At Thayer's Deli, Corned Beef On St. Paddy's Day

JOLIET, IL —The Joliet restaurant's yellow walls are decorated with leprechauns and green shamrocks as Thayer Bros. Deli, 753 Ruby St., is prepared for one of its busiest times of the year. The countdown to St. Patrick's Day officially began at 11 a.m. March 10, when the place opened.

That means several straight days of serving up corned beef and cabbage meals for dine-in and carryout guests.

The Thayer's Deli corned beef and cabbage comes with buttered carrots and parsley potatoes. And you get a bowl of soup. The entire meal costs $12.50.

Joliet Patch's editor interviewed restaurant owner Rick Thayer on Wednesday morning to learn the history of Thayer Bros. corned beef and cabbage rush between now and St. Patrick's Day.

"St. Patrick's Day is almost always our busiest day of the year," Thayer remarked.

The only time you can't get corned beef and cabbage is this Sunday, but that's because Thayer's is always closed on Sundays.

Even though all indoor restaurants were forced to shut down on March 13, 2020, because of the coronavirus pandemic, Thayer's still did an incredible number of takeout orders last year, Thayer said.

He's prepared for another busy run on his corned beef and cabbage over these next eight days.

"We'll get calls ahead for 50 orders to go and other large orders," he said Wednesday.

Thayer said he would not be surprised if he sells more corned beef and cabbage orders on St. Patrick's Day alone than he does over the next week. It's been that way in the past.

"It's just a busy, busy day," he said.

Why does Thayer's offer corned beef and cabbage on his menu for more than a week straight?

"We've always done it, and it's always gone real well," he said.

Thayer said the Ruby Street restaurant typically goes through 1,600 to 1,800 lbs of corned beef around St. Patrick's Day.

"Hopefully, we do about the same amount, if not more, this year. That's our goal," he said.

Thayer said he's grateful that he has such an incredibly loyal staff who have been with him for decades even back to his days of having the TnT's restaurant on West Jefferson Street around 1987.

Thayer Bros. Deli has been at its Ruby Street location for more than 20 years.

His current staff at Thayer's Deli who are instrumental in the corned beef and cabbage rush include: Kymn, Rachel, Rhonda, Diane, as well as cooks Eric and Edgar and "my jack-of-all-trades guy" Tony, he said.

Thayer's is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

For those who don't want corned beef and cabbage, that's OK, too. Thayer's will still continue to feature its other comfort food selections. As most loyal customers are aware, Thayer's Deli posts its daily specials every morning on its Facebook page.

The number for carryout orders is 815-726-8990.

On Wednesday morning, while Patch was interviewing Thayer, one of the waitresses was bringing an order out of the kitchen to another table in the dining room.

"That corned beef is phenomenal!" the waitress exclaimed.