stevez wrote:

clogoodie wrote:
Buddy, is this why my phone calls yesterday and today went directly to a voicemail system which the message advises is not the main system, and is thus never checked and messages shouldn't be left on it?

Burt would be proud.

It does seem quite apropos!

I did get through on my next attempt. They took my number (and that's about it) and will call me tomorrow, at which point I guess I'll learn if they can fit me in at my preferred time or not.

clogoodie wrote:

BuddyRoadhouse wrote:Believe me, we ain't hurtin' for your business right now.

Buddy, is this why my phone calls yesterday and today went directly to a voicemail system which the message advises is not the main system, and is thus never checked and messages shouldn't be left on it?

There may be multiple elements playing into that issue. First and foremost may be the provider system itself. We're still trying to determine how they effected things.

Secondly could be the sheer volume of calls we're getting. I swear I spent more time Tuesday night taking calls than taking care of actual seated customers. The phone rang non-stop. Getting through was kinda like trying to score free concert tickets from your local radio station.

Finally, there might be an issue with the physical phones. They're these new streamlined wireless handsets. If you handle or set them down wrong, you push the "Call" button, activating the dial tone and essentially preventing anyone from calling in. Yes, the usual warning beeps alert you to the phone being "off the hook", but when it's noisy in there you can't always hear it.

The bottom line is; don't assume you've placed an order or made a reservation if you've left a message. If you leave your name and number, Jerry or John will do their best to get back to you, but when you're in the thick of the battle you can't always return calls in a timely manner. Best thing to do is keep trying until you speak to a real live human.

Buddy

I'm glad things are going well thus far and am excited to pick up a pizza in a few weeks after things have settled down.

It sounds like the owners have paved over a cow path. It was a labor intensive inefficient ordering system before, and now it's a high tech labor intensive inefficient ordering system. Given the constraints of oven space, seats, and employees to answer the phone, an on line only ordering and reservation system would seem to make a lot of sense.

Went to Burt's with labmom53 last Saturday at 7:45 for an 8pm reservation, i.e., 15 minutes early, as per the prior conventional wisdom of adherents to The World Scheduled According to Burt. The place was pretty well jammed with us getting the last available table.

Our prior pizza order was confirmed and we added a salad and two glasses of the house red, a Nero d'Avola, to have while we waited for our pizza to finish. I did have to exchange my glass since it arrived with some smears & grit that shouldn't have been there. Unfortunately, I also had to exchange my fork for a clean one a couple of minutes later when it came with the salad. The salad itself was better than the old house salad, having asiago cheese, green & black olives, and yellow bell pepper to spruce up the base of iceberg lettuce.

But time ticked on to 8:45--an hour after being seated--and still no pizza! When I flagged down someone to ask when it might be showing up, given that they obviously were slammed, I was told that they'd been sort of sabotaged by a group of 7 or 8 that had camped on their table for over two hours and had somehow kept orders from being filled because they hadn't left sooner. I'm unclear on the mechanics of how one group caused such a delay, but it seems like something that could possibly repeat any number of times without warning, unless the management started running a timer, then actively encouraging people to leave. So, it seems there needs to be some kind of adjustment in their logistics. Jerry, one of the owners, comped us a second glass of wine, and our pizza showed up some minutes later.

It was a fine "Burt's style" pizza, with its caramelized cheese-on-the-crust, that I'd be happy to return and have again...especially after the reopening frenzy quiets down a bit (and they install their new dishwasher to replace the one that recently broke down.)

To those on the fence about whether or not to go yet, I'd recommend giving them a little more time to straighten out some of the kinks...or at least consider not going at Prime Time on a Saturday night.

--Matt

mhl wrote:they'd been sort of sabotaged by a group

Glad to see their overall attitude towards customers, that they are a necessary evil to be treated as such, has persevered!

OMFS88 wrote:

mhl wrote:they'd been sort of sabotaged by a group

Glad to see their overall attitude towards customers, that they are a necessary evil to be treated as such, has persevered!

To expand a bit on this, in an effort to be more fair, that was my summary/interpretation of what I was told, i.e., "sabotage" was my term, not theirs (although the implication definitely was that the delay stemmed from those customers' actions.) Sorry for any possible malignment caused there.

My husband and I had a really good experience last Friday night.
Here is what I posted on their facebook page:
We had our first on site pizza last night (we were fortunate to be chosen to taste prior to opening) and we loved everything about our evening! We were greeted promptly, seated right away and were served water and wine from George who is delightful. We had preordered our pizza-spinach and mushroom and after devouring our salad the pizza arrived. It was as delicious as we remember. The crust was yeasty and flavorful and the sauce was seasoned perfectly. Just the right amount of spinach and mushrooms. John came out to say hello and we told him how great our experience was...we will be back soon. Burt would be proud!

Looking to go back again soon, possibly with a family member allergic to dairy.

Has anyone had luck ordering a pizza sans cheese? I don't want to go and then have him not be able to eat...

Stopped by last night as I figured they should finally be up to speed.

A very good pie! Quality ingredients and the crust the same. Lightly caramelized around the edge.



The staff, redecoration (including a new patio) and beer selection outstanding!

Something was missing though... The crust was soft in the center, not too much browning on the top... seemed like new ovens?



I think the main thing that was missing was Burt and his decades of experience. Seemed like someone trying to copy his pie.

We also missed Buddy’s presence.

Don’t get me wrong as it is still one of the best pizzas and you would never go wrong stopping in. A good crowd for a midweek evening with most of the tables filling in by the time we left.

Panther in the Den wrote:Stopped by last night as I figured they should finally be up to speed.

A very good pie! Quality ingredients and the crust the same. Lightly caramelized around the edge.

321F0F5F-54E2-4978-8301-829A7E7293D1.jpeg

The staff, redecoration (including a new patio) and beer selection outstanding!

Something was missing though... The crust was soft in the center, not too much browning on the top... seemed like new ovens?

CDFA89D2-AB7B-4FA8-B3B0-7F2761326C8A.jpeg

I think the main thing that was missing was Burt and his decades of experience. Seemed like someone trying to copy his pie.

We also missed Buddy’s presence.

Don’t get me wrong as it is still one of the best pizzas and you would never go wrong stopping in. A good crowd for a midweek evening with most of the tables filling in by the time we left.

We went a few months ago, when there were some serious front of the house issues which I hope have been addressed. Our sausage, mushroom and onion pie kind of inconsistent: Some slices were as good as anything we had when Burt was making the pies, but other slices weren't as good - still excellent but not up to the sublime perfection of the other slices.

I am wondering if anyone has been to Burt's Place in the past year. We were there tonight (for take-out) and were quite disappointed. While the edges of the crust were caramelized, most of the pizza was bread. This was not the same delightfully deep pizza that I remember so well when Burt was present. I had been at Burt's Place once before, shortly after it opened, and the pizza seemed (nearly) as good as I recalled, but this was basically a hunk of sandwich bread with some cheese, tomato, and sausage on top. It is not often that I stop with one piece, and, unlike much pizza, I doubt that it will age well.

Have they changed the recipe?

GAF wrote:While the edges of the crust were caramelized, most of the pizza was bread.

Isn't this how it always was (and I don't mean that disparagingly)? In my memory, this was always a relatively light and bready take, with pretty minimal toppings and the caramelized outer ring of cheese.

=R=

Maybe it is my rosy nostalgia. Maybe. But I remember delightedly eating two, three, four slices. I can't see how this pizza would be named the best pizza in America.

I always found it bready, especially if you don’t get a lot of toppings.

It's been a long time since I've checked in on the new ownership, so can't comment at this time. I'll make a point of getting in there soon after the New Year and get a first hand sense of what's going on.

Happy New Year all,
Buddy

It is a pan pizza but Burt always had the correct balance of toppings to crust.

He really understood.

I think they got off to a great start but are losing their way.

I went a month or two after they opened, and I was disappointed. There was a variation of quality within the same pie...one slice was transcendental and another was very good but not great. In other word, the pizza wasn’t as good as it was when Burt ran the place (which is also Dolinksy’s take).

Plus, the service at the new Burt’s was amaturish, to be charitable, and incompetent, to be blunt.

Have things improved at all?

Here’s a pic of a sausage with extra cheese from tonight. The air pockets in the dough might be of interest.

That picture is very similar to my pizza: toppings on a loaf of bread.

scottsol wrote:Here’s a pic of a sausage with extra cheese from tonight. The air pockets in the dough might be of interest.

That’s a joke. It looks like focaccia.

ld111134 wrote:

scottsol wrote:Here’s a pic of a sausage with extra cheese from tonight. The air pockets in the dough might be of interest.

That’s a joke. It looks like focaccia.

I don't think your get much argument that Burt's original shared heritage with focaccia... But that's too far.

JoelF wrote:

ld111134 wrote:

scottsol wrote:Here’s a pic of a sausage with extra cheese from tonight. The air pockets in the dough might be of interest.

That’s a joke. It looks like focaccia.

I don't think your get much argument that Burt's original shared heritage with focaccia... But that's too far.

How so?

Here’s a seven year old pic from Serious Eats and a nine year old shot posted here by ronnie suburban.

scottsol wrote:Here’s a pic of a sausage with extra cheese from tonight. The air pockets in the dough might be of interest.

Oh, my. That picture makes me a little more understanding of Doug Sohn's decision to not sell his name/restaurant when he called it quits. That crust looks like someone took half a loaf of Wonder Bread, smashed it down and dried it out before adding cheese and sauce. Sometimes pics can be deceiving. Did the crust taste better than it looks?

Those above pics do look like focaccia. I definitely don't remember that quality in the literally hundreds of Burt's pizzas I had eaten dating back to 1972 at Pequod. It was medium-thick, crackery but not dry. And it was totally different than a Lou's crust. Someone should do a pictorial side-by-side cross-section, pizza by Burt back then and then Burt's 2.0, like a body double.

I miss Burt, as a lot of us do. He was wacky, erudite, and could give you a unique spin on almost any subject. I'm in the fruit & vegetable business & we used to argue endlessly about the water content of the different colored peppers he used for his pies, how it affected taste.

I do believe that old-ass pizza oven he had, much like the old-ass pans he used, were the finishing touches on a great, perfectly-balanced pizza, with everything in proportion just about every damn time.

jnm123 wrote:I do believe that old-ass pizza oven he had, much like the old-ass pans he used, were the finishing touches on a great, perfectly-balanced pizza, with everything in proportion just about every damn time.

He had a great consistency.

I was proud to take friends there anytime!

The Labriola in Oak Brook serves a pan pizza at least as good as the old Burt's.

ld111134 wrote:The Labriola in Oak Brook serves a pan pizza at least as good as the old Burt's.

Pictures?

Edit- found one...


https://www.thrillist.com/eat/chicago/b ... in-chicago

Panther in the Den wrote:

ld111134 wrote:The Labriola in Oak Brook serves a pan pizza at least as good as the old Burt's.

Pictures?

Edit- found one...

7887A8FD-2FFF-428E-AC81-28289B2B0494.jpeg

https://www.thrillist.com/eat/chicago/b ... in-chicago

It’s all that plus professional service.