Chicagoist: Chicagoist's Cubs Fans' Guide To Bridgeport- Phase One: The Eats

Greg Casiglia

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 01:28:55 -0600

I loved The Great Space Coaster. What is your favorite episode with Frannie, the very pretty 16 year old brunette singer/guitar player/female lead of the show and Puppet Goriddle Gorilla? Please sign the bring back the great space coaster online petition @ www. petitiononline.com/TGSC because it now has 2,011 signatures. Does anyone remember The Scarecrow Episode with Frannie, Goriddle Gorilla, and Edison Elephant? The Great Space Coaster Homepage @ www. great space coaster.com has recently been updated for 2006 with new pictures and video clips of the cast.Does anyone remember the -anti gravity day episode where everything in Coasterville including Frannie's guitar went flying up in the air! Does anyone remember all the practical jokes that Frannie used to play on Puppet Goriddle Gorilla? Does anyone remember when Goriddle Gorilla met the beautiful blonde Actress Sally Struthers as a guest star on the show? There's is also a Great Space Coaster Messageboard @ imdb.com where you can leave your comments about the show. This was my favorite t.v. show growing up as a kid in the mid 1980's. Does anyone remember when Frannie used to tickle Goriddle Gorilla and you'd see a gold ring on her ring finger while she was tickling him? This show was a true 1980's live action/puppet children's t.v classic!

Greg Casiglia

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 01:28:07 -0600

TonyC

Sun, 23 Oct 2005 22:46:09 -0600

[b]dragonslyaer[/b]: your fear is NOT unfounded. i could not move fast enough out of BP (2 blocks away from Zhou Bros studio) after a 1 year stay. from the italian slumlord to the hispanic teen gangs to the caucasian old timers who blatantly discriminated... this neighborhood should be bulldozed. Bridgeport Village be damned... and "Community of the Future"? i scoff at such misnomer. I suppose this neighborhood explains why the Daleys are such criminals..

bluebob

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 12:04:24 -0600

Southside Shrimp House Rocks.... 31st Shields. (312)567-0000

Moon

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 16:04:14 -0600

Vesuvio at Ricobenes! It's pretty good!

Dragonslayer

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 15:00:16 -0600

Honestly, I'm still scared of Bridgeport. I had it drilled into me in the 70's to never set foot in Bridgeport except to go to a Sox game and then get out immediately after the game. My kind wasn't exactly welcome there. I still have that residual fear.

Scorekeeper

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 12:27:17 -0600

Franco's at 300 W 31st for great neighborhood italian food? Donnie's (since renamed) across the street from Armour Square Park for pizza? Much better than Freddie's. Nice catches on San Jose and Ed's, though.

The Backer

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 11:44:01 -0600

Bertucci's is THE best Italian outside Taylor and Pilsen ....

Chuck

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 11:22:57 -0600

I didn't forget Healthy Food. I'm saving it for a different post. And Ricobene's is that bad. The free soda refills are intended to distract you from that fact.

Moon

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 10:59:20 -0600

If you are REALLY cheap, the last time I checked steamed buns at one of the Chinatown bakeries were only 65 cents! You can't eat more than 3 of them, unless you are that little Japanese guy who eats all the hot dogs.

Moon

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 10:54:57 -0600

The Ricobene's on 26th isn't THAT bad, plus, if you ask, they give you free refills on soda!

Moon

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 10:53:21 -0600

Healthy Food Authentic Lithuanian Restaurant! 3256 S. Halsted. http://www.cityinsights.com/healthyfood.htm Authentic 50s style wood paneling!!!

vouchey

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 22:50:36 -0600

"Chicagoist Prime" sounds an awful lot like "Optimist Prime." More than meets the eye...

dwight

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 15:18:34 -0600

If you really like Connie's, then save yourself some money and pick up a $4.99 pizza from dominicks on friday's. They are about the same pizza. I don't mean to be blasphemous. I think I'll just grab a polish from Maxwell Street Depot when I'm down there instead. Then have Barry's Spot when I get back home.

Erin

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:57:36 -0600

I worked at Aurelio's in high school for a summer. Grease-packed pizza ... I'm pretty sure they have some north suburb locations. Like in Palatine or something?

vit

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:43:31 -0600

Connie's (the resturant) is great. I've been going there for years, and yeah, so is Aurelio's (who has yet to venture to the northside, although I think they have a place in the south loop).

Chuck

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:34:22 -0600

Backer... you give me the address and I might be able to pull myself away from the neighborhood saloon long enough to say hello. And the neighborhood saloon sure as hell ain't Punchinello's. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Tomorrow. Rachelle... you wear the "Chicagoist Prime" well. Nice to have a little individuality amongst all the royal we's, eh?

Joel

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:52:30 -0600

You guys eat wherever you want after the game, Scott and I will be goin' to the other side, where only rainbows hide.

Mr. Smith

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:33:22 -0600

Yep. They're a chain and they're not going to put Uno's or Gino's out of business anytime soon but they are as much a part of my childhood as the Great Space Coaster.

chicagoist prime

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:28:41 -0600

scott - aurelio's .. is that the place you guys pointed out to me?

Mr. Smith

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:16:07 -0600

Address please, Backer! When I was growing up, we went to Connie's constantly. If we went to a Sox game, we went to Connie's. There was no question. If we stayed home, we ordered Aurelio's. I think Chicagoist is 24 percent South Side now.

The Backer

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 12:52:20 -0600

Is the Chicagoist crew going to my friend's grill out at noon on friday three blocks north of Comisky?

Erin

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 12:11:34 -0600

Jake, it wasn't Chicagoist who said that ...! Chicagoist is really trying to branch out! We are!

Jake

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 12:09:36 -0600

You know, I've read Chicagoist since you were founded, and I've always accepted that you were a northside-skewed organization. Honestly, I had no problem with it because you guys were all fun and witty and I enjoyed getting in fights with people in the comments sections, the comments for the kid and the electric pole show that, but I am simply befuddled that someone never knew Connie's wasn't actually a restaurant. That's blasphemy in my house. I mean, Connie's is one of the Big 3 of pizzas for my family, Home Run Inn and Falco's being the other two. I don't quite know what to say.

chuck

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 11:37:11 -0600

Connie's can be a hit-or-miss proposition; compared to Ricobene's on 26th Street (which I left off because the if you don't like Connie's pizza, Ricobene's is even worse). I haven't had a bad experience at the Archer location, plus it's interesting to see how far businesses will go to have al fresco dining. This location is located in the middle of all the expressways, with developers squeezing condos into thumb-sized plots, and the Orange Line passing by constantly. And how can you not want to go to a place that has a delivery truck on a pole? That's usually reserved for a strip malls in Berwyn.

rachelle

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 11:05:38 -0600

"rachelle" is dead. I will only respond to "chicagoist prime" now! also, just to clarify, our drinking destination after the game was river north, not rock bottom specifically. but it would have been cool to stay in the stadium's immediate area. next time!

Mr. Smith

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 11:02:08 -0600

Nice work, Chuck. And just in time for all those confused Cubs fans heading south this weekend.

Joel

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 10:52:50 -0600

I don't know if this is still the case, but Reinsdorf wouldn't allow people with upper deck tickets on the lower level, so if you were feeling cheap on the ticket end you still weren't allowed to get the good food downstairs, totally defeating the purpose of knocking down the old neighborhood.

Benjy

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 10:49:11 -0600

I have to agree with Dwight about Connie's... my first experiences were in sporting events and in my high school's cafeteria, and I was surprised when eating at an actual restaurant that it was just as mediocre.

dwight

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 10:23:01 -0600

I honestly never knew that Connies had actual restaurants. I always thought they just provided the pizza at sporting events. Including myself, I had never met one person who actually liked their pizza. I recently visited a suburban location. I was really hoping that the pizza at an actual restuarant would be better that the heat-lamp pizza at the games. But the pizza was just as rubbery, microwave-ish, and tasteless as I had remembered. What is the big draw to their pizza? Is it just that they have some big contracts at events?

FlowFeel

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 09:54:11 -0600

What is interesting and would make a great Chicagoist peice is that Bridgeport and the area very near Comisky once had many bars and food joints until Reins"dorf" had them torn down for "parking" but really so people would buy food inside. I still refuse to eat at Comisky b/c of this!