Edzo’s Burger Shop attracted customers from the greater Chicago area following coverage on the restaurant show “Check, Please!”
The WTTW Channel 11 program, in conjunction with a feature shown last week on CLTV’s “Chicago’s Best,” was responsible for lines that extended out the door of the restaurant at 1571 Sherman Ave., owner Eddie Lakin said.
Lakin said he filled between 1,200 and 1,500 burger orders over the weekend. Many first-time patrons decided to try Edzo’s after the video review aired Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
“People in the industry call it the “‘Check, Please!’ effect,” he said.
Medill junior and Daily staffer Amber Gibson pitched Edzo’s to “Check, Please!” more than a year and a half ago and was featured as a reviewer on the show.
“I learned about how much care and effort he puts into the food, so I thought Edzo’s would be great for the show,” said Gibson, a regular customer of Edzo’s since its opening in October 2009.
Over a nine-month period, reviewers – including Gibson – anonymously visited the burger shop to rate its food quality.
Customers drove from outside Evanston to sample Edzo’s, many of them visiting the restaurant for the first time.
“My wife made me drive by 20 hot dog places to get here from Highland Park,” said Jeremy Becker. He and his wife found out about Edzo’s Sunday morning on “Check, Please!”
Dave Webber, an engineer from Bourbonnais, Ill., dined at Edzo’s with his son, Mitch, a Northwestern police officer and part-time Weinberg student.
“I saw it on TV and came up to visit my son, and I was like, ‘I want to go to Edzo’s!'” Webber said.
Lakin said Edzo’s netted a standard 250 bills Saturday but grossed about 75 more orders than usual on Sunday. He said Saturday’s influx was demonstrated in larger groups per check and more food per order.
“We’d get orders of $60, $70, $80 worth of food,” Lakin said.
Despite the financial boom, Lakin said he hopes the flood of customers doesn’t last.
“I feel bad at the end of days like this because we’re not able to give the best service with such a crush of people,” he said after closing Edzo’s doors Sunday afternoon. “I get short after I take 250 orders – I’m burnt out and my nerves get shot.”
He said he was pleased with TV coverage of the shop, though, letting his two young children “stay up late” Friday to watch the 8 p.m. airing.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better spokesperson than Amber,” Lakin said.
“All of the things that I think are important about the business, she nailed.”
