Bust Outs restaurant opens in triangular-shaped building at Elston & Foster, where there’s been an eatery since the 1950s
by BRIAN NADIG
Bust Outs, featuring hamburgers, chicken and Italian beef, recently opened at the iconic triangle-shaped building at the northwest corner of Elston and Foster avenues, where a restaurant has operated since the 1950s.
Angelo and Christina Palivos, who at one time operated a restaurant in Rogers Park, opened Bust Outs on Monday, May 8. The site’s previous occupant was Mother Cluckers Kitchen and for many years it was home to the Forest Glen Snack Shop.
Bust Outs features “‘L’ avated” burgers and chicken sandwiches, whose names pay tribute to Chicago’s transit system.
The “Green Line” includes avocado, ghost pepper cheese, leaf lettuce, tomato, onion and mayonnaise.
Others are the “Blue Line” with blue cheese and balsamic onion jam, the “Red Line” with spicy feta cheese, pickled onions and arugula, the “Brown Line” with barbecue sauce, smoked bacon and grilled onions, and the “Purple Line” with a black bean patty and a gluten-free bun.
“These will be our claim to fame,” Angelo Palivos said of the transit-inspired sandwiches. “It’s a chef-derived menu, (and) we use 100 percent certified black angus beef, and the chicken is all natural and antibiotic-free.”
Palivos said that he spent weeks eating cheeseburgers around Chicago in an effort to find a quality product that Bust Outs could offer and sell at an affordable price.
The menu also includes waffle fries, pickle fries, breaded mushrooms and artichoke hearts, spicy cauliflower, fried green tomatoes, garlic cheese curds, Gouda mac and cheese bites, chicken fingers, beef sandwiches, Polish sausage, Italian sausage, salads and hot dogs.
As for the name “Bust Outs,” Palivos said that it just popped into his head one night and he decided it was a catchy name for the fast-food eatery.
Bust Outs, which offers indoor and outdoor seating and has a parking lot, is open 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily (closes on 9 p.m. Tuesdays).
