Chicago - March 29, 2006

Eat, Bubeleh, Eat

Eleven City Diner

To be a child of the ’70s.

Fondling Bubbe’s stale raspberry hard candies in the back of a ’73 kelly green Cadillac Eldorado en route to The Bagel on Devon. Larry Lujack on the dial, Bee Gees on the eight-track, satellite radio not even a glimmer in a young Howard Stern fan’s eye.

Those were the days. They are also the inspiration for Eleven City Diner, the new South Loop Jewish delicatessen that opens tomorrow.

Eleven City mixes the old with the new: Fast-talking diner careerists (countermen handpicked from The Pickle Barrel, The Belden Deli, and Ashkenaz) will be serving some of the most authentic deli food around, like hand-cut corned beef, hand-pinched kreplach, and matzo balls that rival mom’s.

But the genius is in the details. Like Bastian Blessing soda fountains and an in-house soda jerk making classic egg creams and malts. Cake and pie service. Intelligentsia coffee baristas. Jazz, bebop, and swing in the background.

They’ll be open late (till 5 a.m. on weekends) to satisfy munchies in the wee small hours.

Oy. You modern insomniac multitaskers and your crazy late hours. Can’t you be like normal people and just go to bed every once in a while?

Eleven City Diner, 1112 South Wabash, at 11th Street (312-212-1112 or elevencitydiner.com).

  Brunch, Hangover Cure, Late Night, Soda Fountain