So there I was, in the Second City the day after my
birthday. The night before I was able to
meet up for drinks with friends from high-school, business school, and my past
life in Boston. It had been a great
night until I came home and my wife told me she sprained her ankle and could
not walk. She couldn’t even make it to the bathroom and I had to carry her. She
couldn’t put any weight on it and I wasn’t sure what we were going to do. Our
three-year was not going to be happy about his Mama being sidelined.
That morning we hastily arranged a trip to spend the week in
San Antonio with my family. The extra help would give my wife time to do
physical therapy and give Danny a chance to hang out with his Abeula. The
injury itself was not serious but brought back lots of bad memories. It was a bad weekend to forget my Celexa in Atlanta but sometimes a
Reuben is just what you need to cheer you up.
All along this blog has been an outlet for me, an escape. It is something to keep me busy and remind me not to take myself too seriously. A trip to Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen in the shadows of the Chicago skyline is exactly what I needed.
Corned Beef Reuben
“Stuffed with corned beef, grilled with swiss and sauerkraut, with 1000 island on the side.”
Appearance –
(4.2/5.0)
I have been critical of “your grandpa’s” style Reubens
before. They are the type that piles high the beef just for spectacle. Manny’s
piles it high but it looks great, once you move the huge potato pancake out of
the way.
One thing that caught my attention was the marbling of the fat in the
meat. We are usually referring to rye on this blog when we mention marbling but
not in this case. It looks almost like prosciutto. You can see each thin slice of
corned beef has just a sliver of white fat running through it.
Quality Of
Ingredients – (4.6/5.0)
Spared no expense.
(For the first, I don’t know, 15 years of my life, when I watched Jurassic Park
and the old guy kept saying “spared no expense” I thought he somehow found a
way to get it for free. As if he found a way to spare the expense and did not
have to pay for it. I kept thinking to myself, how did this guy build an entire
dinosaur theme park for free? How many favors did he call in?)
Well Manny spared no expense in making this Reuben,
particularly the Corned Beef. They have slicers going non-stop and it produces
this mountain of meat. I was amazed to see all of the guys behind the counter
still had all of their digits. I was concerned at first at what kind of 1000
island dressing would come on the side in that little plastic sample cup but it
was great. All of the pieces were in place for a great Reuben.
Price – (3.9/5.0)
$14.95! That is not cheap but I think it was a good value.
For one we were in Chicago $$$, they do provide free parking $$$, the potato
pancake along was enough to fill me up $$$, and the portion was huge $$$. So all things considered, it wasn’t crazy
expensive. This also may be the only Reuben I did not finish. I took one half
home to my temporarily-immobile wife. My
father-in-law picked up the bill so I was able to spare that expense.
Je Ne Sais Quoi – (4.7/5.0)
The guys behind the counter at Manny’s seem like they have
been doing this for a very, very long time. These guys are flipping plates,
throwing meat around, directing traffic, all while automatic meat blades are
flying all around them. It was a great little place. A true old-world
experience that you can tell the folks of Chicago are proud to call their
own.
They also seem to be very proud of the fact that a cow
burned their city to the ground. We drove by UIC on the way to Manny’s and
their mascot is the Flames. The MLS team is the Fire, and they embrace the
Second City. I think it is one of those things where they can put it out in
front to get it out of the way. Kind of like when you tell your co-workers
about a stain on your shirt before they see it themselves.
Taste – (9.6/10.0)
Not bad at all! I found myself opening up the Reuben at one
point and just eating one strip of Corned Beef at a time. It was so good. The
dressing on the side worked well because it allowed me to control how much of
it I wanted. Turns out, it is also great for dipping with the potato pancake.
The Swiss cheese was good but it was not freshly melted by
the time I got it. They pre-grill the rye bread with Swiss and sauerkraut and
when you order the Reuben, they fork it open and pile in the Corned Beef. It
keeps the line moving but you do lose just a bit of flavor by having the Swiss,
sauerkraut and bread just sitting around.
Overall – (27.0/30.0)
Would I order it again, yes! Although I would want to go
with a big group so we can all order different stuff. The menu is huge and
there were lots of things I wanted to try. The Matzo Ball soup looked great,
the pastas, even the liver and onions! It is the type of place you just don’t
see that much anymore and I am glad I got to go.
