Poorboys, Steaks, Onion Rings, Double Baked Potatoes Cannot Be Saved: Merichka's Co-Manager

CREST HILL, IL — Friday marked the third consecutive day that the Joliet area landmark supper club known as Merichka's Restaurant has remained without electricity. On Friday morning, co-manager Joe Zdralevich III revealed that because of the ongoing power outage caused by Wednesday's severe thunderstorms, Merichka's expects to remain closed this entire weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The inside of 604 Theodore St. has no power. And that means trouble, major trouble, for thousands and thousands of pounds of food, mostly meats. Those legendary garlic butterine poorboy sandwiches, Merichka's highly recommended steaks, its stockpile of double-baked potatoes, giant onion rings, the famous house salad dressings are getting tossed into the garbage disposal.

"You can hear all the generators in the background in the neighborhood. It seems like the Crest Hill side of Theodore Street, along Oakland Avenue, is still without power," Zdralevich told Joliet Patch during Friday's interview inside his darkened restaurant.

Zdralevich said that Merichka's has remained without electricity since around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

"It came back on Thursday for five minutes, but that was it," he remarked. "We had to cancel a few reservations for sure and one funeral luncheon."

While some social media followers suggested Merichka's simply have a parking lot cookout, the restaurant's co-manager said that is not really practical.

"We do a lot of fresh stuff in here, and it is perishable," he explained. "All the steaks, all the poorboys, all the onion rings, fish, chicken, double-baked potatoes, relishes and house dressings.

"Our walk-in coolers are insulated very well, but now you're talking almost 48 hours," he reflected. "Once you pass a certain point, it spoils, it's thousands of pounds and thousands of dollars" of lost food product for Merichka's.

Zdralevich said he feels badly for his staff of more than 70 employees and for all the customers who wanted to dine at Merichka's this weekend.

"We are insured, like any business," he explained. "We just want to make sure our employees and customers are healthy and everyone is safe."

As far as throwing away all those uncooked poorboys and other meats, "it's going to be a big operation. We have three empty dumpsters right now. We might have to get a special pickup day," Zdralevich said.

And because it's nearly impossible to get a major food delivery scheduled for a Sunday, he's under the belief that Monday will be the earliest day that he can get Merichka's back in business, provided the electricity is restored by then.

"I cannot place an order until I get power back up," he explained. "Being opened for Sunday, it's a low possibility. So as of right now, we'll have to be closed for Sunday, too. This weekend is basically a wash, but once the power is back on, we should be relatively back to normal, at least that's the hope.

"We're at the mercy of the power companies. And they are doing a great job. They have got a lot of work ahead of them and there are a lot of customers who need it more than we do."

Joliet Patch has produced numerous human-interest stories on Merichka's during the past 10 year.

A 2023 story marked the restaurant's 90th anniversary. During that interview, Joliet Patch asked Zdralevich how many poorboys Merichka's sold in a given week?

"We average around 2,000," he said.

During the past 20 years, Merichka's added a grilled chicken poorboy and a spicy chicken poorboy to the menu. However, Merichka's did not count those two different items as part of their tally of regular poorboy sales.

Menu Expanded About 20 Years Ago

Since the early to mid-2000s, the Merichka's menu has expanded to offer pork chops as well as salmon.

"The early to mid-2000s was the menu expansion," Joe III explained. "We didn't want to fix what wasn't broken. We're like a supper club, with the homemade double-baked potato."

Fried chicken and the steaks are two of the other top sellers on the menu. As for a third menu hit, "the Yodel Burger is right in the ballpark," Zdralevich said.

Merichka's is known for its steaks, notably the filet and ribeyes.

"Since we have our own butcher shop, we are also known for our cuts of red meat," he remarked.

Now, unfortunately, because Merichka's remains without power, Zdralevich said the best place for customers to watch for updates on the restaurant's reopening situation is the Merichka's Restaurant Facebook page.

"I apologize to anyone who wanted to come visit. I'm sorry, but it's out of our hands. These are things we can't fix; we just have to wait."