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It's a little disingenuous to call them rules because it makes Burt sound like a tyrant. That's not the case. It's just the reality of the situation. As Shaggywillis posted above, you can show up, even on a Saturday night without calling ahead. Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you don't. It's no different than any other place that takes reservations. It's just that people aren't accustomed to making reservations at a pizza joint.

Remind me not to eat at your friends' grandpas'.

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I doubt you offended more than one person.

I just wanted to thank you for posting the link to your blog, as I have now subscribed to a feed and have been especially learning a lot from your posts about cooking technique (e.g., finishing with butter). Cheers!

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pizza fun

LOL! If you're referring to me, I wasn't offended -- just trying to convey the conventions of how our forums work (which is one of my roles as a moderator here). It wasn't personal and elakin and I have long since kissed and made up. I also think his blog is terrific

Now, back to Burt's!

=R=

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Cool -- I just misinterpreted the rolleyes smiley.

I'm curious if there will be another crowd swell after that show?

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After the exposure on No Reservations, I thought getting into Burt's on a Saturday night would be difficult. I wouldn't have even tried to get in if my pregnant wife hadn't developed an urgent craving for Burt's after watching NR. When I called Saturday morning and placed my order, Burt told us we could pick our time.

I'm thankful that we paid attention to the information doled out on this site and called ahead. For although our pizza came right on time, we saw at least a dozen people get turned away at the door because they failed to phone their orders in ahead of time. Sharon and the server seemed a little harried by all the walk-ins but remained perfect hosts in every other respect. My guess is that this trend will continue--especially as the title of Anthony Bourdain's show might lead its viewers to suspect that you don't need to call ahead to places like Burt's.

A brief word on my first Burt's experience: truly magical. It's pretty hard to live up to the hype doled out by this board and by AB, but the pizza and restaurant surpassed my high expectations. Like Bourdain, my wife and I have no time for deep dish (prefer New Haven style), but both of us were in love the stuff Burt was sending out (we had mushrooms, spinach, olives and garlic). Plus, they don't make restaurants with character and charm like that anymore. Hype well earned. Just tell your friends to call ahead, so Sharon doesn't lose her mind.

35 years of working the floor for Burt and I'm still referred to as just "the server". Oh well, I guess as long as Burt's name is over the door I will have to resign myself to this fate.

What Mr. Rebus says is true though. Between the literally never ending phone calls and the walk-ins, we turned away far more people than we served, and we served a lot of people Saturday night! Burt said he was taking phone calls as early a 9:00am Saturday morning. We were even taking orders for Sunday night!

The worst part about this Bourdain thing will be the reruns. I don't think Burt realizes it, but, the Travel Channel has a habit of running No Reservations (among other shows) marathons. At least we were prepared to face the onslaught this weekend because we knew it was coming. I know that there will come a time, six months or a year from now when the Chicago installment will air again, perhaps two or three times in a day, and suddenly there will come another over the top surge; this time without warning.

I guess it's really not worth worrying about, because there's not much we can do to change it anyway. The bottom line here is, for the foreseeable future, it is never too early to call in with your order, either for pick up or to eat-in. By 6:00pm we were telling people the next available time would be 9:00pm and that was legit, no exaggeration.

Hope to see you all soon, but don't bother coming in if you haven't called in your order ahead of time.

Buddy

LOL! What do you expect, Buddy? He was a first-timer at Burt's and a greenhorn around here, as well. But yes, Burt is always going to be the star, whether he likes it or not.

=R=

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Twitter: ronniesuburban

Actually, by 4:50 on Saturday (20 minutes after 'opening'), Sharon was quoting 8:30 at the earliest. I didn't try calling until 4:30. That was a mistake as I got a busy signal for about 10 minutes.

Anyway, I certainly wouldn't have chosen this Saturday but it worked out that a friend was coming into town and Burt's was the only place I wanted to bring her. Her flight was getting in a little after 7, so 8:30 worked just fine for us.

Everything was delicious, as always. It had been too long since my last visit. The medium of half sausage and cubanelle pepers and half spinach garlic and onion was a great 1-2 punch. I forgot how much I enjoyed the sausage - nice large pieces with a pronounced herby flavor (fennel, I imagine). As noted before, the onion rings are a mandated side order. They weren't quite as ethereal as I had remembered, but good nonetheless. And I always enjoy the choice of some of Buddy's sauces to accompany. He trotted out a very smokey number which was quite good. Side salads and choice selection of Great Lakes beers rounded out a wonderful dinner.

Oh yeah, the best part was that we got Burt to bend our ears a little bit. He shuffled out of the kitchen and took a load off after what was obviously a long day of pie-making just before closing. An offhanded comment about my friend being from Germany was the gateway to a 20 minute, wide ranging discussion, touching notably on the hospitality in the Pakistani tribal regions in the early 1960s. That was the real treat of the evening. Even though we got in Buddy and Sharon's way as they were cleaning up. Sorry Buddy!

Anyway, it was great to be back. Both Buddy and Sharon confirmed their very busy weekend schedules. The room did feel a bit more tense and harried with the wall-to-wall dining. The pizza was as as good as always (I forgot how good the sausage was!), and I will return - but I'll aim for weekdays when it might be a little more laid back and I might catch a word with Burt or Sharon.

I'm ashamed and embarassed that this legendary joint has eluded my attention while it sits so close to Skokie. It makes me wonder what other culinary gold mines i'm stepping over every day without realizing it.

I too am on the NW side (Norwood Park/Chicago) and when I stumbled onto this board, I found recommendations for Elephant Thai on Devon in the Edgebrook area and Smak Tac in Norwood Park. Seeing that you are in Skokie, these places, along with Burt's are now some of my family's favorite places to go to.

Good to know that we'll have to call in really early to get our pizza's. Not a big issue at all, certainly not compared to the goodness that is Burt's Pizza.

After watching the Bourdain Episode, I was speaking with my mother, who was also watching in Wisconsin. She was busy that entire evening talking to her friends about how on Christmas Eve night, Burt helped me carry out a bunch of pizzas because we could not possibly carry more than two at a time. It would crush his art. She tells the story as if Burt was Santa delivering the gift curbside. Given the temp that evening and Burt's lustrous beard, she wasn't far off.

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That's hilarious. The same thing happened to me. I ordered 2 to go but I was alone when I went to pick it up. Sharon insisted that I let her carry the 2nd one out because I was not allowed to put them on top of each other for even a second to maneuver though the doors. It was probably 10 degrees outside and she would not let me leave unless I let her help carry it out.

I'm finally going to try Burt's tomorrow night, my friend has already talked to Sharon and placed our order! This other couple goes regularly so hopefully we won't look too touristy. I'm also a little afraid it won't live up to the lth praise.

I finally got out to Burt's for National Pi Day this evening.
Charming hosts, outstanding food.

I can't say the "burnt edge" did all that much for me, but the crust itself is outstanding: somewhere between the Uno's/Malnati style and a traditional focaccia in texture. It's got more crunch than a focaccia has, but not the dense oily crust of Lou's - instead a chewy dough.

I also ordered the much-vaunted onion rings: While perfectly prepared, they're just not the best I've ever had -- when you can get Popeye's to prepare them perfectly, those are the best.

I ordered a Medium, ate half of it, and am now entering food coma.
But a good food coma.

I'll be back.

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What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
-- Lin Yutang

Grandma Bobbi and I finally made it to Burt's Place. We went last Sunday night and because it was Easter and the middle of Passover, we had no trouble getting our pizza ordered for dining in.

It was just the way I remembered Burt's Piquod pizza from 30 years ago. We ordered enough to have leftovers. As mentioned elsewhere, the pizza seemed better the next day! I enjoyed the pizza considerably but Grandma Bobbi wasn't too excited about the product. She felt Burt's Place was dingy and that may have colored her thinking.

Since business was slow that night, Burt was able to extricate himself from the kitchen. So we had a chance to catch up after all these years.

Regards,
GP Bob

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"It was very nice the time I was there." - my Mother whenever she was asked her opinion of a restaurant

Has anyone been to Burt's recently for lunch? I've been trying to call today to get in for Thursday lunch, but no one is answering. Not sure if they changed their hours?

They aren't open on Mondays or Tuesdays. I presume that's why no one is answering.

Brilliant, thank you Darren.

I have had Burt's for carryout, but I never got around to eating there until last Thursday night. We called ahead for our table and pizzas. When I arrived about 15 minutes early, a couple that had walked in 30 seconds before me were abruptly leaving in a bad mood. They didn't know that all the tables were spoken for that evening. Our pizzas came out at exactly 7:30 on time. They were hot, fresh, and delicious. I just had a 10" pizza, my two friends went for broke with an 18" monster. Didn't matter, we finished all of it within 40 minutes. It was kind of nice having the pizza just about finished when we arrived. I know you can do this at other joints, but I always liked ordering my food, getting an appetizer, and chilling out. But it worked out great, no complaints. Then Burt came out, sat down behind us, and we talked to him for the next hour. A funny moment happened when my friend blurted out Pequod's name and Burt's wife motioned to him to shut up! It was a great experience and my friends absolutely loved the pizza as did I.

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Just out of curiosity, how far ahead did you call to reserve a table?

I think I called around 4:00. Maybe 4:30.

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I just want to point out that at Burt's you are actually reserving space for your pizza(s) in the oven, not a place to sit. I don't think some people understand why they are being turned away from a seemingly half-empty restaurant, but from what I can tell, Burt has the scheduling of oven space down to an exact science.

Excellent point.

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Ah...OK. So, when I do call (I'm thinking about the day before, just to be safe), I should ask to place an order for a pizza, not for a table for 2. Also, I found their menu on Yelp. Does it change much, or is it safe for me to go off that menu?

Well, when you call, you'll tell them what time you want to arrive and what pizza you want (and any appetizers). It can't hurt to tell them the number of people in the party, though, unlike most restaurants, they aren't reserving a specific table based on the number of people.

I don't know about the menu on Yelp, but I'd use this menu:
http://www.gwiv.com/BurtPizzaMenu.htm

Don't sweat it - whoever answers the phone will be happy to guide you through the process. If no one answers, keep trying. They are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so no one will answer the phone.

Yeah, you want to tell them the time you would like the pizza to come out of the oven, and what kind and size you want. They will let you know if the oven space is available at that time. Be forewarned, that Burt operates his oven the way the Swiss run their railways. Your pizza will arrive at the exact time specified, so if you want appetizers (the onion rings are very good) and a beer before the pizza arrives, tell them, so the timing can be adjusted. One of the joys of eating at Burt's (as opposed to take-out), is getting that pizza piping hot straight from the oven to the table while the bottom of the crust is crispy, and the steamy upper crust is perfectly melded with the hot gooey cheese, and the lacy carmelized edge is perfectly intact (god, now I have made myself hungry, and it would have to be tuesday).

Stopped by Burt's on Friday afternoon and for the first time ever I was turned away because I didn't call first. I always call if I'm going in the evening, but never had a problem at lunch. Oh well, live and learn I suppose.

So I took the opportunity to try Pequod's for the first time. Very strange contrast to Burt's. While the overall look had some similarities, the big screen TV's and the youngish crew were very different. The place was packed and really noisy compared to Burt's where, even though I was turned away, there was nobody inside.

On to the pizza, my wife and I ordered a small half sausage half mushroom. I knew it would take a while to come out but was disappointed in the selection of appetizers. I never mind waiting at Burt's since he's got the best onion rings I've ever had. But I think the only choices at Pequod's was garlic/pizza bread or wings. Not being in the mood for either, we sat that a really long time waiting for our food.

When the pizza finally came I could see similarities and differences. Much more sauce and tons more sausage. the only problem is, neither had much flavor. Burt's sausage has a great strong taste, Pequod's was very bland. But at least they didn't scrimp on it. The sauce, while abundant, also was a little on the bland side, although I don't find Burt's sauce very strong either.

Where Pequod's really shined was the crust. It had a nice crispness to it. I have never ordered a small from Burt, so I don't know if, as the thread title asks, size really matters. But my wife loved the crust. She couldn't stop talking about between shoving mouthfuls in her face. She also liked the sauce better because she claims that Burt's has more acidity to it and always gives her heartburn.

Overall she liked Pequods better than Burt's. I still lean towards Burt's for more overall flavor. But in a pinch, I would have no problem going back. Unfortunately, my wife and I now have one more thing to fight about.

It seems kind of fitting that the original Burt's posts took hold in a Pequod's thread. Now that situation is reversed.

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If we're allowed to keep talking about Pequod's here...There was a time I felt that Pequod's and Burt's pizza were pretty close to one another in taste, with subtle differences that some could argue in favor of one or the other. But the takeout pizza I got from Pequod's on Clybourn about a month ago wasn't in the same ballpark at all, leading me to wonder if the place has "lost the magic formula." It was, like, all bread. Some pretty good but bland ingredients on top of just bread, not crust, and way too much bread at that. Like you were eating a foccacia with stuff on it. The edges had the signature burntness to them, but that wasn't enough to save it.

For some reason it was better the next day, cold. Maybe the components had had time to gel with each other or something.