Obituaries
Burt Katz, owner of Burt's Place pizzeria in Morton Grove, dies
Katz, 78, gained national fame after being featured by food celebrity Anthony Bourdain.
RELATED: Burt's Place Creates Pizza Harmony as Restaurant's Fame Spreads
He is survived by his wife, Sharon; his daughters, Ean Katz-Woodbury and Andi Bannister; and his son, Adam, the Tribune reports.
Katz, who had been in the pizza-making business for more than 50 years, opened Burt's Place with his wife, Sharon, in 1989. Poor health, however, forced Katz to officially close his restaurant in October 2015 (although Burt's Place had stopped serving customers in July of that year).
RELATED: Burt's Place is Closed for Good
The pizza-maker was known for his larger-than-life―but sometimes prickly―personality, as well as his throwback approach of running his business, taking orders by hand on a rotary phone with no computers or credit-card machines.
But it was Katz's pizza recipe that made Burt's Place a local draw and put an international spotlight on the small, 12-table establishment at 8541 N. Ferris Ave. He described perfecting his recipe to Patch in 2011:
“It’s pure Darwinism. It’s evolution. You try it, tweak it, try it until you reach the point you want to be with your product. Then you stop. I’ve stopped. I’m where I want to be with my product and my business.
...
"It’s the balance, the way you put them (the ingredients) on. One (ingredient) doesn’t overwhelm the other. You do it to where you get it where you want it. It’s basically eyeballing and after many years, you know.”
Funeral arrangements are still pending.
Tribune reporter Louisa Chu can be found on Twitter @louisachu
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PHOTO: Burt Katz, with his wife, Sharon, from 2011. (Patch.com)
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