Nate's Delicatessan: Nate Duncan, RIP

I just read that Nate Duncan, proprietor of Nate's Delicatessan--one of the original Maxwell Street dives, and scene of The Soul Food Cafe in the Blues Brothers--died Tuesday.

I'm relatively new to Chicago, but hear occasional rumblings about the Maxwell Street of yore. I live in the neighborhood now. I never had the pleasure of eating at Nate's, but I'd love to hear what any native Chicagoans have to say about Nate and the culinary delights of the deli.

Sorry to hear this. I ate at Nates many times in the late 70's/early 80's. Very nice man. I really miss the old Maxwell St. scene.

Nate Duncan's passing came up in conversation tonight with Burt of Burt's Place, who was a shoe vendor at Maxwell Street in the mid 1950's. He indicated that the "Blues Brothers" movie must not have been shot on location at Nate's but rather must have been re-created as a set. Burt's recollection of Nate's is that it was a much smaller space than the one in the film. According to Burt, the one thing to eat at Nate's was corned beef. You might take a trip for pan pizza one night and pick his brain-- he's more than happy to share recollections of Chicago back in the day.

Since moving to Chicago, I've done some periodic poking around to see what I can dig up about the neighborhood and Maxwell Street history. There are a couple of decent sites, but I recently ran across the best photos I've seen of the market, circa 1975-1984, by photographer Nathaniel Burkin.

In other market news, I read somewhere recently that Maxwell blues veteran Piano C. Red, who was shot and paralyzed from the waist down in a botched car-jacking several months ago, is back in action. I believe he was given a car to get around in, and supposedly will be chauffered to the market on Sundays. I haven't seen him at all this summer, but maybe in the fall?