A Note on Jack’s Restaurant
It is 1968. My dad and his closest group of friends sit in a Jack’s Restaurant booth on a summer evening. They eat, smoke and talk with one another well into the early hours of the next morning. No one rushes them out the door or makes them feel uncomfortable for loitering. They aren’t an obnoxious group of teens to the owner, Jack Koretos, or his staff. They are respected patrons and friends.
It is 1986. My mom and dad bring my infant brother out for a day trip for the first time since they came home from the hospital. Jack’s on Touhy it is. The staff gushes over a new baby and the bill is on the house. My dad tips the wait staff and the busboys generously.
It is 2001. I’m 10-years-old. It’s late-afternoon on a Saturday and Jack’s is empty aside from our family and a few scattered patrons around the counter. It’s the week after September 11. Even as a child, the eerie feeling of uncertainty was palpable. But at Jack’s, it was business as usual. We were greeted warmly, seated without question and took solace in a familiar, safe environment. One that I had become familiar with after spending almost every Saturday there with my family for as long as I could remember.
My family’s experience, I’m sure, is just one of many among Skokie locals and beyond who have been lucky enough to be a part of Jack’s Restaurant for the last 50 years. It’s a community staple. It was the place to meet and chat over coffee before Starbucks was on every corner. It’s the embodiment of what true character and decency mean to business and the impact it can have on people and the wider community. As the wall of photos near the cash register when you walk through the door indicates, most of the people who work there have been there for a very long time, a rarity for wait staff and cooks in the restaurant industry. It’s clear Jack and his son George have made this place a home not only for their customers, but for their staff as well. A telling sign of fair, respectful management and ownership.
As the years flew by since Jack’s opened in 1965, the landscape of its home in Skokie, Ill., the world’s largest village, has changed. A once predominantly Jewish neighborhood, is now one of the most diverse neighborhoods, home to first, second and third generation Asian, Arab, Assyrian, African-American, Latino and Hispanic families. Small, single family homes built in the 40’s and 50’s have been rapidly replaced with sizable brick mansions. The area around Jack’s, once completely residential, is now lined with commercial spaces and strip malls. Yet, throughout the constant, sometimes unwelcomed changes to the neighborhood, Jack’s remained the same, keeping its original look and fee. Ultimately staying true to the slogan written on each menu, ‘Where you always feel at home.’
My family doesn’t have money or connections. We can’t walk into an upscale Chicago restaurant, say our name and immediately get escorted to a prime table, let alone any table at all. At Jack’s we are greeted like close family, we often (selfishly) cut the line on a busy Saturday morning, we’re given a choice of our favorite booths and are greeted like old friends as opposed to transactions. Jack, his son, the servers and busboys make sure to check-in. “How’s school?” “How’s work?” We ask them the same. “How’s the family?” “What’s new?” Comfort, respect, loyalty and genuine kindness on a daily basis. Those are the qualities that set Jack’s apart.
After my dad passed away in 2004, we didn’t go to Jack’s for a long time. Not because the food or service changed, but because we genuinely felt like our family’s history was rooted there, and to go without my dad didn’t feel right. Once we did return years later, it was as if we had never left. We are greeted by name, George asks how school’s going, Mario, a long time busboy, makes sure to ask how we’ve been and proudly tells us he put a picture of him and my dad in an album.
As Jack’s plans to close its doors for good in August, I can’t help but feel like I’m losing another piece of my dad’s life and my family’s long history in the neighborhood. It’s a loss that I’m sure many others share with me as well. One can only hope another establishment can embody even a small amount of what Jack’s has been able to give Skokie locals and the greater community.
