Gino Gambarota is the man, the myth, the mustache at Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen in Chicago.

Gambarota has been the longest-serving employee at the Jewish deli-inspired restaurant in the South Loop, founded in 1942. He’s honed his fast and sharp banter as a meat slicer making mile-high corned beef sandwiches for more than 43 years behind the counter. So you might be surprised by his thoughtful kindness when he steps around.

The following interview, my latest in our food icons of Chicago series, has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: What is your full name?

A: “Gino James Gambarota Jr.”

Q: When were you born?

A: “July 10, 1950.”

Q: Where were you born?

A: “Chicago Heights.”

His mother, Rebecca Jane Gambarota, was French and Irish, and his father was Italian.

Q: When did you move to Chicago?

A: “Late ’50s.”

His father needed work, so the family moved from the southern suburb to the city.

Q: What was your first job?

A: “I worked at Ashkenaz at 1432 W. Morse Avenue.”

Russian immigrants George Ashkenaz and his wife, Ada, first opened what would become their famous family delicatessen near the corner of Roosevelt Road and Karlov Avenue in the North Lawndale neighborhood in 1910. Their son Sam Ashkenaz took over the business and then moved the deli to Morse Avenue in Rogers Park in 1940.

“I got the job being out at 3 in the morning with some friends of mine,” said Gambarota. They stopped for hot meatloaf sandwiches at a little grill near Broadway and Ainslie Street in Uptown. “I asked if they were hiring there and somebody down the counter yells out, ‘You know how to cook?’”

He did not.

“But I say ‘I know how to cook,’” said Gambarota. “The guy says, ‘Well meet me here,’ wrote an address down, and says, ‘I got a job for you.’”

And the future deli man walked in the door at Ashkenaz.

“The guy sees me and he says, ‘Put an apron on and get behind the counter,’” said Gambarota. “That’s how fast I got hired, it was amazing and a freaking madhouse.”

That was 1971.

“I just loved Sam Ashkenaz,” said Gambarota. “He was a great guy. And all the shtick and everything about the deli, I had so much fun there.”

That’s where he found out about the word chazzer, from an older co-worker named Isaac.

“I was young and I thought he was an old man,” said Gambarota. “He was younger than I am now actually.”

When the elder deli man made trays, Gambarota would go cut some salami, or whatever was needed.

“He called me his little chazzer, and I didn’t know what chazzer meant for like two years,” said Gambarota. Chazzer, pronounced khah-zer, means pig, and is used as slang for a greedy eater. “We were friends for years until he passed away, he was just a great guy.”

But it was another co-worker who proved pivotal.

“A Mexican guy named Pablo, he was the nicest,” said Gambarota. “Other guys were talking about me, and he said, ‘Gino wants to work. Show him. He’ll do it. He’s not lazy.’”

Pablo taught him about corned beef, and a lot about life.

“This guy was the one who backed me up,” said Gambarota. “And I just loved this guy.”

Ashkenaz on Morse Avenue burned down in the 1970s. Eventually the family sold the business. A final location would open in the Gold Coast, then close in 2012.

Meanwhile, Gambarota went on to work at The Onion Roll in Oak Park in the early ’80’s, another historic Jewish-style deli open since 1954.

Q: When did you start working at Manny’s?

A: “May 5, 1983.”

He was the first person Ken Raskin hired after his father, Manny Raskin, died at 53 in 1983, two days after surgery for lung cancer.

“The first day I’m working there, Kenny, who’s behind the counter, he’s going to sharpen the machine,” said Gambarota. “Nobody ever sharpened a machine for me. I never heard of that before. So that’s how it just went on from there. Just great people to work for.”

Q: What is the bestselling item that you make?

A: “The Chazzer sandwich.”

The Manny’s original sandwich, and his go-to, holds fistfuls of thinly sliced house corned beef and pastrami on soft yet sturdy rye bread with coleslaw and Muenster cheese, plus Russian dressing and pickles on the side, along with an optional, but highly recommended thick and deeply golden potato latke.

A: What is your title?

Q: “Meat slicer.”

He doesn’t usually ask if you want lean or fatty.

“I know how most people want it anyway,” said Gambarota. “If they want it a little fattier or a little leaner, no problem. I’m there to make somebody happy.”

He’s worked other stations at Manny’s. Fourth-generation owner and operator Dan Raskin credits the veteran deli man for teaching him how to make sandwiches as a kid. Raskin and his siblings grew up at the deli, and his brother once dressed up as Gino, fake mustache and all.

“Danny wants me to be over by the slicer, because that’s where people want me to be,” said Gambarota. “I’ve been very fortunate to be there for so many years. I feel like I’m just blessed to be able to do it.”

He just turned 76 last month.

“I feel good, I really do, I feel healthy,” said Gambarota. “I take care of myself, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke. I go home to my dogs, and do a little gardening.”

He has a Labrador Retriever named Maya and a Yorkshire Terrier named Bear.

“That was his name when I got him,” he said about the latter, smaller-sized dog. “They’re both rescues.”

Gambarota and his sister in Florida had two brothers and another sister, who have died.

“But I’m real close with my family in Evansville, Indiana,” he said. “Me and my nephews and nieces, we’re bonded. I can’t even tell you how much I love them.”

Q: What is your most memorable moment?

A: “I liked meeting President Obama and President Clinton.”

Then President-elect Barack Obama visited Manny’s in 2008. It was his first public appearance after winning the election. He ordered three corned beef sandwiches and two slices of cherry pie for takeout.

“I was a little upset he didn’t bring his wife,” said Gambarota, laughing. “I really wanted to meet Michelle.”

But he did meet many other people, mentioning actors Dennis Farina and Danny Aiello, legendary Chicago Bears linebacker Dick Butkus, Chicago Mayors Rahm Emanuel and Harold Washington, and Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.

“And David Axelrod is another person that I love,” said Gambarota about the longtime Manny’s regular and political strategist. “He’s just a great guy.”

Q: As a Chicago food icon, what are a few words of wisdom you could share with the next generation?

A: “Don’t eat too much pastrami!”

Chicago is, as I’ve said, a corned beef town.

“I don’t know,” said Gambarota. “I don’t even know if there’s going to be a next generation of deli guys. That’s what kills me.”

He has not visited any of the new-generation delis.

“The last thing I want to see is a corned beef sandwich when I get out of here,” he added, laughing. “The best advice I would give anybody is try to make somebody happy every day.”

You don’t know what’s going on in somebody’s life when they come in the door.

“If somebody seems a little grumpier, you just don’t know what happened to them,” said Gambarota. “It’s important that you’re nice, especially nowadays.”

“I love the people who come into Manny’s,” said the iconic deli man. “I just love the conversation.”

Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen, 1141 S. Jefferson St., 312-939-2855, mannysdeli.com

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