RESTAURANTS

These are some of the places I remember from the south side:

               DeVito's (later to become Lychee Gardens)
               Tastee Freeze
            Moishe Pippic's
               Sassy's (deli on 100th that stayed open a few years where we'd eat when Moishe Pippic's
               was too crowded)
               Topps
               Henry's Hamburgers
               Rib Hill (which became Mel Markons)
               Seaway's Delicatessen
               some Italian restaurant on 87th street that was in existence when we were in high school
               Thomas' Coffee Shop on 87th Street
               White Castle on 79th Street
               Hot Dog Pit
               Mexican Inn
               Mickleberry's (log cabin type restaurant far west on 95th street
               Mitchell's Ice Cream
               Peter Pan's
               Cunis' Ice Cream
               MacDonald's on 79th Street
               Alexander's
               Jennie's
               Hoe Toy
               Tropical Hut
               Seagels (kitty corner from Carl's)
               Medici's

~~~ Hazel Greenfield

  Don't forget Carl's Hot Dogs!
 

~~~ Michael Davis

Yes, Carl's was a big favorite of mine and my brother's. We would stop there late at night after poker games on the hill, dodging police. One of my fondest memories of the neighborhood is walking in Carl's door on a freezing winter night, and smelling the fast food aroma as my glasses steamed up.

About four years ago I stopped in there with a couple of Bowen buddies (we were in Hyde Park for a funeral). The same family still operates Carl's although Carl (the father) is dead.  It's still the same quality and low prices (although, if I remember correctly, in 1967 it was 25 cents for a hotdog with fries!)

Last year I was crushed to see a KFC in the spot where Carl's once stood, but an instant later I was happy see that Carl's has moved across the street, to where Seagal's(?) used to be.

~~~ Ron Buzil

Who remembers the Mexican Inn on 95th and Ewing? Jacki and Susie Sackheim's brother-in-law introduced us to this place when we were all around 15 and we still go there from time to time. Is anybody else familiar with this place? It still looks the same way it looked in 1966. It was the first place I ever had Mexican food and they still serve my favorite tacos!

~~~Hazel Greenfield

I do! In 1970, my girlfriend (at that time), Linda Hart introduced me to that establishment. Even my living out here in San Diego with all the Mexican food around, I still think of that place as the best!

~~~Don Larson

I remember many of the spots listed, especially Jennie's.  Years later, I was at a restaurant at about 135th and Cicero with my dad and we were talking about Jeffrey Manor and South Shore.  Someone at the next table overheard and
said, "hey, there's a waitress from Jennie's who works HERE!"  They were right--she came over and reminisced a bit.

Then of course Miner Dunn from 79th Street, which moved (I heard) to Indiana; for a couple of years in the mid-90s there was a place called Miner Dunn at 104th and Cicero in Oak Lawn.  Same flat burgers with the fried edges and orange sherbet in a white paper cup as they had on 79th Street 40 years ago.  The operators had bought the right to use the name in Illinois, running it with a 50s theme, but they closed in about 1998.

~~~Kevin Byrnes

We had some wonderful family meals at Phil Smidt's in Hammond, Indiana.  Part of the fun was the drive to get there, past the soap plant with the big box of Rinso White on the top.  Phil Smidt's was a special place you could get all you could eat fried chicken or lake perch (they even had frog legs, ugh).  You started with a relish tray of cottage cheese, beets, potato salad, and celery and carrot sticks.  They had lots of different connected dining rooms.  One time when his sisters were visiting from California, my grandfather, Julius Mayeroff, took enough aunts, uncles, cousins, kids & grandkids to dinner there that we had our own small dining room to ourselves.  I have a distinct memory of black carpeting with big pink roses on it.  My dad's been there a couple times in the past ten years and said it's nothing like it was in the old days (and many times more expensive).

~~~Marcia Mayeroff Sacks

I seem to remember two places that no one has mentioned.  On Jeffery, just north of the JCC was a building that over the years was a favorite hangout for those of us who went to Warren.  My first memories of it were as Rib Hill.  I remember that they had great burgers and fries.  Sometime, I don't really remember when, there was a fire (must have been after a run of bad business) and Rib Hill was no more.

Later the building was remodeled and Markon's Deli was born.  I worked there as a teenager, after school and on the weekends.  I remember walking there during the SNOW STORM to get food for the neighborhood before everything shut
down.

Do any of you remember these places?

~~~Michael F. Davis

One of the favorite hangout's was Art's Drive Inn in Indiana.  I can remember eating there on dates.

~~~Karen Burnstein Harness

Bob & Jack's, the Pit, and Carl's are all legends.  That was real food.  Not this tofu you see these days.

~~~Robert G. Klein

Pasquales's used to be on 100th street on the East Side.  It is closed but they had the BEST thin crust pizza.  Right down the street was Lee's Chicken.. Heinie's Chicken in South Chicago was another favorite.  Does anyone remember Jodee's Bommerang Burgers on 95th Street?  Had burgers in the shape of a boomerang? Near Milan's restuarant.

~~~Martha Ostoich Teshich

Alpert's Deli - 79th and Essex, across from the "Porcelain Palace" (White Castle) and from Lazar's Drugs.
Giovanni's Pizza - 79th and Phillips, across from the McD.
Tom-Tom (later Roman Holiday) Pizza - 77th and Exchange
Joe's(?) Pizza - 79th and Exchange (Commercial?), almost next to the theater (Cheltenham)
Bon-Ton Coffee Shop - 79th and Colfax, across from the Woolworths
Hil-Jo's Swedish Restaurant - 79th and Manistee (Sunday Smorgasbord)
some corner/neighborhood cafe/burger shop on 79th and Burnham, southwest corner
Kickapoo Inn - 79th and Stony/SoChicago
Chicken Delite - 75th and Saginaw/Exchange ("Don't cook tonite, call ... )

Art's Drive-in - 86th and Stony (*Big* Hangout place in HS), partnered with the one in Hammond, I worked
  at the Stony one.  Fast cars and carhops.  My friend Ted ran it.

Alexander's Steakhouse was at 79th and Coles
Cunis was at 79th and Kingston

~~~Ron Egan

The Kickapoo Inn was across from the Avalon, if I recall correctly.  I seem to remember eating little silver dollar pancakes there as a kid--is that the right place?

Alexander's on 79th Street way over by the IC--somebody told me that they claimed to have invented the Brandy Alexander.  Truth or south side urban legend?

~~~Kevin Byrnes

I sure enjoyed reading about all the great eating places we had while growing up in South Chicago. My hubby and I both are from the southside.  Has anybody ever foud an I cream parlor like Gaety's which was on Commercial Ave. & 92nd St.? Mouth watering candies and ice cream -- and remember the phosphates?

~~~Dollie Smith

I know everbody remembers Markons Deli. Does anybody remember the man that was the cashier there? His name was Irving who was my uncle.  Also does anybody remember Hermans Deli ? it was not far from around where I lived, around 95th accross from Jeffery.

~~~Abbie Tarnofsky Siville

I recall that at Topps in the 1950's, they had a sundae which was so big (the "Mile-High"?) that if you could actually eat the whole thing, it was free!!  Needless to say, that challenge did not go unmet -- my big brother Mike had a legendary appetite and he ate a whole one once and got it free.  But I don't think he ever asked for one again after that.

 ~~~Cary Dictor

We used to look forward to the drive to Phil Smidts, I remember  my sister and I to play this game where we would wait as long as we could before rolling up the car windows to avoid the smell when we drove past the steel mills! My dad loved the place because it was one of the only places we could go to that served his favorite,frogs legs.

~~~Rick Kemp

The Moishe Pippic's in that area was owned by my brother Sy Kuperman. Mike Litwin was my nephew and his dad was not in the hot dog business, Mike's mother Murial (my sister) always seemed to be in the business. My father Morris actually had 3 Moishe Pippic's in Chicago at one time. If memory serves me I think Sy had 2 and another brother Gil had 1 so for awhile the family had 6 Moishe Pippics at one time. I kind of remember it as the beginning of a McDonalds. I'm attaching the picture below that was taken in front of the Moiche Pippic's at North and California (Humboldt Park area). Judging from my age in the picture it was taken around 1960 - 1962. Notice the sign in the window has Hot Dog and Fries for .30 cents. The other window had Cheeseburger written on it. Dad took a trip to Florida and found some of the places there served cheese on their hamburgers. When he got home he bought a block of cheese and started selling them. Hope you enjoy the memory.

~~~Steve Kuperman, Richmond, TX

 

WOW...and they say you cant go back in time. I came across your page by pure accident, and I do not know what led me to it. I lived in the South Shore and Cheltenham areas as a kid. I worked at Bob & Jacks Pizza for a couple of years part time. I keep seeing the name Don Larson on message posts...I think I lived across the street from him during the 1950's, my brother would have gone to school with him. You mention Carl's for hot dogs -- to this day there never was a better hot dog stand. Bob & Jacks had the best pizza around. The restaurant across from the Avalon theater that served silver dollar pancakes was...The Pancake House, which was owned by my grandparents. They also owned Rex's Restaurant at 79th & Exchange, which had a loyal following for years. They eventually opened a restaurant in Evergreen Park, IL known as The Golden West Pancake House. For those that haven't been back to Rainbow Beach or any other place in the area it is changed drastically. Joe's Pizza was on 79th & Exchange, Henry's Drive-In Restaurants I remember with a fondness (it must
involve a girl :-)  You have brought a big smile to my face with your site.....I will continue to follow it. Thanks for the memories. By the way Miner-Dunn Restaurants started in Indiana, and a few survive this day, they were specially known for the shoe string french fries they served.

~~~Michael Cerf

wow! such memories. I met my wife, Iris Michaels, at Seagals Restaurant in 1956. Remember Dressels on South Chicago Avenue? Everybody ordered their birthday or anniversary cake from them. Remember the horsemeat scandal at Peter Pan on 71st & Jeffery? They gave away free burgers to convince the public that their meat was OK. There was a little popcorn place across from the Gaiety Theatre at 92nd & Commercial (down the street from Goldblatts) and we used to buy our popcorn there before the show. They poured a generous helping of buttery oil from a hot pitcher. I think a small box was a dime.

~~~Lloyd Klowden-San Diego

Please allow a member of the clas of 64' to make a correction to an entry on the restaurant page regarding the famed and fabled hot dog purveyor Moishe Pippic. There was such a store on east 100th street just off of Oglesby. I know because I worked there for a long time as did Jeff Schwimmer and Phil Fisher. The store was owned by Jerry Litwin. His brother or brother in-law owned a similar store on east 71st street. They were the only two stores bearing that name I was aware of. Jeff Schwimmer worked at both.

Hotdogs and hambugers & fries 25 cents + 1 penny tax. A complete meal with fries and a drink was 37 cents. I'm talking mid 60's.

For the uneducated, Moishe Pippic is Yiddish and means "Morrie's Bellybutton".

~~~Ed Schwartz
Bowen '64

~~~Joanne Safron Bach
     

~~~Myron Price '66

 ~~~Rosie Yekich Seerup - Marsh 69 and Bowen 73
   

How about Tropical Hut on Stony Island? My father’s dry cleaning business, Bennett Cleaners was on 87^th and Bennett, until 1990. I don’t remember Bob and Jack’s being there.

~~~Larry Kohn
     

No one has mentioned Mama D's pizza in Hegewisch.  We would order one on Friday night and then sit around playing pinochle.  Also are there any "oldies" out there who remember Vogels or Cape Cod Inn?  Also Hot Dog Joe's near the South Shore Station.......where even the chili beans had legs (They did taste great)!

~~~ Sandie (Billich) Nevin
Bowen class Jan. '58

Reading the dozens of messages about the eating emporiums brings back memories for all of us. Some of those memories seem a bit rusty. I must reiterate, as in an earlier post that the "restaurant row" on 100th Street was the Tastee Freeze at 100th & Oglesby, then just east of it was Berman's Deli, which closed in the early 60's and was reopened as Sassy's Deli. It was owned by a Mr. Sass. He was crabby when some of us from Luella School would pile in and order nickel cokes.

Just easy of Sassy's was Moishe Pippic's, which was owned by Jerry Litwin. His brother, or brother in-law owned another on 71st Street between Jeffery and South Shore Drive. If there was such a business of the same name around Chicago these guys were not part of it. I must have peeled 10,000 pounds of potatoes and sliced a like number of onions. When I went home at the end of a shift I smelled like a hotdog with relish and onions,

Topps on 95th east of Jeffery was another local meeting place and hangout. It was owned by Sandy Klein's father. They lived on 101st & Crandon.

 The place I really miss was Devito's bowling alley. Attached was a restaurant also patronized heavily by locals. When it went out a Chinese place called Lychee Garden came in.

 After high school and into college I was one of a bunch of guys that would meet on Saturday nights at Devitos Bar in the bowling alley. We'd sit and nurse a beer of mixed drink and lie about our dates that nite. It was a friendly group of guys that knew each other from school and enjoyed shooting the bull into the wee early morning. Devitos is gone, along with most of the other familiar stores in the strip like Albert's Shoes, Slagles Department Store, Pinzur's Drugs, Johnson's Bakery, Ace Hardware and a few others.

One more memory. We all raved about Carl's hotdogs, and they deserved our praise, but I also used to drive west on 95th street and about five blocks east of Stony Island was a hot dog-hamburger joint called the Wagon Wheel. They too had good dogs,

 ~~~Ed Schwartz

Luella 59' and Bowen 64'

Still in Chicago now near Wrigley Field

Does anyone remember Angies pizza on 93rd st.,Rossi pizza on 87th or Trio's right by the school. A couple of places still in business are Skyway hot dogs on 95th st. and just west over the bridge the fish place.Hello Rosie, I had some great times at Vets Park.

PIZZA

Living here in San Diego has one drawback; nobody out here knows how to make a decent pizza!  I recall the taste of pizzas drom the south side of Chicago that had thin crust, tomato sauce and spicy italian sausage with fennel seeds. There used to be a place on 87th and Bennet that made them that way in the 1960's.

~~~Don Larson

The pizza place on 87th Street with the thin crust was Bob & Jack's. Haven't had anything like it in about 30 years

~~~Rhonda Cohen

I remember the type of pizza you are talking about but I guess tastes do differ. I never really liked pizza until the first time I went to Due's as a teenager. Wow, what a trip! This was something worth digging into. Thick pan pizza will forever be fixed in my mind as the quintessential Chicago food, along with ribs, hot dogs, donut holes, Carl's fries, and other              similar gastronomic delights.

~~~Randy Brett

The place at 87th and Bennett was Bob & Jacks. It was owned by the father of Bob Roth who was about 6'5" and played basketball and baseball (pitcher) at Bowen. We ate that stuff regularly. In fact, we picked up from there so often, my dad would order by his first name "Larry". They would spin the crust in the window.

~~~Allan Schoenberger

How about Geneo's? That was also on 87th street. I don't remember the difference between Geneo's and Bob and Jack's. We ordered from both. We also liked Pasquale's which was somewhere in South Chicago or on the East Side. The delivery guy got lost one time delivering a pizza to our house because we lived on the corner of Oglesby and Oglesby and said he'd never come back there again.

~~~Hazel Greenfield

Ah, Bob and Jacks was THE best thin crust pizza...wish I could find a replacement. Uno's, Due's, Malnati's are all good, but Bob & Jacks...well that was perfect. I still want "red sauce" on my beef sandwiches the way they did 'em up! I remember BBG meetings when we would order something like 12 small pizzas!

~~~Shelley Volk

Bob & Jack's Pizza, (312) 240-9377, 400 E Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60601
Bob & Jack's Pizza, (773) 221-6111, 10244 S Ewing Ave, Chicago, IL 60617

Another one to try is Carlo's pizza. They used to be on 83rd street near Escanaba. They have relocated to South Holland.

Carlo's Pizza, (708) 339-3700, 514 E 162nd St, South Holland, IL 60473

~~~Jack Peller

I remember Bob (tall, dark hair) & Jack (short, red hair).  I also have never found pizza like that, or their great beef sandwiches.  I have been back to Chicago several times but never found anything to compare.  I try to tell people that Chicago style pizza was thin crust.  Because of Uno's everyone here thinks it is deep dish.  There is a club here in Dallas called Loui's and he is from Chicago and makes a decent Chicago pizza.  What was the name of the little deli on 87th near Stony Island?  Had many great sandwich's and oh, the pickles!

~~~Sharon Johnson Kaaihue

My dad was Jack and my cousin was Bob.   My dad said that he got out of Bob and Jacks when I was very young and we were living on Euclid street.  My cousin Bob stayed in the business for a while.  When we moved to 96th street my brother worked there and my cousin Bobby.  I miss Jeffery Manor.  I was only 12 when we moved, but I remember it was a great place to grow up.  I did go to Burham school and Luella for a short time.  My sister and brother both graduated from Luella and Bowen.

~~~Abbie Tarnofsky Siville

Bob and Jack's Pizza was a legend on the south side. Bob Roth was my "steady" boyfriend for two years in high school at Bowen.  He used to work there on Saturday nights so we couldn't go out so I started working there too.  Bob Sr. showed me how to make the Italian beef and meatball sandwichs.  It was fun.  Bobby sent me a heart shaped pizza that read, "I love you" in green peppers on a Valentine's Day that he had to work at the restaurant.  Those are fond memories.  What ever happened to Bob Roth?

~~~Hollis Levin Savin

I remember Bob & Jack's very, very well. The Roths lived across the street from me, and we ate their pizzas & roast beef sandwiches ALL THE TIME.... Bob and I played baseball together, Little League & for Bowen, as well as lots of "messing around" on the block. Hollis, I think I remember you from Bowen, but probably not as Bob's girlfriend, as I moved to
Pill Hill in 7th grade....And Abbie, I knew your brother Joel (Yossef) very well, both in school, and also ran into him while living in LA about 12yrs ago!

As much as I loved B & J's pizza, I REALLY love & seriously jones for the Uno/Due/Gulliver's/Gino's "in the pan" pies! Nowhere else I've lived (& I've been around) has pizza anything like that (even the Uno's franchise I ate at in Waikiki), and because of being so spoiled, I rarely eat pizza...

~~~Steven Charles (Wasserman)

Steve wasserman? where are you living now?

Can't believe this site...it's a plethora of personal memories. Hi Hollis.

My parents lived in the manor until i was a year old, then moved to the gardens. I can remember the panic when they changed the boundary for Hoyne and a group of us were going to end up at CVS. My parents were ready to send me to Faulkner, but somehow we all ended up going to Warren ( clout maybe?). We started hanging out with the Luella kids during 7th grade i think, when we started going to Kiddyland on 95th street at night during the summer.

i can't believe i saw the name of my old camp counselor from jcc day camp in somebody's message -  Linda Shlaes.

Can't remember exactly what grade it was when we started eating lunches at Rib Hill, maybe 6th, or it could be earlier since our parents knew the Vickers would be there to watch us.

I do remember going to Thomas' on 87th street on saturday afternoons for french fries and cokes, but i never could drink carbonation so i must have faked it with a green river. My dad's office was directly accross the street so i had to behave, whatever that means.

Then we went to Markons and we were the big shot 8th graders. and i can even remember going to Tropical Hut for dinner with my parents weekly, and Alexander's on 71st also. i remember going on my first date to Tropical Hut, but i don't remember who it was with.

And Carl's Hot Dogs was a staple, every Sunday i think we had brunch at Markons and then later hot dogs from Carl's. we all should have weighed about 300 pounds!

Later, after we all drove, it was hanging out at the Pit on Stony Island on summer nights, except for tuesday night volleyball games at the center in south shore.

I can also remember some of us leaving Bowen during lunch period in my car and driving to McDonalds on 79th, and eating in the car or at rainbow beach. never got in trouble for that.

~~~Nina (Arlene) Pritikin Hawn Zale

Who remembers Elliots' BBQ beef sandwiches?  It was under a RR crossing on 55th. One of many memories ...
The memory of Carl's hot dog and the orange soda ...the guy with thick foggy glasses..all steamed from the boiler...

~~~Eddie Omens (Bowen '57)
 

Nobody mentioned Melody Lane.....with their bathtub ice cream sundaes.  It was a little west of our area in Jeffrey Manor.....but yummy as the 6 dipper sherbet cones near Evergreen Plaza.
 
Those were the days my friends.....

 ~~~Dave Steinberg, Bowen '64 (Now in Philly Cheesesteak land!)

No one has mentioned Mama D's pizza in Hegewisch.  We would order one on Friday night and then sit around playing pinochle.  Also are there any "oldies" out there who remember Vogels or Cape Cod Inn?

Also Hot Dog Joe's near the South Shore Station.......where even the chili beans had legs (They did taste great)!

~~~Sandie (Billich) Nevin  
St. George, Utah, Bowen class Jan. '58

 

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