Page created 21 Apr 2002 by pedro , last modified 21 Apr 2002 by pedro
We got this recipe from our old pal George Savakis, proprietor of George's, 3224 W. Foster Ave., Chicago. If you've never been, you should stop in -- George and 'Ellen are our surrogate grandparents -- that we pay to be our grandparents.
And the pizza burger is great.
whats with the url? sends me to some website about babies.don't get the cheese fries at george's though. tip your waitress.
That particular space saying is becoming quite popular here on Earth. Yes, quite popular indeed.
SO yeah, George has branched out into the postnatal care business -- didn't you know?Really though, it's just a joke, I figured that georges.com would be taken by someone, so I just linked it and then figured out what it was.
So, when does Erik P. Anderson get back into town, anyway?
i think 5/13/02that's what i heard, +/- 2 days
Ok, so who else needs to show? Wiberg? Man... I'm excited. Whitmer just stopped in to my office; he's back from Das Dietersphere, and we're going to go down to Pedro the Lion and Damien Jurado and try to Be The Ticket. But I'm a little nervous that we won't have the same Zen skill as Jedi Master Raskol.
i wrote down the address to this place for several souls in the past couple of days. all good folk that would be valued additions. these include: Evan Burrows, Pat Gleason, Gene Lee, Sarah Cameron, Johanna Sundholm, and maybe a few others. if you know these people, or anybody else who needs to exist in this place, spread the love...
I wonder if John Phillips has internet access?
because ratsandchildren@worldnet.att.net didn't work the other day...
cutyourjib@hotmail.com write today I love the pizzaburger....LOVE IT!
Sometime, like this spring or summer I totally want to have a big outdoor barbeque that the whole community is invited to as a big retirement party for george and helen. Where should we do it? The hump? The yard by NPCC? We could do it in the parking lot next to george's maybe... I dunno. River park?We should put up flyers, or pass by word of mouth. I imagine a lot of people from NPCC would want to come too.
In other news, Victoria's is BOYB now... I think we should schedule a night were we all descend on Victoria's, bring some beer, whatever -- nothing out of control, but get like, 20-30 people to go there and have a big feast. If it goes well, we could make it a regular occurrance. It would be a LOT of fun, and Raoul could efinitely use the business.
and Raoul is a cool cat. he would love it.
and invite george and helen.
let me just say it again, I like beer
...now has outdoor seating.
I saw George today whilst helping toastboy pack up in preparation to move. George seriously looked 10 years younger than I have ever seen him. It was incredible. I'd heard people say that, but never really witnessed it for myself. It's like he found the Grecian Formula or something!
is toastboy moving?
The toastfamily is moving to S. Dakota. Toastboy got a year-long preaching gig. He can probably explain better.
It's his "internship" for seminary. Back in the old days, sem students were often sent out into underserved communities that didn't have a pastor, or that split time with another church and the students effectively became "the pastor" -- rather than just an intern or assistant. It's become a lot more popular now to go to a church with a pastor and be an assistant/intern. toastboy wanted to do the former. It's a small town of about 500 with a few surrounding communities. There are 65 people in the church right now, and it's about an hour away from his parents in MN.
...after a year he will be back for his last year of sem. and then who knows?
Well, if toastboy reads this, I wish them all well on this move. If not, mayhaps I'll run into them before they leave, but I doubt it. so pass along my well-wishes to the family.
Victoria's is closed.
Raul et al put in a valiant effort, but it was going to take more than that to keep George's open without George and Helen.Still, that's the end of an era, eh?
to add to the pain there's a Starbuck's going in where Loree's/3 different Thai places was. Next thing Goerge's will be a Chipotle or something.Geroge and Helen at least hung on to the place for a few years while Victoria's was open which means it has gone up in price by probably $75,000. I don't even want to know how much that building is worth now.
...and np will be the first in line at George's door. they've been trying to buy that land for years. my guess would be that the chipotle 9orwhatever else) will go in where the bookstore now stands w/ housing on top, and the rest will be parking.
well, not really. just misty-eyed i guess.
grab me a brick if you can. :/
depending on if np buys it and who gets access i may be able to grab some of the "junk" inside too. i'll let all of you know if i can i come up with anything...when or if it ever happens.
wouldn't you like your very own George's booth set up in your house?
but they tore out my old booth with my well worn ass groove long ago.i've got a menu from years ago, before the shift in regime.
Wags that's hilarious - I was talking to Wiberg yesterday about the sad closing of 3224 W Foster and our very first thought was to salvage the booth with your ass indentation but you're right, that old booth is gone.Have you heard the story about how in the 80s (I think) George changed the name of the restaurant to "The Gay 90s" because he thought it would revitalize business and bring in new clientele? (Which it sure did, much to his confusion!) Is this urban legend? I seem to remember my Dad telling me that - I'll have to verify. He also told me he could still find the ketchup stain on the wall from when a bottle exploded over his shoulder into the next booth - in the late 1980s.
So many good memories about that place. Writing my application essay to NP in the booth across from Old Main (an application my Mom filled out for me and then sent me to Georges to finish it and turn it in before the offical deadline the next day) - the whole essay is about how I want to go to school near Georges. I too have a couple menus at home - in fact, I think I had G and H sign one of them for posterity. Thank God for that place and oh, the pizzaburgers!
I had NOT heard that!
but I remember finally having enough money my third year to eat out once a week. I used to take my weekly Greek homework and sit in George's until it was done or George's closed. I sat in the non-smoking section (of course, since it makes me sick, even after I tried to learn to smoke from captain) and I would see you all go by. I didn't feel alone since there was a room full of people I knew next door, but I wasn't distracted because I wasn't sitting by them.I always hoped I would understand Greek better at a Greek-owned restaurant. I don't know if that worked, but I got lemon cookies on Eastern Orthodox calendar Easter for my efforts.
And of course that was before I was Orthodox.
Hmm...maybe there was something in those cookies?
Let's have some favorite George's memories...
that was a treat.i had not heard about 'The Gay 90s'. thats really wierd and funny. i will ask my grandparents if they remember such a thing.
oldpossumus - you wrote your NP entrance essay on Geroge's? thats the coolest thing I've heard in a long time.
sitting there listening to the von crew discussing endless "X beats Y" conversations, like, "Which is better -- Lichenstein or Monaco?" etc.
How else do you explain Wiberg as a Philosophy major turned law student?
I had forgotten about the wine. More like a natural gas by-product; I think I still have trace elements in my spine.I have a great picture (perhaps Raskol took it) of Wiberg "mid discussion" - crazy look in his eye, one hand holding a cigarette, the other pointing rabidly to make his point, smoke leaking from his ears. If you hold the picture really close to your ear, you can hear something about the many creative uses of our nation's senior citizenry, or perhaps the ever-changing percentage of evil women in the world (percentage depending on what the women from Von had done to us that day).
The Gay 90s thing is verified. My pops says that in the late 70s (when he first came to NP), Laurie's had established a name for itself and its ice cream especially. George felt he needed to compete on Albany Park's famous ice cream stage, so he changed the name to "The Gay 90s Ice Cream Parlour", new sign and everything. Even after he changed the name back to George's (very quickly my Dad says), the Gay 90s sign stayed up into the early 80s. Oh where is that sign now I wonder?
My first memories of George's are going to NP basketball games when I was six or seven, then heading to George's for ice cream afterwards. And then the fateful night many years later, bored to death of Street Fighter 2, that some of us went to get coffee (such a novel idea to us then) and fell head over heals with the waitress. Didn't we leave a ten dollar tip on a five dollar bill? What was her name!?
Pedro, I can just imagine what we sounded like. I seem to remember especially virulent discussions about socialism.
I also remember a memorable morning when school was called "optional" due to the wind chill (Kay monitoring the radio for us) - each of us then took turns using the George's phone to call Von and tell them it was too cold for us to get to school, even though we'd all took the bus to George's two hours earlier. That was a damn good day.
Freudian slip?
missing u georges.
So, was it after the "Gay 90s" Fiasco that they changed it to "George's Ice Cream Parlor" to compete with Loree's?
the first time i ever hung out with heidi - it was at george's. we met there to talk about some american lit assignment and she kept pulling oranges out of her purse and peeling them and having me eat them - because she thought i was too malnourished. when i think of george's, i always think of heidi.
And I would bet that is the only time fruit was consumed within those walls ... smuggled from the outside ... strangers in a strange land of pizza burgers, nicotine and farmer brothers.Pedro - I would guess the "Ice Cream Parlor" came following the merry reign of The Gay 90s. As a kid, we'd always get "The Presidential" at George's after the big North Park/Millikin game.
I found this review online: it's hilarious. It almost makes me think one of you all must have written it, because all the characters are there! Definitely an eye-witness, this "Arthyr".To begin with, let's review George's Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlor, located just West of Kedzie, across the street from North Park University. First built in the late fifties, it has been a consistent hang out for students of the University and Seminary. It is owned and still operated by George and Helen, whose last name I can neither remember nor spell. They are the archetypal Greek couple, barking loudly at each other at all times of the day, and quite friendly with their clientele as long as said patrons are not drinking, gambling, or making too big of a scene. The restaurant comes complete with a smoking section which will be packed most nights by chain smoking Assyrian men, chain smoking American youth, and, every Sunday evening, a pair of men, one Jewish, the other smoking a pipe, who insist on having the same exact theological discussion with each other with hardly a variance from week to week.
The waitresses there turn over every nine to twelve months, depending on the belligerence quotent of their mulletted husbands, or the pending of their GED test results. They will give you another cup of coffee if you ask them, and don't worry too much about not having much of a tip, as they will let it slide, usually, till the next afternoon.
Recommended items from the menu: Gyros special; Eggs with toast and hash browns; Greek salad.
Items to avoid at all cost: Anything that was supposed to come from the sea.
Next on our list is The Cozy Corner, located on the corner of Foster and Lincoln. This place is open twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. It was at one time owned by the mob, until someone forgot to pay off the cops, then it was closed down for about three months, and re-opened, without the prostitute operation upstairs. Yes, those are bullet holes in the wall, and pretend you don't see the greasy haired gentlemen walking briskly in and out. Do not stare too long at the mirror at the end of the restaurant, as it is one of those "Two way" deals you see in police movies. But, despite this air of danger and criminality, the service is quick, and the food is cheap. Cigarettes can be bought at the counter and I don't think they mind too much if all you're gonna have is a cup of coffee.
i just remembered the year that i went vegan and my mom was being very motherly and wondering what her skinny kid was going to be eating. so we were at george's and she noted that there was no veggie burger on the menu. i was like, "don't worry mom - don't cause a scene - i'm going to order a side salad." but she got it in her head that george and helen would make tons of money if only they had veggie burgers available. she wanted to help them out with some advice. she explained it all to helen and then said -"so will you think about carrying veggie burgers in the future?" "No," Helen said. i don't think she knew what a veggie burger was and she didn't want to. despite my personal dietary habits - i can respect that.
"just have a bowl of cream of chickie rice, it's vegan or whatever."That is truly an awesome review, and I'm amazed I've never scene it before. And it really does sound like something one of us must have written. In fact it just about sums up the bulk of my teenage years, scary.
Yeah... we must know whoever wrote that thing.
I can't remember his name right now, but we were casual friends, he dropped out of NP during or after my sophomore year. He frequented both George's and Cozy Corner. Used to go to George's in drag sometimes. Had a car with no passenger seat. Very nice person.Could be him or one of his crowd.
I recently saw a Cozy Corner here in Balt with a similar color scheme. But I guess this is not the Cozy Corner entree, is it?
that review is fantastic!i could go for a special and a late night of blowing smoke rings and drinking coffee right with you peoples right now....