- Michael Gebert
- Matzoh ball soup at Frances’ Deli
The state of deli food in Chicago—or, rather, the lack of deli food in Chicago—is a common topic of conversation among food enthusiasts. As recently as the 1960s and 1970s there were healthy deli scenes in Rogers Park and other parts of town, but when it comes to vintage places still going today—the local equivalents of Katz’s in New York or Schwartz’s in Montreal—the conversation tends to start and stop with Manny’s in the South Loop, in the area once known as “Jew Town,” which dates to circa 1949.
- Michael Gebert
- Steve Gelman, Frances’ Deli
No one actually knows the Frances the diner was named after; Gelman says a few people have claimed to identify her, but “I haven’t gotten anything that’s 100 percent sure. My father and a partner purchased it in 1967, and before that, it was two brothers. That’s as far back as I can go.” The partner died, and Gelman’s family took it over. “I was going to school and started in it as a dishwasher, and then fell into business with my brothers.” In 1988 they moved it from the original location, at the corner of Clark and Fullerton, to the current location two blocks up the street, dotted with vintage knickknacks and equally vintage newspaper clippings.
