Highland Park Restaurateur, Joey Morelli of Max’s Deli, Spreads Joy via Funny Cookies at Local Suburban Hospitals

March 24, 2020

Third generation owner, Joey Morelli, of Max’s Deli, located at 191 Skokie Valley Rd in Highland Park, is taking care of hospital workers so they can take care of those in need during this demanding time. His message is to spread love and smiles through the Chicagoland area by creating amusing masked frosted cookies and sharing his scratch-made Jewish deli food with those on the front line.

Morelli is working closely with Highland Park Hospital and its nearby NorthShore affiliates, Evanston, Glenbrook and Skokie Hospitals, to provide food for the staff while the cafeterias are taking precautions to reduce the spread of coronavirus. Max’s Deli has created humorous and animated custom cookies decorated with doctors and nurses wearing protective masks. Morelli has already delivered over 200 cookies to the Highland Park Hospital employees. Max’s delivered lunch to the Glenbrook Hospital Emergency Room and dinner to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville including the deli’s well-known corned beef, pastrami, matzo ball soup, noodle kugel, bagels and challah.

“Myself and my unbelievable staff are proud to be a part of all that is good in the world right now,” comments Joey Morelli. “Our goal is to get food to the hospital workers and our customers and spread all of the love we can with our funny cookies and the best Jewish comfort food.”

Max’s Deli is also selling the masked cookies along with other bakery items like masked cupcakes at the Highland Park restaurant. The proceeds from the small ($2) and large ($4) masked cookies will go towards the food prepared for the hospitals and the hard-working Max’s staff. The restaurant is also offering free delivery and curbside service.

“One of my 87 year old customers called me yesterday and that’s all she wanted was her favorite Max’s dishes without leaving her home. I personally cooked her food, packed it up and delivered everything right to her door,” says Morelli. “If I can show up and bring smiles to people’s faces during this problematic time, then I’ve done my job right.”

Max’s Deli is open for carryout, catering and delivery Monday through Sunday 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Local hospitals can reach out to Joey Morelli directly to setup cookie/food deliveries at joey@maxs-deli.com. For more information, visit the restaurant’s website, Facebook and Instagram pages.