Julius Meinl Is Ditching The Special Touches That Made It Unique

By Anthony Todd in Food on Feb 29, 2016 6:07PM

Photo via Instagram.

Julius Meinl is an oasis of civility and calm in a busy city. Chicago boasts the only North American outposts of this popular European coffee chain, and guests enjoyed leather-bound menu books filled with Austrian-style food, full waiter service and the opportunity to have a quiet, dignified breakfast or lunch. "Vienna coffeehouse culture" is what they brag about, and the brand has an incredibly loyal following in the city. That may be changing, now that they've ditched a bunch of that awesomeness to go fast casual.

This sign greeted me when I tried to have breakfast at their Lincoln Avenue location this weekend (I ultimately went somewhere else).

Photo by Anthony Todd.

Gone are the leather menu books. Gone are the servers. Gone is about 2/3 of the menu. Now, guests order at the counter (and if you want a salad, you grab it from the cooler like you're at an Au Bon Pain) and take food to their tables.

If you were a fan of those salads, by the way (and I subsisted on their quinoa and brie salad for a solid month one summer), they're not on the menu anymore. Nor is the wonderful "Austrian Breakfast," a combination of sliced of smoked salmon, cheese, toast and a soft boiled egg in an egg cup that was guaranteed to make anyone feel like they were far more dignified then they actually were. Nor is the truffled croque madame, the most indulgent sandwich on the North Side. There's now a selection of build-your-own egg sandwiches, a lot of potato-pancake based dishes and a fairly robust list of baked egg dishes.

Oddly enough, this isn't the first time Meinl has tried to change course. A few years back, they ditched their large, varied menu for a much smaller one with fewer options, but after a few weeks (and, I suspect, some customer outcry) they switched back.

I'm sure there are good reasons (from a business standpoint) for the change. Faster throughput, lower operational cost, fewer ingredients to stock in the kitchen. But all of those little touches (especially full service) were what made Meinl not Starbucks. Those things represent "Vienna coffeehouse culture." Just having goulash on the menu, I fear, isn't gonna cut it.

Julius Meinl hadn't returned a request for comment when this post was published.