Gulliver's in Rogers Park

Some sad news.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/obituaries ... 10.article

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obit ... &cset=true

You know I saw the original death notice and it only said he was a restaurateur but didn't mention the restaurant he owned. Btw,his original partner was Burt from Burt's place,I believe.

Artie, you are correct; Burt was Jerry's original partner.

Buddy

A Groupon enticed my wife and I to try Gulliver's on Howard recently. I've driven past it a thousand times and had never tried it, even after I learned about the connection to Burt Katz. There's a separate thread on the Glenview location that isnt' so positive. So I wasn't expecting much.

I'm glad to report that our pizza was excellent. We had a pan sausage and garlic pizza, delivered. The overall style is similar to Burt's and Pequod's, which I think many are now familiar with, and shouldn't be surprising. For those who haven't tried either of those, the crust is lighter and a bit thinner than most pan/deep dish pizzas in town. It had a nice cornmeal touch to it. It doesn't have the burn cheese on the edge, which is fine. The crust could have been a little darker, but that is nit-picking. The sausage, tomatoes, cheese, and garlic were all very good. Neither my wife nor I like overly cheesy pizzas and this one was cheesed just enough. This will definitely be entering our delivery rotation, especially because we not in a delivery area not served by Malnati's or Pequod's.

Gulliver's Pizza and Pub
2727 West Howard
Chicago, IL 60645
(773) 338-2166
http://www.gulliverspizza.com/

This is my favorite deep dish in town. What strikes me as most similar between their pizza and Burt's is the distinctly yeasty taste of the crust. Their bacon topping is also the bomb, as it's real fried strips of bacon, as opposed to the Bacos-like nuggets other pizza chains can saddle you with.

I highly recommend the sausage / fresh garlic topping combo!

We enjoy Gulliver's pizza so much, that we have driven from teh southwest side up to Howard St., just for a fix. FYI, Gulliver's has another spot out in Oak Brook Terrace. The room is not as quirky (that would be hard to replicate,) but the pizza is really close to the original...as good as Malnati's

...and Glenview - http://www.gulliverspizza.com/locations/

We tried Gulliver's again last night and it was delicious.

My wife and I love Gulliver's as well, but primarily the Howard St. place. She used to go there in the late 60s/ early 70s when she was going to Northwestern. Our experience has been somewhat different with the Glenview and Villa Park locations.

The first Glenview visit resulted in a soggy pizza. We were there about a week ago and I asked for the pizza to be well done, and the pizza was great.

I've had the same problem with the Villa Park location, but haven't gotten back there to see if they do better when the pizza is done "well done".

Our flavor combo for the week (we order two Gulliver's stuffed's twice a month!) was ground beef, green pepper and giardinara -- killer!

I've been going to Gulliver's, probably since they first opened. Now that I'm no longer in the area I probably only get there once or twice a year. But it's still a favorite. But I was really disappointed by the one pizza I got from the Villa Park location. There was nothing terribly wrong with it. But it just didn't remind me, even remotely, of the pizza from Howard St.

I have such fond memories of going to Gulliver's on Howard as a child. Practically every Sunday when my father took us driving around on a whim, I got excited feelings every time he would drive down Howard because I often knew where we were going to end up. My fascination with all the old, vintage and antique lighting certainly charmed me to no end and it is probably just a small part of the reason why I love all things vintage as an adult. Plus the pizza was always a standout. As I got older I did go back over the years and the food was still great and amazing but after the death of the original owner, I believe the restaurant may have been sold. i recall going once with my parents a couple of years ago and the quality just was not the same.

KajmacJohnson wrote:...the food was still great and amazing but after the death of the original owner, I believe the restaurant may have been sold.

Thankfully, the original owner has not passed on.

I stand corrected.

KajmacJohnson wrote:I stand corrected.

You don't have to "stand corrected"

Jerry Freeman and Burt Katz both "founded" Gulliver's and Jerry stayed for 40 years.
Jerry was the "face" of Gulliver's and he indeed passed away in 2006.

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2 ... pizza.html

cito wrote:

KajmacJohnson wrote:I stand corrected.

You don't have to "stand corrected"

Jerry Freeman and Burt Katz both "founded" Gulliver's and Jerry stayed for 40 years.
Jerry was the "face" of Gulliver's and he indeed passed away in 2006.

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2 ... pizza.html

Thanks. I thought so. I do recall reading his obit in the Trib and the one that always stuck with me was his love for preserving the vintage and antique lighting and including it within Gulliver's. That is one of my childhood memories that will always be with me.

Gulliver's is for sale. Name and antiques not included.

Might wanna check that link...

Thanks. Fixed. Embarrassed.

nr706 wrote:Gulliver's is for sale. Name and antiques not included.

I tried clicking on that link, and sadly this sale listing was taken down. But another source said that the restaurant was for sale, for about $895,000 at the time of that sale posting in January.

Block Club Chicago had an article today, that the antiques at Gulliver's will be auctioned off starting on May 24th, 2019. It is funny I almost want to eat there one last time, before all the antiques are auctioned off. Not sure why, but I have a hard time believing Gulliver's will stay open as a restaurant, if they auction off a good portion of their antiques. As I remember from my past visits the food is/was good there, but there are a lot of good neighborhood pizza places all over the Chicago area. Also a bad sign too when I tried to find Gulliver's regular website, but as of today it looks like the site no longer loads up. Maybe the company that hosted their website took it down, and they didn't renew their host agreement with that internet company to host their website? I don't know for sure.

Anyway, there are a lot of pics the auction company posted of Gulliver's antiques here, if you want to look(photos that show the dining room start on page 2 and photo 142, one page after the page linked here): https://estatesales.org/estate-sales/il ... 47/gallery

dumpstermcnuggets wrote:

nr706 wrote:Gulliver's is for sale. Name and antiques not included.

I tried clicking on that link, and sadly this sale listing was taken down. But another source said that the restaurant was for sale, for about $895,000 at the time of that sale posting in January.

Block Club Chicago had an article today, that the antiques at Gulliver's will be auctioned off starting on May 24th, 2019. It is funny I almost want to eat there one last time, before all the antiques are auctioned off. Not sure why, but I have a hard time believing Gulliver's will stay open as a restaurant, if they auction off a good portion of their antiques. As I remember from my past visits the food is/was good there, but there are a lot of good neighborhood pizza places all over the Chicago area. Also a bad sign too when I tried to find Gulliver's regular website, but as of today it looks like the site no longer loads up. Maybe the company that hosted their website took it down, and they didn't renew their host agreement with that internet company to host their website? I don't know for sure.

Anyway, there are a lot of pics the auction company posted of Gulliver's antiques here, if you want to look(photos that show the dining room start on page 2 and photo 142, one page after the page linked here): https://estatesales.org/estate-sales/il ... 47/gallery

My understanding was that the restaurant was never for sale, just the building. The listing never included the antiques or the recipes, just the physical building. I'm not sure if the purchase price of the property included the appliances and furniture.

Here is a link with a quote from the current owner: https://blockclubchicago.org/2019/04/02/gullivers-puts-famous-antiques-up-for-sale-before-expected-closure/

Howard location closing?

https://blockclubchicago.org/2019/04/02 ... d-closure/

Is the Oakbrook Terrace location related? Same pizza?

WTTW had a segment on Gulliver's.

https://news.wttw.com/2019/05/07/gulliv ... nt-history

Unfortunately, the estate sale ended today. I'm sorry I missed it. It would have cool to see what they had to offer.

I believe you can see what was offered here:

https://estatesales.org/estate-sales/il ... 47/gallery