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'When I'm at the Billy Goat, I Feel Better!'

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'When I'm at the Billy Goat, I Feel Better!' ‘When I’m at the Billy Goat, I feel better!’ Tavern owner Sam Sianis won’t retire, no matter the challenges “I can’t retire because my mind goes inside the Billy Goat! Day and night, my brain is at the Billy Goat!” says owner Sam Sianis, who turns 86 in December. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune photos) Wood boards cover windows damaged during recent downtown looting and vandalism at the Billy Goat Tavern on Lower Michigan Avenue. BY LOUISA CHU When you descend to the depths of Lower Michigan Avenue now, the neon signs of the Billy Goat Tavern seem gone. The lights still glow behind blue painted boards. The owner beams too, sometimes. “When I’m at the Billy Goat, I feel better!” said Sam Sianis, owner of perhaps the most iconic restaurant and bar in Chicago. Sianis, who tends to speak at a shout, turns 86 on Dec. 12. He was born in 1934, the same year the tavern was founded. That places him in the age group at greatest risk for severe illness from COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He’s just one of the thousands of restaurant owners in the Chicago area who’ve devoted their lives to the family business. Just one of the many faces we came to expect behind the counter, who knew our orders by heart. Just one of those who may never go back to work again at the place that made them and us and our city. “I say cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger every day!” said Sianis. Not quite everyday anymore. When the statewide coronavirus-mandated restaurant and bar closures went into effect March 16 at 9 p.m., until the stay-at-home order ended May 29, Sianis stayed away from the business where he has worked since he was 21. One of his sons, Tom Sianis, explained: “When COVID started shutdown mode, he went from not going there at all, until the last couple of months where he’s been going a few times a week, just to get out of the house and see the Billy Goat.” Sam Sianis is hard of hearing, said his son, who also translated in Greek for his father. Regulars may be surprised by the hearing loss and need for translation, since the lifelong barman still seems to understand his customers implicitly. The Billy Goat currently has eight locations, all in the Chicago area. They are not taverns technically by city licensing standards. That designation is for businesses that serve alcohol without food. The city has closed taverns with only indoor seating in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19. The Billy Goat, however, famously makes cheeseburgers. Tom Sianis, who said he doesn’t hold a title at the family business, but just works with his brothers, is a judge for the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois. He shared some Billy Goat history. “We started in 1934 with my great uncle.” The late William Sianis, a Greek immigrant, bought the Lincoln Tavern on the West Side 86 years ago. “It was a bar that was across the street from the Chicago Stadium,” said Tom Sianis. The stadium was near where the United Center now stands, less than half a mile from a Billy Goat location on Madison Street. Like any great legend, so many layers have been added throughout the years. When Sam Sianis, arrived from Greece in 1955, he immediately started working with his uncle at what was then still just a tavern. “We moved over to the Michigan Avenue location in 1964, where we added the grill,” said Tom Sianis. That’s when they started the whole “cheeseburger, cheeseburger, no fries, chips,” he said. “We had a big lunch line, and to get the orders in and out as quickly as possible, they would just yell people’s orders to the short order cook.” In 1978, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray immortalized a fictional Greek diner on “Saturday Night Live” inspired by the Billy Goat. Customers learn they can order only cheeseburgers, chips and Pepsi. Belushi, Aykroyd and Murray called out orders in character, Sianas style, as “Cheezborger! Cheezborger! Cheezborger!” “Since then, we always kept the motto going,” said Tom Sianis. “It’s just really good food and people are happy coming in. They’re excited to know that they’re in an establishment that’s been around since the 1930s.” His brothers Bill and Paul Sianis now run the Billy Goat business. They are among hundreds of restaurant owners nationwide who have sued for coronavirus insurance payouts. “I was there every day! Seven days a week!” said Sam Sianis. Tom Sianis shares their new routine. “He calls every day to make sure things are in line,” he said. “He goes to the Michigan Avenue store and the Madison location between one and three times a week, just for a couple of hours to see everybody. When he’s there, we try to keep up social distancing, but he likes to talk to everybody when he gets there.” Now when you walk down the steps into the oldest location, on Lower Michigan Avenue, you’ll find social distancing circles on the floor and branded masks for sale behind the counter. On a recent Sunday at lunchtime, a few tourists walked in, past a couple of regulars nursing beers at the bar. “He goes in the mornings, between 10 and a little after lunch,” said his son. “He’s at the grill. He yells ‘Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger!’ He talks to people when they come in, and they take pictures.” Sam Sianis was big on handshakes and hugs before COVID-19. “We’ve cut that off when one of us is there watching him,” said his son. “He does miss that though.” The visits have involved the whole family and longtime employees, too. “He used to drive, up until six or seven years ago,” said Tom Sianis. Now someone needs to drive the family patriarch to and from the Billy Goat. “We have a schedule of who’s going to drop him off. Either myself or my sister or my brothers will take him.” They’ll stay with him, then bring him back home, or one of a couple of employees working that day will drop him off. “We’ve been really good about quarantining here,” said his son. “There are limited places that he goes. He’ll go to my house and family homes, but no public places.” When Sam Sianis is asked what he does at home, he clears his throat and laughs. “I work on my backyard!” he said. “Tomatoes and onions!” Will he retire now? “I never retire!” he said. “I can’t retire because my mind goes inside the Billy Goat! Day and night, my brain is at the Billy Goat!” He and his family want everybody to understand that he wants to be with them. “I think everyone knows that given his age, we’re trying to keep safe by limiting the amount of time he’s actually at the store,” said his son. “It’s been tough, but he’s optimistic and hopefully soon we’ll be back to normal.” “I wish everybody to be healthy!” said Sam Sianis. “I want to say to everybody,” he said, voice breaking, “I still love them.” [email protected].
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