A Restaurant Frozen in Time: Manny's Deli serving homemade classics for over 80 years

CHICAGO (CBS)-- For Foodie Friday, CBS 2's Jamaica Ponder stopped by the famous Manny's Deli in the South Loop on Jefferson.

This cafeteria-style restaurant has served Jewish deli classics since 1942. This is everything from roast beef to Reubens and matzo ball soup. 

How does a restaurant keep its doors open for over 80 years?

"I think the way really what we've done is kept it the same," Dan Raskin said. 

When owner Dan Raskin's great-grandfather, Jack, first opened Manny's, you could find cafeteria-style dining all over the city. 

"That was very common for restaurants," Raskin said. "People wanted the service to get through the line, and get what they wanted, and get back to work."

But as the industry changed, Raskin said the trend started to become sit-down dining. 

"The families didn't want to run them anymore and they were closing up, and we were really the last of the restaurants that survived in that era," Raskin said. 

It's a restaurant frozen in time. 

"If you came here in 1942 and you came here now, it's the same recipes,"  Raskin said. "For a long time, it was the same people making those recipes. Today, it may even be their kids." 

He said there are multiple generations of staff at Manny's and the clientele is no exception. 

Fred Matthews is a frequent diner.  

"I've been coming here for, I would say would be the mid-eighties, we've been coming to Manny's to enjoy the sandwiches," Mathews said. 

"Everybody relates to Manny's in some way, and it's just a comfortable place where you're not judged. You can be who you want to be," Raskin said.

He said the homemade food makes you feel "like you're sitting in your kitchen as a little kid and you're enjoying it with everybody else.".