Rye Deli + Drink — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

Greetings to all,

On Thursday afternoon I was in the west Chicago Loop area looking for a quiet place to finish a business proposal preferably at a StarBucks or similar kind of establishment. I had arrived a couple hours prior to my 5:00 business event and had some time to finish the draft. Unable to find any reasonable place I kept walking toward Monroe Street just a block from the Kennedy  heading north. As I walk I see the Crown Plaza West Loop.

As I am starting to walk by I quickly decide, why not, let's try this out. I walk in and my eyes quickly glance down the hallway. I saw the Rye Deli. The Rye Deli, is a restaurant bar, so why not, I walk in and it is pure silence. Music is playing in the background and I am the only one in this place. I sit down in a booth, pull out my laptop and start working on the proposal draft.

The booth has extremely comfortable seating, in fact you feel like you are sitting in a soft leather luxury car seat. In fact the Rye Deli might have some of the best seating for dining in the Chicago Loop. I realize this is just great, however the music reminds me of a ballad you would play for someone suffering from insomnia. As I'm thinking about that, Roxanne, who is a server, walks up and asks what food/beverage I would like. I ordered tea. She comes back and we start to chat a little. I mention something about the music telling her I might need to order some coffee if the insomnia ballad keeps playing.

Well Roxanne tells me that she will change the music. She does and she selects an off beat channel. Great choice....She comes back and asks me if that is better. I tell her its perfect. Great music....."great sheet music writing environment". As I write and chat with Roxanne I realize she is very smart. She is also a good looking lady who also might be or could have been formally retired however decided to go back to work. We continue to chat. Then she makes a couple suggestions for my proposal draft. She provides some great insights for me......I am now beginning to wonder if she was a prof at the University of Chicago or Northwestern University. She is that brainy... and her thoughts help finish my draft ahead of time.

I finish and begin to leave. I tell her that the Rye Deli has become my new "West Loop office." In talking to Roxanne I realize she is also a very kind hearted lady. I am sure everyday Roxanne is bringing joy into people's lives.....and in this current perplexing world.....a very welcome encouragement reminder for all of us...... So if you are in Chicago and just finished a meeting and you have another meeting hours later and looking for a great lunch place and or time to do some work you must try out Rye Deli. If you do and see Roxanne tell her Dave said hi....oh also tell her I will be back before Christmas.....I just do not...

Rye Deli & Drink is a stellar addition to Chicago and the West Loop neighborhood. Not too far off the infamous Randolph Row of restaurants, Rye is situated close to the Greektown and the great restaurants like Greek Islands. Rye Deli delivers a delicious and new spin on the traditional deli bringing Bagels, smoked meats and creative cocktails. Sounds good right? It is! I knew I had try the smoked meats and my wife loves bagels so call it is match made. The food was definitely impressive and unique too. I enjoyed the smoked Turkey on Pita and got two bagels, Everything and Poppy. From the bagels to the smoked meat, I would say it has a lot of similarity to Montreal style, which is a good thing. They also threw in a taste of corned beef and pastrami- both great. My Turkey sandwich was awesome and I would order it again. Next time I will be getting the Reuben as the Corned beef is some of the best I’ve tried and is different than traditional style like at Mannys. I like how they are doing something different, even their cream cheese is yogurt based, how bout that. The rest of the menu looks delicious and will have to try the spreads and...

After a long drive we checked into the hotel and decided to just chill and go get dinner in the restaurant, since the menu was in the room. Talk about a bright spot in an otherwise dreary, sometimes frustrating day! Paul greeted us from behind the bar and gave us the run-down on how things work. He offered to to an in-person order if we didn't want to do the online/app thing, but we made it happen. He made us feel right at home! The food went beyond all expectations. We were planning on a light meal, which we got, but we were not planning on the quality. We both ordered the Reuben sandwich, and my wife added the 1/2 bowl of matzo ball soup. We also got the roasted cauliflower with hazelnuts. Seriously an outstanding meal with exceptional service. Our cocktails were well thought out, too, and we enjoyed them both (strawberry bubblicious and honey badger). As a couple others have mentioned, there did seem to be a heavy hand on the salt shaker in the kitchen, but it was not off-putting. A well-prepared meal overall. 10/10...