Check out the "cheezborgers" at Chicago's famous Billy Goat Tavern

Cheezborger, Cheezborger, no Pepsi...Coke. No lie!

The Olympia Cafe immortalized by John Belushi and the rest of the cast of Saturday Night Live in a memorable 1970s skit lives on in the form of Chicago's Billy Goat Tavern, most notably tucked below Michigan Avenue between the old offices of the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune building.

We visited the Billy Goat for, yes, double cheeseburgers, chips and Cokes this past summer when Tim spotted a sign directing us to the tavern's location in the subterranean network of streets near our hotel. We both vividly remembered Belushi's portrayal of the owner of a Greek diner with a menu pretty much limited to double cheeseburgers, chips and Pepsi (I think they switched from Pepsi to Coke later in the run of the show).

We could imagine the ghost of John Belushi shouting out orders for "Cheezborger, Cheep, Coke" as we placed our orders for the same. The menu looks a little more extensive these days, but I'd be afraid to order anything but Belushi's "suggested" meal at the Billy Goat!

The burgers were classic quick grilled, thin patties, cooked pretty much to medium-well and served in a wax paper-lined basket, accompanied by a small bag of chips and a paper cup of Coke. Classic, and cheap!

The original Billy Goat Tavern opened in 1934 when a Greek immigrant, William Sianis, purchased the Lincoln Tavern near the old Chicago Stadium for $205. Sainis' check for the purchase bounced, but he made good on it with money from his first weekend of sales according the tavern's Web site.

Sainis earned the name "Billy Goat" when a goat that fell off of a truck passing by wandered into the tavern. The tavern owner adopted the goat as a mascot, grew a goatee, earned a new nickname and rechristened the bar as the Billy Goat Tavern.

The goat supposedly figures prominently in the struggles of the Chicago Cubs to win baseball's World Series over the years--check out the Billy Goat's Web site for a detailed history of the denial entrance to the ball park for Billy's goat and the Cubs' "curse" that reportedly keeps them out of the Series. (You've got to love sports fans...we're a superstitious lot sometimes!)

Sainis moved the Billy Goat to the underground location in 1964. The bar pays tribute to its rich history as a media hangout, due to the proximity of the place to competing Chicago newspapers, with a Wall of Fame full of articles from Chicago newspapers. Mike Royko forged a particularly close identification with the Billy Goat, and the display contains a long memorial column Royko wrote when Sainis died in 1970.

Don Novello, a Chicago advertising copywriter who played Father Guido Sarducci in several Saturday Night Live skits, wrote the original show skit spoofing the Billy Goat Tavern. Novello and Bill Murray both frequented the bar during their Chicago days, and the Goat's Web site reports that they still visit from time to time for a "doublecheezborger" when they're in town.

The Billy Goat has a handful of other locations around Chicago, including one with an outdoor patio that we spotted when we visited Navy Pier, but I have to wonder if any of them have the quirky character or reflect the storied history of the underground "original" we visited.

By the way, if you're into road food and local joints like the Billy Goat, make sure you check out my road food book giveaway. Tell me about your favorite road food or local place by October 16 to enter for your chance to win a couple of guides that should help you find good eats all over the U.S.!

© Dominique King 2009 All rights reserved

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Comments

[Fly Girl]

This brings back such memories! I never had time to go to the Billy Goat when I worked at the Sun Times but I went there all the time when I worked in the Wrigly Building. Of course, that was way before I stopped eating red meat! And no the other locations are no where near the quirkiness of the original. There's only one real, Billy Goat Tavern.

[Dominique]

Rosalind-The Billy Goat was a great "joint"! I'm thinking it's a little like Tony Packos in Toledo--in that there is only one original Packos (fried pickles, yum!), and the other locations have no where near the quirky charm of the original "Hungarian hot dog joint" Max Klinger in M*A*S*H (and actor Jamie Farr in real life) loved so well.
I'm glad we spent those extra few days wandering about Chicago after TBEX, because we had a chance to see something other than just the inside of the convention hotel! I like to mix things up, so I've still got some more Chicago stories I plan to post yet :)

[Glennia]

I used to go there late at night when I was in law school in Chicago. That's my one good memory of law school!

[Dominique]

Glennia-The Billy Goat seemed like such a great local "dive"...although it was a quiet mid-afternoon when we visited. I love those types of places!