Mods, please move response elsewhere if need be///I am not a fan of the "mile-high" Jewish deli sandwiches and would gladly pay 12-15 for the sandwich pictured above(in the linked article). The steady decline of Jewish delis in America is well-documented. While I remain inexperienced with those in Chicago(having lived in the city for ten years, alas), Indianapolis(our home for 6 years) boasts Shapiro's(much covered on LTH),
https://shapiros.com a great, long-lived Jewish deli. Living and working in grocery in New York, one experiences gradations of Jewish deli culture. (Thousands of our bodegas serve the same menu of the unfortunately-degraded Boar's Head product 24-7) My flagship store in Eli Zabar's empire on the UES is not as Jewish as the other brother's place, Zabar's, on the West Side. Funnily, enough, I catch my bus to get to Eli's a block away from Zabar's which I first visited 28 years ago. Long story, so, Eli's is not all that Jewish in general and sometimes spectacularly Jewish, especially during the high holy days. And, much of our clientele is elderly, wealthy, and Jewish in a, "how dare Eli charge these prices!" And, they shop there anyway, for, to be Jewish on the UES is to complain and complain, and feel grateful in the complaining. I have spent nearly a year immersed in a culture I knew tangentially and now grok much more. Not that I understand it, just that I grok it. I mean, NYC is still the epicenter of Jewish cultures in America. We recently took in the Modigliani exhibit at The Jewish Museum where there is a Russ and Daughters in the basement. Who knew? An addendum: I grew up loving delis and deli sandwiches: cold rare roast beef with swiss and deli(brown) mustard and a Dr. Brown's Black Cherry soda. However, delis in Houston were typically run by Pakistanis(think gas station stores), or, Italians(think Butera's) or Antone's(Syrian/Lebanese...and still one of the Italian subs I dream about, have reverse-engineered),
http://antoneshouston.com My mom took me to the original in the Hospital District, they subsequently-watered down their brand by over-expansion, but still, a great deli sub/grinder/hero/hoagie. These stores (excepting original locations) were debrided of ethnicity; simply efficiently run, and delicious. Or, there was the pinnacle: Nielsen's(Danish).
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_ ... Texas.html Oh, god, Nielsen's, my mom took me to the original location as a tyke, and my dad took me to the new(relatively, this now being many years ago, new location at my request upon a visit back) housemade roast beef on Nielsen's homemade white bread with Nielsen's sauce plus a slice of their pudding -like cheese cake and a Dr. Brown's Black Cherry soda. Heaven. A protestant heaven(for an American Atheist boy), for sure.
Being gauche rocks, stun the bourgeoisie