Bagels, Bubbes & Chicago Flavor: Inside Jake & Ariel’s Jewish Deli Love Story

Chicago has no shortage of food pilgrimages, but walk into Jake and Ariel’s spot and you’ll feel something heavier than nostalgia—it’s a love letter to the Jewish deli, equal parts family scrapbook and kitchen revolution. Their menu reads like a mixtape of greatest hits: bagels and lox that drip with Sunday-morning tradition, matzah ball soup so light it feels like a benediction, Grandma Eunice’s latkes fried with history, and hand-sliced sandwiches stacked like skyscrapers.

For Jake, cooking isn’t just craft—it’s inheritance. He grew up orbiting his grandmothers, Eunice and Goldalee, women whose kitchens doubled as cultural landmarks. Their recipes weren’t recipes so much as rituals, connecting generations across a table. When Jake started cooking, it wasn’t just to feed—it was to carry those voices forward.

Every pot of matzah ball soup is a hymn to Eunice, every fluffy dumpling a secret whispered through steam. The latkes crunch with decades of tradition. Yet this isn’t a museum of Jewish cuisine—it’s a remix. Jake threads his own rhythm into those heirloom dishes, keeping the soul but letting the beat shift.

What emerges is more than food—it’s a bridge. A bridge back to Bubbes long gone, and a bridge forward to new Chicago diners hungry for something real. Because at Jake and Ariel’s, the deli isn’t just a place to eat—it’s a place to remember, reinvent, and reconnect.

Stop by Schneider Deli for a slice of tradition.

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