Eater Chicago - Relive Eater Chicago's First-Ever Breakfast WeekThe Chicago Restaurant, Bar, and Nightlife Bloghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52682/favicon-32x32.png2016-02-17T11:42:03-06:00http://chicago.eater.com/rss/stream/108593312016-02-17T11:42:03-06:002016-02-17T11:42:03-06:00Johnny's Grill's Breakfast Rush, Saturday at 11 a.m.
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2StPu-KdlB6c0P1P1JUCfyirZMo=/112x0:1936x1368/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/48836021/25007691515_bc9a65d347_k.0.0.jpg" />
</figure>
<p>The newest greasy spoon in Chicago was bustling.</p> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/w0NyU-1c4skE1zEXepQp7T-dhZM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6015331/Eater-BreakfastWeek-Banner.0.png">
</figure>
<p>Grab at stool at <a href="http://chicago.eater.com/venue/johnny-s-grill" class="sbn-auto-link"><strong>Johnny's Grill</strong></a> and it may look like nothing has changed. The sizzling griddle is searing orders of eggs and bacon that get slid across the rose-colored linoleum counter alongside cups of coffee and sides of home fries. There is one key difference: The woman in the kitchen. It's <strong>Sarah Jordan</strong>, an award-winning pastry chef who hung up her toque to save a dying Logan Square diner.</p>
<p>Jordan took over the nearly 30-year-old diner last year, where she preserved its iconic greasy spoon vibe while adding a bit of Irish flavor as well as a new bar next door (which will transform into <a href="http://chicago.eater.com/2016/2/5/10922264/mezcaleria-las-flores-bar-johnnys-grill-jay-schroeder-logan-square">Mezcaleria Las Flores</a> later this month). Here, a squad of female chefs, cooks and bartenders turn out flawless flapjacks by the dozen. It's just a typical Saturday during breakfast, which starts at 8 a.m. on the weekends and continues all day.</p>
<p>"We're just a no frills, no fuss breakfast spot," says Jordan, who can be found in the open kitchen most mornings. From her sunny-side up command center, Jordan greets regulars such as Rebecca and Charles while preparing their usual order—€”avocado toast with an egg on top and Johnnycakes. Or Butch and Joe, a retired State Farm agent and police officer, who have known each other since they were 14-years-old and both favor the eggs benedict.</p>
<p>The tiny kitchen serves about 350 before cooling down. Then the whole process starts over again with burgers and fish 'n' chips for dinner. Check out the Saturday breakfast scene in the photos above.</p>
https://chicago.eater.com/2016/2/17/11020128/johnnys-grill-photos-breakfast-logan-square-eater-scenesSarah Freeman2016-02-16T16:01:10-06:002016-02-16T16:01:10-06:00Daley's Restaurant Waitress Recalls Three Decades of Serving Breakfast in Woodlawn
<figure>
<img alt="Rose Gillespie" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/O4WhI2CH2NzQDQhGwF8yvjdIC9U=/198x0:3353x2366/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/48831471/RoseGillespieFront.0.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Rose Gillespie | <a href='http://nagleweb.com'>Nagle Photography</a></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Welcome to a Breakfast Week edition of Lifers a feature in which Eater interviews the men and women who have worked in the restaurant and bar industry for the better part of their lives. Up now, Rose Gillespie, a waitress for 34 years at Daley's Restaurant.</p> <p><img alt="Eater-BreakfastWeek-Banner.0.png" src="https://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6015331/Eater-BreakfastWeek-Banner.0.png"></p>
<p><strong style="line-height: 1.5;">Rose Gillespie </strong><span>has seen Woodlawn's highs and lows. For 34 years, the waitress has served morning customers at venerable </span><a style="line-height: 1.5; background-color: #ffffff;" target="_blank" href="http://daleysrestaurant.com/menu.htm"><strong>Daley's Restaurant</strong></a><span>, one of the city's oldest restaurants. The throwback eatery has been in the South Side community since 1892, serving breakfast, homemade soul food, pies and biscuits.</span></p>
<p>Daley's roots stretch back to the Columbian Exposition and has gone through two buildings at the same site. The restaurant's evolved — when Gillespie started she would just yell customers' orders to the cooks; they didn't write them down on paper. Proudly wearing her apron, both she and co-owner Mike Zar chatted about Gillespie's career in this South Side community.</p>
<p><strong>Why did you enter the service industry?</strong></p>
<p>I worked in keypunch for 13 years but I still worked as a waitress, part time. In '82 I got laid off from two different insurance companies, and I didn't make the amount of money that I wanted. Then I said 'I know where I can make my money.' And I went back to waitressing full time.</p>
<p><strong style="line-height: 1.5;">Do you treat regulars differently?</strong></p>
<p>No. I treat them all the same way. [Shaking her head] They're all the same to me.</p>
<p><strong>How do you ensure customers come back?</strong></p>
<p>Good soup. Good coffee.</p>
<p><strong>MZ:</strong> Rose has her own clients, they come into see her. They come into her section. Sundays, she gets families that come in; they only want to sit with Rose. It's hard to see new customers, because she gets so many that she's been around for so long. But like she said, she treats everyone fair. She really does.</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Daley’s Rose Gillespie" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/a9dBS-Uu5Qw1BA5GrIqiz0S16O4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6049047/Rose_Daley_IMG_6770.0.jpg">
<cite>Eater Chicago/<a class="ql-link" href="http://nagleweb.com/store/" target="_blank">Nagle Photography</a></cite>
</figure>
<p><strong>What's the best part of the job?</strong></p>
<p>I'm a people person, I like being around people. In the years that I've worked I've had a lot of good people coming in.</p>
<p><strong>After working with other waitresses through the years, do you see yourself as a mentor?</strong></p>
<p>MZ: Everyone respects Rose...they also know to stay out of her way when she's working. Don't mess with Rose.</p>
<p><strong style="line-height: 1.5;">What does Daley's mean to Woodlawn?</strong></p>
<p>I think it's a family place. Because a lot of people have gone, moved out, whatever and came back. This is where they can come in as a family no matter what.</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Rose Daley Restaurant food" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wY-crwAeLovc3hh1822R7dJ5nXE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6049063/Rose_Daley_IMG_6773.0.jpg">
</figure>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Do you ever get grouchy on the job?</strong></p>
<p>I don't think so, you know sometimes things happen anyway, it doesn't matter what I would have done. One day a client may touch you and it wasn't right, but then you brush yourself off, you got to get back to work.</p>
<p><strong>Mike, what makes Rose different?</strong></p>
<p><strong>MZ</strong>: She has more class than anyone in this restaurant. The way she carries herself, the way she speaks, the way she treats people; it's the whole thing.</p>
<p><strong>So you listen to R&B in the car on the way to work. Who do you listen to in particular?</strong></p>
<p>Luther [Vandross].</p>
https://chicago.eater.com/2016/2/16/11015656/daleys-restaurant-waitress-interview-lifers-breakfast-weekAshok Selvam