Soup Season At Thayer's Deli: 'Mom Always Had Soup On The Stove'

JOLIET, IL — November has arrived and the days of standing on West Jefferson Street ordering ice cream cones at The Original Walt's Ice Cream are over for 2022. There are certain foods for certain seasons and when it comes to soups, many people around Joliet and even as far away as Kankakee patronize 753 Ruby Street — Thayer Bros. Deli.

It's been three years since Ann Thayer — the matriarch of the family and one of Joliet's most beloved restaurant owners — died following a brief illness. She was in her eighties.

Despite Ann Thayer's passing, her legacy and her recipes remain a fixture six days a week at Thayer's deli, which is run by her son, Rick Thayer.

He even gets help a few days a week in the kitchen from Chicago Bears announcer, Tom Thayer, a 1985 Super Bowl winner. Brothers Rick and Tom were star athletes at Joliet Catholic High School. Rick graduated in 1977 and Tom was in the class of 1979.

Rick Thayer likes to think that Thayer Bros. Deli offers the best soups in Joliet.

"We go through a lot of soup," he remarked during Tuesday's lunchtime interview with Joliet Patch. "We also give a cup of soup away with every meal."

Mrs. Thayer's locally famous chicken noodle soup is what comes to peoples' minds if you ask them about the different soup offered at Thayer's.

"Chicken noodle is what we grew up on," Rick Thayer recalled Tuesday. "We grew up on soup, we were a big family and mom always had soup on the stove."

Thayer's makes sure it has a steamy hot kettle of homemade chicken noodle soup on its kitchen stove Monday through Saturday; it's closed Sunday.

The second soup kettle is rotated six days of the week as the comfort food restaurant's soup of the day.

On Tuesday, it was French onion. Sometimes, it's chili, cheesy cream of broccoli, beef barley or tomato rice, among others.

"One of my favorites is the hamburger with vegetables," Rick Thayer revealed.

More than a year had passed since Joliet Patch last published a feature story on Thayer's.

So how are things now at Thayer's, business-wise, Joliet Patch's editor asked.

"We're doing okay," Rick Thayer said. "Some days are feast, some days are famine. That's just the way things are, right? Overall, we can't complain."

2019 Joliet Patch column: Thayer Bros. Deli, A Joliet Treasure

As the temperature starts to dip into the 40s and 30s as winter nears, the lunch and dinner crowd often grows at Thayer's.

Why, you might ask?

"We are getting into soup season," Thayer remarked. "It's still all my mom's old recipes. We sell soup all year round, but we're now in cold and flu season. Chicken noodle, we have every day and every day we have a different (second) soup."

Homemade soups and comfort food. That's what Thayer's is always known for.

So how many soups does Thayer's offer?

"We probably rotate eight or nine different soups," Rick Thayer said. "Friday seems like we do a lot of cream soups."

While Joliet Patch sat at a table in the middle of the dining room interviewing Thayer, Angela Shea approached. She wanted Patch to know that she and her husband, Kevin Shea, live in Kankakee and regularly drive to Joliet just to eat lunch at Thayer's deli.

"We've come up several times because of the food," Angela Shea said.

When asked for her favorite thing about Thayer's, she answered, "chicken noodle soup."

Rick Thayer said his famous brother Tom is typically back in the Ruby Street restaurant kitchen two or three days a week, making the Mississippi pot roast, prime rib sliders and barbecue pulled pork sliders.

As far as the comfort food goes, the turkey roast and dressing, meatloaf, chicken pot pie, cabbage rolls are among the customer favorites at this time of year.

Every morning, Thayer's publishes its daily specials on its Facebook page. "All the specials really sell well. With the cooler weather, people walk in all day just for our bowls of soup," Thayer said.

Thayer Bros. Deli is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The phone number to place carryout orders is 815-726-8990.

"We do quite a bit of carryout," Thayer added.