Future of the "O"

[Slick Manager of Champs]

I’m sorry for your loss
The fries weren’t a quality issue - but I’d say Butterjoint is way better . Beef tallow fries are great

I’ll be honest - a hot dog is a hot dog is a hot dog to me.
Now the quality of the chili is a different issue

to each his own, I'll have to try butterjoint one of these days

 

[CJsE]

terrible take. Novelty? Other than Thrashers at the MD shore, name a better french fry. Where else can you get a good hot dog? Co-go's?

Most people didn't know about one of the gems that the O had to offer. Their pizza boat was a form of currency in the apartments on Forbes. Granted it's pretty hard to screw up a pizza boat, but it was like $2 and filled you up.

 

[Ghost of Pitt Stadium]

Dogs and fries (small order) are perfect foods to walk and eat or to find a nice picnic table in a open plaza. They are ‘to go’ foods and ideal in the new normal of covid. I would also consider the fries to be soul food. The ‘O’ was very much a part of Pitt’s brand...high energy, quirky, dirty in a loving way, and yes soulful.

 

[HailtoPitt]

terrible take. Novelty? Other than Thrashers at the MD shore, name a better french fry. Where else can you get a good hot dog? Co-go's?

Point Bruges.

Fries are cheap. It's worth a shot for someone to open a spot like the O. Make cheap fries. Lots of them. Call it Revenge of the O.

But really. Pitt probably is happy that the Ono's done. And probably nudged Cuban against it.

 

[thebadby2]

Apparently those visits were too infrequent

Yeah well there haven’t been many of those trips to the O from Michigan since my dad died 5 years ago.

 

[Panthergrowl13]

Not unless you count Hemingway's. Fuel and Fuddle has been there since the mid-90s but I don't know if that counts.

There are some other restaurants that have been around for awhile, but I wouldn't say they were multi-generational traditional hangouts.

I tell you though, I think you could have devoted a small corner of that restaurant space, maybe just a takeout window, to just dish out "O" fries, and maybe some hotdogs, and make some decent money. I wish someone would have been able to do that to keep the tradition and name alive. Seems a hell of a lot better than subleasing to a franchised stripmall sub chain that no one wants.

Hemingway's brings back fond memories of my days as a Pitt student. For those who are not old enough to remember, Gustine's was the name of the restaurant and bar that then became Hemingway's.

Good times at Pitt!!!!

HAIL TO PITT!!!!

 

[Seneca_Valley]

terrible take. Novelty? Other than Thrashers at the MD shore, name a better french fry. Where else can you get a good hot dog? Co-go's?

More Souf bizarro world. The O dogs and fries were among the best in Pittsburgh. Period. Check the Wikipedia page for confirmation. Good cheap food endures; it was never a novelty. A smart man would clean up the place and serve the same food items.

 

[doubleAA's]

Couple of generic strip mall eateries going into the storied space. F'in travesty.

Every college needs its traditional joints.

Are there any left in Oakland?

The is what happens in capitalist societies after time. All the conglomerates but up the little guys who either become their own conglomerate or take the money and live comfy... or the conglomerates wait out the little guy

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

More Souf bizarro world. The O dogs and fries were among the best in Pittsburgh. Period. Check the Wikipedia page for confirmation. Good cheap food endures; it was never a novelty. A smart man would clean up the place and serve the same food items.

The dirt was half the fun! Enduring the rest room at 2am was a right of passage

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

More Souf bizarro world. The O dogs and fries were among the best in Pittsburgh. Period. Check the Wikipedia page for confirmation. Good cheap food endures; it was never a novelty. A smart man would clean up the place and serve the same food items.

that's also his thing, ever the contrarian.

 

[Ghost of Pitt Stadium]

The dirt was half the fun! Enduring the rest room at 2am was a right of passage

I agree. The basement restroom with water up to your ankles was a right of passage.

The area outside the O on a early Sunday morning always reminded me of New Orleans before the street wash. The smell is unmistakeable.