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LakeForestLeader.com DINING OUT
the lake forest leader | March 22, 2018 | 23
Updated Max’s Deli menu boasts fresh, healthy options
Megan Bernard
Contributing Editor
Max’s Deli has been a
long-standing establishment
in the North Shore
for more than 25 years.
To be successful for more
years to come, its owner is
revamping the menu with
more health-conscious
and fresh dishes for the
future.
Joey Morelli, a trained
chef, and his brother
opened up Joey’s Brickhouse
in Chicago in 2004.
After a seven-year run,
they were ready to take
over their grandfather
Bernie Katz’s business,
Max’s Deli at 191 Skokie
Valley Road in Highland
Park.
At first, like the saying
goes, if it wasn’t broke,
they didn’t fix it — so
nothing changed menuwise
at the restaurant.
They did, however, eventually
add a full-service
bakery, so Max’s produces
cupcakes, cookies,
pies, bagels, bailies,
among other baked goods,
just behind the counter
made fresh for customers.
When 22nd Century
Media visited last in 2015,
the deli owners said they
were open to new ideas
and responsive to community
preferences. For
example, we reported that
Max’s rolled out a blueberry
cream cheese that
they said was perfectly
delicious, but the community
didn’t take to it. Later,
the cooks concocted
a jalapeno cream cheese
and it was then one of the
top sellers.
Now, Morelli is ready to
make some more changes
to better the restaurant and
keep up with the times.
Morelli inspires to
turn his “old-school Jewish
deli” into a “fun and
hip” eatery to welcome a
younger crowd and more
families, slightly changing
the dynamic from the
older clientele.
“It’s been a process.
There is nothing fun and
hip about Max’s Deli because
it’s been here for
more than 25 years, but to
evolve to the next level,
we are going to have to reinvent
ourselves or we’ll
die,” Morelli said.
The reinvention began
about eight months
ago, Morelli said, when
he switched over the restaurant’s
chicken fingers
on its children’s menu
by trading the “mystery
meat” with tenders from
Harrison’s Chicken, coating
them in extra fine flour
and frying them in clean
canola oil.
“But the kids wanted
the same chicken because
they were so used to it so
I had some backlash,” he
said. “I hesitated and got
scared. A couple months
later, I talked to enough
customers and just said
‘Screw it. If someone
wants to get mad at me for
this then they will have to
just be mad.’”
The revamping spread
to other parts of the deli’s
menu, including the mac
’n’ cheese, which previously
was shipped to the
store with a pre-made
cheese pouch. Now, Morelli
makes the dish homemade
with his own cheese
sauce (quality American
cheese, milk and butter)
and boiled noodles then
melts it all together.
Other new items include:
chicken and waffles,
an egg-in-the-hole
bagel, a turkey burger
made from the scraps of
turkey they roast in-house
and a veggie burger made
with 12 different vegetables.
Max’s Deli
191 Skokie Valley
Road, Highland Park
(847) 831-0600
www.maxs-deli.com
Open 7 a.m.-8:30
p.m. daily
“Our burgers are no
longer brown discs of
something,” Morelli said.
“They are made fresh in
our kitchen with fresh
ingredients. They are on
homemade kaiser rolls,
too, that we bake right
here.”
There are now also
gluten-free options, like
bagels, wraps and matzo
crackers. And, there’s
a new crowd-pleaser:
make-your-own omelets.
When 22nd Century
Media visited again last
week, we sampled some
of Max’s new dishes and
were pleasantly surprised.
The fresh ingredients
stood out and provided
flavor to what could be a
bland dish elsewhere.
We started with the eggin-the-hole
bagel, which
was served sunny-side
up, and a sesame bagel
with lox and chive cream
cheese. The portions were
generous and the bagels
and trimmings were extremely
fresh.
The mac ‘n’ cheese
was next and instantly
became one of our favorites.
While there are
so many varieties of this
dish, Max’s nailed it with
its homemade take with
the creamy, homemade
cheese sauce you’d have
as a side at Thanksgiving.
Another cherished dish
was the grilled cheese
and tomato basil soup,
which replaced canned
Campbell’s tomato soup
in Max’s kitchen, Morelli
said. Any consumer
The egg-in-the-hole bagel at Max’s Deli in Highland Park features a sunny-side up
egg surrounded by a fresh bagel in a flavor of your choosing. Photos By Jacqueline
Glosniak/22nd Century Media
would be able to tell the
sandwich and soup was
thoughtfully prepared and
made in-house that day.
We also tried the “controversial”
chicken tenders
and fries, and we
preferred them with the
current fresh, white meat
instead of previous “the
sponge meat,” as Morelli
described it.
Looking forward, along
with the reinvention, Morelli
plans to host a milkshake
bar in the summer
for families and children.
The deli’s ice cream is
supplied by Homer’s Ice
Cream in Wilmette.
“It used to be chemically-enhanced
ice cream,”
Morelli said. “Now we get
natural, local ice cream
from Homer’s and I believe
that’s the future of
this place.
“It’s a battle I still
haven’t figured out. For
me, it’s all about a healthy
and homemade menu so I
hope it works.”
Mac ‘n’ cheese at Max’s Deli is a classic homemade
serving of elbow macaroni noodles in a warm and
gooey homemade American cheese sauce.
Chicken tenders at the restaurant are now made with
fresh, all-white meat instead of frozen, GMO chicken
products.