supposedly moved. I guess Andersonville was becoming too main stream. Fuck those hipster pizza nazis.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Love the stories of this place, but never been. Where'd they go?

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Lease was supposedly up, so they closed and haven't found a new place yet.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Pizza nazi's ... if the sauce is white, it's alright.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

They wouldn't use black olives.

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I hope the real story is that that arrogant cocksucker went broke selling his snotty pizza. Give me JB Alberto's!

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Freedom is our Strength.

They were not even the best pizza in this city. I admire their creativity and the food was good. However part of being in the service business is having to serve not stand in the backround acting as if you are a tortured artist.

The clientele is basically the same douchebags who wait in a line around the corner for a donut at that place in river north. "It's got a line and it costs more so it must be great". Lick it hipster.

Honestly, the proprioters don't deserve whatever modest success they realized.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

incidentally, that command doesn't rank in my top 10 things i'd say to a hipster to dismiss them. you might be surprised by the results =D

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Fuck it. Let's cross the street for a gay hamburger.

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Freedom is our Strength.

btw, does the pizza bourgeois here have a yay or nay on the whole burt's pizza thing? i kind of live by it and i'm tempted to go through the motions to try it once.

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I like the beer. Never had the pizza.

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-- source

Burt and his wife are wonderful people, but I've never found the pizza anything better than above average. It's fine if you live nearby, but it's not destination pizza.

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When I go to a restaurant, bar, hotel, I want to be treated with hospitality. To me, it's more important than the food. I hate to see places unhospitable places succeed. The stories about Schwa are unbelievable, yet the place is packed every night they decide to be open.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Burt has a definite style- that burnt (carmelized ) crust. You can find it at Pequod's too. And I think the guy who bought Pequod's from him would disagree about the wonderfulness of Burt. Anyway, Burt's pizza is fine. Burt is a cranky old guy who does shit his own way. He's not ignorant and arrogant in the way the Great Lake goof is.

Personally, I don't like rules when I'm paying the bill. Treat me like a fuckin' customer. Some guys, like Burt and Hot Doug, can develop a cult-of-personality where they train their customers to do what they want them to and many people act as if Burt and Doug are their daddys. What they say goes! The thing is, you have to have a personality to develop a cult around it. I don't think Nick Lessins understands that.

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Freedom is our Strength.

What happened with Burt and the Pequod? I know Burt sold the Pequod years ago--he did the same with Gulliver's--but is there a conflict between Burt and the Pequod owners?

I've never felt browbeaten or otherwise mistreated at Burt's. On the few occasions I've dropped by, the place has been empty. Usually Burt and his wife will sit down at our table and chat with us. They always remember me--even though I'm an infrequent customer--and seem genuinely interested in sharing stories, talking politics, books, etc. Maybe Burt has taken a shine to me because he says it's nice to sit a table where he isn't "the weird one!"

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Always remember the time I walked in at 5:27 and was told they dont take orders until 5:30, as the owner, Mr Pizza, was standing maybe 10 feet away....MAKING A PIZZA...and I asked "Whats that guy doin?"

I Guess it was the owner, I may have insulted him. Uh Oh...$33 later for a decent Pizza, would never go back. Would order a Dominoes before this place.

And I wonder what the guys rent might have been, it's a shit space on a side street and I am guessing he cant find cheaper space.

He should reopen as PRETENTIOUS HIPSTER PIZZA. Open from 5:30 to 7:29 PM, Cash only, 4 Ingredients and Must not look at me when ordering.

Probably the most over rated eating experience in my life.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Well, Burt sold Pequod's and then opened his place right around the corner selling nearly the same product. Of course the Pequod guy hates him. I guess he should have gotten a non-compete.

It reminds me of when Herm sold Big Herm's on Dempster to an old guy named Johnny and signed a non-compete stating he could not use the name "Big Herm's". He promptly opened Herm's Palace a block away and Greek lightning soon struck the original Big Herm's.

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Freedom is our Strength.

JORR, the Mike Royko of the CSFMB!

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

I have a good Greek friend who likes to say, "The Jews may have the name, but the Greeks invented the game."

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Freedom is our Strength.

I had always heard that the Big Herm's/Herm's Palace feud involved a intra-family conflict.

The Pequod guy has no reason to resent Burt given that Burt doesn't appear to have any interest in running a successful business. I would imagine Pequod's does at least five or six times the receipts that Burt's does. In recent years, Burt's Place was rescued from obscurity by a few of the authenticity fetishists on lthforum.com. Too bad their tastebuds aren't as discerning as their nostalgia for an earlier phase of capitalism is potent.

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I'm supposed to meet some family for dinner at Gulliver's next month. Is it any good?

I heard it's supposed to be similar to Burt's but I've never been there because it sounds like a huge pain in the ass to eat there.

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You know me like that.

Nope. I gave you the straight dope on how Herm fucked old Johnny. Herm was one of my stepfather's meat customers and we lived half a block away from Herm's Palace. Herm only ran it for a little while before selling it to Rick and Marla Shane. Rick was a big fat guy who is dead now. Marla was a soft round red-headed Jewish girl who provided some unconventional masturbation material for me in the early years of my pubescence. She's well into her dotage these days and the kids run the store.



Good point, but I think he's still pissed.




For my money it's not as good as either Pequod's or Burt's, but it's okay. I actually think their thin crust is their best product, although if someone is taking you there they will undoubtedly be going with the pan pizza. It's decorated like a Victorian era whorehouse on steroids if you like that sort of thing. Also, maybe you can meet good dolphin next door at the Jeffersonian-Hawthorne Club for some illegal after hours libations.

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Freedom is our Strength.

I love Herm's Palace. Great place, friendly owners. You can stop in after having been gone for six months and they'll still remember your order.

I haven't been to Gulliver's in years. Last time I had it, it was abysmal. Burt's and Pequod's are definitely several notches better, at least based on that experience.

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I think as a kid Gullivers had the same decor as Original Lou's, Dues, UNos, Ginos...so thought it was close to as good. Went back a few years ago and it sucked.

But, if I wanted a blowjob and some meth, some of the girls walking up and down the street had that for offer. I passed. Joe Orr can correct me here, but if you go a block or 2 east, area gets a little worse?

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

You have to get east of Ridge for it to get really dicey. I have a hard time viewing that stretch of Howard at Custer/Damen as being "bad" since I grew up right there. But yeah, east of Chicago/Clark on Howard is about as rugged as a neighborhood gets on the North side.

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Freedom is our Strength.

(I know you laughed at that whilst posting)

Rough rugged and raw.... right?!?

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

A friend of mine lives out in Boston now. Growing up she lived at Dobson and Ridge, a half block north of Howard. When she was in town a couple summers ago she took the El down to one of the museums with her sister and I took her 8 or 9 year old son out to Arlington with me. After the races I called her and said we would pick her up at the Howard station. I parked facing west on Howard at about Paulina and waited for her to come out of the station.

Now, this kid is being raised in about as liberal a way possible in early 21st century America. When his mother takes him on "vacation" he has to sleep on boards in places like Costa Rica or rural Michoacan and take Spanish classes. His best friends are a couple black kids with Panamanian parents. So he isn't going to jump to some racist conclusions upon seeing some black or Hispanic faces.

But even at 8 or 9 his instincts told him we were in an unsafe place. I could tell he was nervous as his eyes kept darting around. Me, I'm a Howard Street guy. I might even title my memoir Howard Street Stories. But even though I'm not afraid, I am wary. There are all kinds of nuts and gangbangers and drug dealers over there. I knew he was a little scared so I told him to keep his eyes peeled because he might see a rat. That got him a little excited so I asked him if he had ever seen a rat before. He answered, "Not in the wild."

Anyway, his mom comes off the train and I see her going in her purse and handing cash to an old lady. Sometimes there's a fine line between liberal and idiotic. The best case is probably that there is going to be a line of people looking for your cash. The worst is you get a knife or a gun stuck in your ribs. Thankfully, neither happened to her. But the kid became agitated and began yelling, "Mom! Mom!, Come on!" I like to joke that even an eight year old from Andover, MA had enough sense to know how fucked up Howard Street is the first time he ever saw it and without anyone telling him when his mother who grew up right down the block was oblivious.

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Freedom is our Strength.

As someone (like you) who remembers the "Super-Rats" of the late 70's, this is priceless



I dropped my own son off at a Green line L stop last summer with two of his buddies. I hung back just to be sure they'd be ok. Just then one of his buddies (a Detroit native ) loudly asked: "I only have $20s, do any of you guys have change for a 20?" Right when the sharks started circling, I had to run into the station and start loud talking to every idiot (incl. my son's friends) in ear shot.

Didn't really realize (until then) how sheltered my son (but moreso his friends) really were.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.