Paying Homage to Restaurateur Burt Katz; The Inferno, Gullivers, Pequod's and Burt's Place. He is the "Father of the Caramelized Pan Pizza Crust."

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PAN PIZZA AND DEEP-DISH PIZZA

Many Chicagoland pizza joints put tomato sauce on the bottom of the dough or on top of their Deep-Dish or Pan pizzas. The restaurant's layering of the toppings makes no difference and is usually proprietary to the restaurant or chain. It's up to the Pizzaiolo (Italian pizza maker) to be consistent.

Pan Pizza is made with a thick dough pasted all around the bottom and wall of a well-seasoned pan.

Pan Pizza

Deep-Dish Pizza is made with a thin to medium dough pasted all around the bottom and wall of a well-seasoned pan.

Deep-Dish Pizza

If you like more bread, look for a Pan Pizza Restaurant. Envision the Deep-Dish pizza as a 'pizza pie.' Call the restaurant and ask which pizza style they serve.

BURTON "BURT" D. KATZ

Bert Katz (1937-2016) was born in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Burt attended Roosevelt High School in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps and studied history at Roosevelt University. Bert spent 25 years, on and off, as a pit trader at the Chicago Board of Trade.

On December 6, 1962, Burt and Sharon started a year-long, around-the-world honeymoon road trip in Japan. They bought a rare Toyopet Stout truck, an original Toyota, then drove through several countries, including Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. Photographs show the then 24 and 25-year-olds with their truck, on which they stenciled their many stops. They shipped the truck to Chicago from Lisbon but never drove it again. Katz donated it to a friend's auto museum, which closed and sold it for scrap. When the salvage yard owner saw the stenciled country names, he could not bear to crush the truck, so again, it sold.

In 1963, Katz became an owner-partner in the pizza restaurant called The Inferno on Central Street in Evanston, a north suburb of Chicago. Katz introduced a new kind of pizza to consumers in the Chicago area for the first time: a caramelized crust. The Inferno was the first place he would eventually fully own, but it would be far from the last.

He sold his share in 1965 and opened Gullivers, a pan-pizza Restaurant, with partner Jerry Freeman. Katz named it as a tribute to "Gulliver's Travels." His original Gullivers Restaurant opened on May 1, 1965, only had one dining room and was flanked by a pottery shop and a delicatessen in the same building. It was located at 2727 West Howard Street in Chicago's West Ridge community. Freeman became passionate about antiques and filled the restaurant with stained glass lamps, statues, and other items. The two soon split up. Katz would sell Gullivers and enter the business world, and he would not emerge into the pizza industry again until 1970.

Gullivers closed after 56 years in January 2022.

In 1970, Burt Katz decided he would no longer enjoy the futures trading business. After a confrontation with his boss, he quit his job. Now, he needed a job to support his wife, Sharon, and three children. 

So, turning back to the pizza industry and the unique caramelized pizza he had created years before, he opened the original Pequod's Pizzeria at 8520 Fernald Avenue in Morton Grove in 1971 (their menu and website incorrectly say 1970), a north-west suburb of Chicago. He named it Pequod's after the whaling ship in "Moby Dick." The original restaurant is located at 8520 Fernald Avenue in a converted house. Its original logo was just a whale, although it has since been modified to be a whale wearing a thong on his head.

Katz sold Pequod's in 1986 to Keith Jackson, who still owns the restaurant. Katz simply says he got 'burned out' at Pequods, but, of course, he couldn't stop.

Constantly changing his pan pizza (every restaurant menu said 'PAN PIZZA,' NOT 'DEEP DISH') recipe from place to place, Katz finally opened up Burt's Place in the suburb of Morton Grove, which he operated with his wife, Sharon. The pizza at each establishment where Burt had left his caramelized recipe was different at each place. 

THE PEQUOD'S PIZZERIA IN MORTON GROVE, ILLINOIS.
I was first introduced to Pequod's in Morton Grove by a friend who took me there in 1975. It is just off Lincoln Avenue at the alley at 8520 Fernald Avenue. Burt was always in the kitchen but would step into the dining room to see if he knew anyone!

Burt was a radio collector. He filled the interior with beautiful vintage console radios, table-top radios, microphones, ham radios, and QSL postcards of people's ham radio call letters stapled to the ceiling beams. There was a backroom filled with Burt's most precious collection items. Very few people were invited to see Burt's radio collection. He was just too busy.

Burt knew me by name and would come out to say hello whenever I was there.

Chicago Tribune, January 20, 1980.
"Antiques by Anita Gold" column.

One of those QSL cards was from a friend of mine. His call letters were WB9VLV, but, on air, he called his identity W - B - 9 - V L V ('V'ery 'L'ovely 'V'irgin)

QSL Card from the 1933 Chicago Century of Progress World's Fair.

Burt added cheese between the edge crust and the hot pan when placing the pie back into the oven after turning the pizza pan 180° to finish baking. This gives the crust's edge its burnt look and delicious taste. 

Bert took the aged pizza pans from Gullivers when he sold it in 1965, so by the time he opened Burt's Place in 1989, the seasoned pans were nearly 25 years old.

Bert's Well Seasoned Pizza Pans.

Pequod's pan pizza is to die for. I rank it higher than Giordano's, The Original Gino's, Gino's East, Lou Malnati's, Uno's, and, yes, even Burt's Place.

NBC TV Chicago; Published February 19, 2024:

VIDEO: A Chicago pizza joint has been named the nation's best pizza of any style, and fans aren't surprised. 

Personal Experience

Pequod's, with its informal and cozy atmosphere, is the perfect spot for a casual date night. I took my girlfriend there for the first time in 1976, and she absolutely fell in love with their world-famous pan pizza. We returned shortly after, and as we waited for our salad and pizza order at the 2-topper table by the front window, I commented on how great it would be to live across the street. "Imagine being able to call in your order, walk across the street to pick it up, and enjoy a scorching hot pizza at home!" I said.

Just as I finished speaking, the front door of one of the houses directly across the street opened, and a man emerged, crossed the street, came into Pequod's, picked up his order, and returned home with it. We couldn't help but burst out laughing at the uncanny timing. Our laughter was so contagious and loud that we almost got kicked out of the restaurant! Tears streamed down our cheeks as we tried to compose ourselves.

When our waitress approached our table, I explained the reason for our outburst. She chuckled knowingly and shared that many neighborhood residents often walk in to pick up their orders. It was a wonderful moment, and we left Pequod's with full bellies and a memorable story to cherish.

"Ah, the legendary Pequod's of Morton Grove, pre-1986! A pizza joint so iconic that it had bathrooms that were basically a comedy club in disguise. The teeny-tiny restrooms (we're talking coat-closet-sized!) were painted a sleek black, with colorful jokes and bathroom phrases splashed across the walls like a sarcastic graffiti artist had gone wild. And the door? Oh boy, it was like a secret passageway, slatted top and bottom like a mysterious puzzle, angled just to keep the magic inside. But let's be real, it was like a mini-amphitheater for 'sound effects' – grunts, toots, and tinkles galore! And once someone started snickering, the whole dining room was like a domino effect of laughter – it was like the whole place was one big, happy, giggling mess! Creepy, yet hilarious – only at the Morton Grove Pequod's, folks!"

When the swinging kitchen double doors flung open, a secret was revealed to the lucky diners at tables 17 and 23! It was like a Victoria's Secret sale up in there - new bras, undies, and panties, with tags still attached, were hanging from the ceiling like a cheeky mobile! No joke!

BERT'S PLACE IN MORTON GROVE.
In 1989, Burt and Sharon Katz opened the restaurant Starback at 8541 Ferris Avenue in Morton Grove. It was later renamed Burt's Place because of a trademark conflict with Starbucks.

NOTE: The sign in the right window says, "Morton Grove's 1st and Finest Pan Pizza Since 1971." Burt's pizzas were 'pan pizzas." See videos of Burt making his famous pan pizza below from April 1994.

Charles Peschke and son George at his Blacksmith Shop at 8541 Ferris in Morton Grove, Illinois, in the late 1800s. The early blacksmith provided essential services to local farmers and industry by crafting specialized tools and repairing anything made of metal, and Horseshoeing was only one part of his work. Charles Peschke also served as one of Morton Grove's first police marshals and helped organize the Morton Grove Volunteer Fire Department. The houses in the background are on Callie Avenue.

Burt's Place building was built in 1912. There is an apartment on the 2nd floor.

Burt was the sole kitchen operator, while Sharon was the only waitress, phone order taker, and front-end manager." Burt believed that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself, and he did.

A photograph of a slice of pizza from Burt's Place was featured on the cover of Saveur magazine's October 2007 issue, along with an accompanying article. A colossal cover reprint was displayed on the wall beside the kitchen entrance.
Burt achieved worldwide fame in 2009 when he was featured on a Chicago-themed episode of Anthony Bourdain's television documentary series No Reservations.

Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations"

on the Travel Channel.

In 2012, based upon a survey involving 85,000 votes, the magazine Men's Health editors selected Burt's Place as the USA's Best Pizza Parlor.

Due to Burt's health problems, he closed Burt's Place in 2015.

Meet The Pan Pizza Superhero

Burt's Place, Chicago's Best Viewer's Choice

Burton D. Katz died on April 30, 2016. His wife Sharon survived Burt, their three children, and six grandchildren; he was predeceased by one grandchild. Burt Katz is buried at Waldheim Jewish Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois.

May Burt Katz's memory bring joy to all who knew him, and I think of him with every bite of Pequod's pizza.

Remembering Burt Katz: The Pizza Show

In 2017, Burt's Place was reopened by Jerry Petrow and John Munao, former futures traders and first-time restaurateurs, who were selected and trained by Burt Katz when he knew he was dying of cancer. Petrow said he had written down everything Bert had told him from memory.

Petrow and Munao used the same fresh ingredients (shopped for every day), recipes, methods, and the pizza pans that Katz left. "There were some rumors that we weren't using the same pans," Munao said. "That was false."

Burt's Pan Pizza

Burt's Place New Interior.

A small ramp was installed at the entrance to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act, and the two newly designed restrooms also needed to become ADA-compliant.

John Munao ventured out independently, taking Burt Katz's secret about caramelized pizza crust, and opened Lefty's Pizza Kitchen in Wilmette in 2018. The pizzas are in the New York style, with a double-thin crust, or, as Chicagoans call it, Eastern Style.

PEQUOD'S RESTAURANT IN THE LINCOLN PARK COMMUNITY OF CHICAGO.
Keith Jackson bought Pequod's in Morton Grove from Katz in 1986 for about $300,000 (per the Cook County Assessor's Office). Jackson said the sale price included the business and the building.

Jackson would buy the building in Chicago's Lincoln Park in 1991 to open the second Pequod's Pizza at 2207 North Clybourn Avenue. 

When asked if there was any bad blood between himself and Burt Katz, Jackson, a radiant 60-year-old with blue eyes and a peace and love mentality, said, "Let bygones be bygones." However, Jackson added that it was "disappointing that he opened up Burt's Place right up the street from our Morton Grove location." Jackson understands that it's a competitive business, and despite this, his restaurant does very well, especially in the booming Lincoln Park community.

PEQUOD'S PIZZA ☆ CHICAGO PAN PIZZA

INDEX TO MY ILLINOIS AND CHICAGO FOOD & RESTAURANT ARTICLES.

Written with love by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.