18 Chicago Food Spots Where You Always See Jews You Know

What and where are the places you run into Jews you know? The question sounds easy enough. You've probably already listed five places while reading this sentence. I really wanted to try to find something new, to tell the world our little Jewish secrets. There must be something beyond talking about our favorite restaurant in Boca (TooJay's Deli), my mahjong game, or how many times we're going to see Hamilton.

What and where we are is a difficult question for me. I have a very Jewish job as the administrator for Kol Hadash. I see Jews all day everyday. Some days the only person I speak with is a rabbi. I also run the storytelling show known as You're Being Ridiculous, where the audience is made up mostly of Jews. I'm surrounded; I'm literally running into Jews I know all of the time and all over the place, so my perspective is a little skewed.

I decided to get very serious about it and ask my friends and family, "Where are we and what do we do?" I got so excited to discover new answers to this question that I asked without any explanation, so most of my friends and family thought I had lost my mind. I sent emails. I polled friends on Facebook. I even talked to my neighbors, and I make it a rule to never talk to my neighbors.

What I discovered is that there really is nothing new under the sun. It will come as no surprise for you to learn that the one common thread between all of the Jews I talked to was … food.

Every Jew I spoke to gave me a list of restaurants. Sure, I heard about all of the places you'd expect Jews to list like Hamakor and Spertus, but the Jews I know really wanted to talk to me about their Lettuce Entertain You Points and what to order from Wildfire.

So what I learned is what we have always known: Jews love food. We love to eat. Most of our holidays are attached to food, so it makes perfect sense.

Here they are then, in no particular order, the 18 restaurants you're most likely to run into a Jew that you know. If I've gleaned anything from my research, it's that you're probably reading this from one of the places listed below, and if you're not, you're more than likely on your way.