazi?"
but back to dressing. i seriously want to know what the difference between russian and french dressing is. tom robbins says "there are no synonyms," so there must be a difference. one of you foodies must be able to tell me.
and i ask why no one's talking about it anymore, because it seems like russian dressing was more of an option when i was a kid. i never hear anyone even mention it anymore. these are things that are curious to me. if only i *could* make millions with these thoughts.
While they are both tomato based salad dressings, Russian dressing is actually closer to Thousand Island than it is to French Dressing. In fact, if a mayonnaise base is used, the only difference that may be noticed between Russian and Thousand Island is that Russian is sharper. French Dressing is a vinaigrette with tomato and sugar.
Russian dressing is traditionally made with a yogurt base, but mayonnaise is a common substitute.
I've never had a Perry's sandwich that wasn't worth the weight. (Lazy pun intended.) The Combo is delightful, but P.J.'s Paradise -- a triple decker with tuna salad and sugar-cured BACON -- is also mind-numbingly good. And they cook their own brisket.
wow. i never would have guessed any of that stuff. amazing. thanks, dressing gurus.