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Manny's Coffee Shop & Deli is no stranger to celebrity diners, which made the South Loop icon the ideal backdrop on Monday afternoon for Steve Harvey and Jerry Seinfeld to eat lunch. The comedians visited while recording an episode of the Seinfeld-hosted web series "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee."
"It was a surreal feeling seeing them sitting at a regular table," Manny's owner Dan Raskin said.
The duo pulled in around 1:30 p.m. in a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, Raksin added. The comics chatted and dined for about 90 minutes, shaking hands and posing for photos with staff. Harvey, a Chicago resident, ordered a corned beef and pastrami combo with a potato pancake. Seinfeld, the New Yorker, noshed on a pastrami sandwich, also with the potato pancake. Obviously, both ordered coffee. The show features Seinfeld interviewing comedians and chatting about their backgrounds in the unorthodox setting of a car and a coffee shop, with the guest picking the latter. Raskin didn't know when Crackle would release the episode.
"They seemed happy with the portions," Raskin said, noting both Harvey and Seinfeld took boxes for left overs. Harvey also ordered extra food to go for others.
Manny's offers valet parking, and Seinfeld parked the Chevy right in front of the diner. Staff weren't given much notice that they were coming in, and there were two cameras shooting footage. Raskin called the crews very professional and said it was an honor for Manny's to be the backdrop. He couldn't say how well the duo tipped.
Now that that's out of the way, he'll worry about Election Day in Chicago, as TV news crews camp out Tuesday waiting to see if any politicians stop by for a bite, a tradition at Manny's.