Morton Grove Shout-Out
October 29th, 2009
Every Friday, the Chicago Tribune publishes a feature story in the Homes section about one community in the Chicagoland area, and last Friday was Morton Grove’s turn.
It was a pretty good article, I thought, however I think their home sale ranges are misleading as the recent home sale on the low end was a foreclosure sale. It makes it appear like homes in that price range are commonplace, when they are probably quite rare (at least I hope they are!).
In any case, it’s true what they said about Morton Grove’s public works department: they are excellent with snow plowing and removal — even in our alley — and instead of having to bag our leaves like in other communities, we merely rake the leaves to the curb and they collect them and sweep the streets every Wednesday.
Other good points: close proximity to Chicago’s Loop (downtown) and public transportation, home affordability, large percentage of green space.
On the minus side: lack of restaurants, nightlife and a shopping district.
All true, however we’ve been working on patronizing the local restaurants instead of driving to other towns. Two of my favorites: Violet’s Cafe for breakfast, and Burt’s Pizza, which was considered to be the best deep-dish pan pizza in Chicago, featured on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. It is definitely delicious, and I must admit, it took me a while to “discover” this place, but I’m hooked now.
If you go, however, don’t expect to just “drop in” for pizza — they only have one pizza oven, and they prefer that you call ahead to order. They’ll let you know when to show up, they’ll have your table ready, and they’ll serve it to you when they said they would. (If you order a salad, go for the the basil vinaigrette: delish!).
Yes, there is some “quirkiness” (read the comments on Yelp), so if you’re not willing to go along with that, don’t go. Burt won’t care. He may seem “gruff” to some people, but Pete and I talked to them for a while one night, and they’re really nice people.
We tried to order a pizza for take-out on Sunday and the line was busy, busy, busy. I finally gave up and we ordered from Pequod’s (Burt was an original founder of Pequod’s, and it seems like there’s some lingering bad blood). It was a big let-down now that I’ve tasted Burt’s pizza and I fear that eating anywhere else will be a big disappointment from now on. Of course, on the bright side, I’ll probably eat a lot less pizza, so I guess it’s all good!
Oh, and besides having just the one phone line, they don’t have a web site, they don’t take credit cards, and they’re not even listed in the yellow pages. If you need their number, it’s 847-965-7997 and you can check out the menu here on Urban Spoon. Bon appetit!
2 Responses to “Morton Grove Shout-Out”
Julie October 30th, 2009 at 10:03 pm #
Just happened by through a friend’s site. My husband and I are intrigued by Burt’s Place since we’re big fans of Pequod’s and aren’t too far from MG. We’ll have to check it out! Thanks for posting.
denise October 31st, 2009 at 7:51 am #
Hi Julie—thanks for stopping by! If you’re a fan of Pequod’s, I think you’ll love Burt’s. I think Pequod’s sometimes over-carmelizes their crust, but his is perfect. We had banana peppers, onion and tomato slices on ours which was a great combination.