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Future of the "O"

ERICCARTMAN

Freshman
Jul 5, 2001
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By next spring or summer, the Original Hot Dog Shop in Oakland is expected to be transformed into two new restaurants developed by Mero Restaurant Group.

The Original, known to students and other denizens as “The O,” had been a storied landmark since 1960, known especially for its huge servings of fries. It closed in April and donated seven tons of potatoes to charity.

Mero will lease the space from the owner, Seneca Partners, said Maury Mendelovich, a principal of Mero.

Mero plans to sublet 1,200 square feet of the building to Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop and to operate two levels of the remaining space as Viva Los Tacos, a Mexicali street food-themed restaurant with a full bar.

Mr. Mendelovich said he and his business partner, Jamie Rodgers, ate at the Original when they were students at the University of Pittsburgh.

“So this is not just another location,” he said. “We always looked at the O as one of the premier locations in the city. We will revamp the building but we’re looking for architects and designers to pay homage to the O. We hope it will live up to that legacy.

“We don’t want to disappoint anyone who had fond memories of the place, but we’re hoping to create new memories.”

He said that Viva Los Tacos will feature the birria taco, with meat slow-cooked in Mexican spices.

“We want to keep developing new concepts for the Pittsburgh market.”

Mero operates two other restaurants, Stack’d Burgers and Beer and CHiKN nearby in Oakland. It has three other locations of Stack’d — in Shadyside, Wexford and Hampton -- and is in the process of finishing a second location of CHiKN in Cranberry, he said.

Mr. Mendelovich said he is hopeful that the restaurant scene will eventually return to normal. “We’re looking at a bumpy ride in the short term, and we definitely have to make adjustments to all our businesses” including spaced seating, take-out orders and other pandemic-enforced conditions. “But that is not the overriding game plan for the future.”

He said the group will make “a significant investment” in the building but declined to discuss specifics.

The “O” was founded by brothers Sydney and Morris “Moe” Simon at the corner of South Bouquet Street and Forbes Avenue.

Documentarian Rick Sebak featured The Original in his PBS special, “A Hot Dog Program,” which aired nationally in the late 1990s.

According to Mr. Sebak, the brothers rushed to open in 1960 in time for the opening of the World Series at Forbes Field, which was several blocks away.

The Post-Gazette reported in April, shortly after the Original announced its closing, that Michael Chabon, author of “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh” and “The Wonder Boys,” reminisced about being a patron during a 2001 talk at the Carnegie Institute: “The holy grail of sitting at a table at ‘the O’ next to a brutally loud video game at three o’clock in the morning, drunk out of my mind inhaling a basket of cheese fries so massive that it is a feature of USGS maps of the greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area.”
 
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We have different opinions about what strip mall eateries are
My version looks something like this:

Capriottis_Springfield.jpg
 
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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?

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.
 
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Omg, complain complain complain
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.
The O was a Pitt and Oakland institution. I have some great memories from there as a kid with my dad and his old Pitt buddies after a couple of Marino era Pitt games and as a college kid from Michigan working in Oakland one summer. I remember seeing Calipari in there almost every week that summer, a couple of times with Bobby Martin and Darrelle Porter. Now it’s about to become a glorified Chipotle and a lousy chain sub joint.

So yeah, complain, complain complain. Would you like yours on white, wheat or rosemary parmesan?
 
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?
Places that should be at least 20 years old.
Antoons
Hunan Bar
Szechuan Express
Dave and Andy's
Fuel and Fuddle
Spice Island
 
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.

Is there a Jiffy Lube in Oakland? They could make the O fries there.

And sometime strip mall restaurants are really good, for what it's worth.

But I find it odd that people are fine with no traditional stadium on campus but are outraged that the O is being replaced.
 
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Well, CJ's becoming a dunkin donut broke my heart, this is just as bad. But it is better than sitting vacant, or being a cell phone or vape shop.
 
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Well, CJ's becoming a dunkin donut broke my heart, this is just as bad. But it is better than sitting vacant, or being a cell phone or vape shop.
You missed a few steps. CJ's went through a few failures before Dunkin. Don't forget the memorable Johnny Rotten's.
 
It’s been 15+ years since I’ve been to campus, but it’s good to hear that some places that got me through college are still there, like Fuel n Fuddle and Antoon’s. Sad to hear about the O and Uncle Sam’s. What about Mad Mex, Sorrento’s, Hemingway’s, Pamela’s? And does anybody remember Cumpie’s? I’m 99% sure it was a front for a mafia operation. Lol
 
lol, yeah I was out of town for awhile and must have missed that era.
I know while i was there it was Johnny Rottens, but they couldn't get a liquor license and couldn't sell alcohol.

Then it became something called Boomerang's. The only thing I remember about that place is that they had MTV producers there one day for Real World auditions and every frat guy in a 15 mile radius showed up.

Then it became a Dunkin.
 
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By next spring or summer, the Original Hot Dog Shop in Oakland is expected to be transformed into two new restaurants developed by Mero Restaurant Group.

The Original, known to students and other denizens as “The O,” had been a storied landmark since 1960, known especially for its huge servings of fries. It closed in April and donated seven tons of potatoes to charity.

Mero will lease the space from the owner, Seneca Partners, said Maury Mendelovich, a principal of Mero.

Mero plans to sublet 1,200 square feet of the building to Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop and to operate two levels of the remaining space as Viva Los Tacos, a Mexicali street food-themed restaurant with a full bar.

Mr. Mendelovich said he and his business partner, Jamie Rodgers, ate at the Original when they were students at the University of Pittsburgh.

“So this is not just another location,” he said. “We always looked at the O as one of the premier locations in the city. We will revamp the building but we’re looking for architects and designers to pay homage to the O. We hope it will live up to that legacy.

“We don’t want to disappoint anyone who had fond memories of the place, but we’re hoping to create new memories.”

He said that Viva Los Tacos will feature the birria taco, with meat slow-cooked in Mexican spices.

“We want to keep developing new concepts for the Pittsburgh market.”

Mero operates two other restaurants, Stack’d Burgers and Beer and CHiKN nearby in Oakland. It has three other locations of Stack’d — in Shadyside, Wexford and Hampton -- and is in the process of finishing a second location of CHiKN in Cranberry, he said.

Mr. Mendelovich said he is hopeful that the restaurant scene will eventually return to normal. “We’re looking at a bumpy ride in the short term, and we definitely have to make adjustments to all our businesses” including spaced seating, take-out orders and other pandemic-enforced conditions. “But that is not the overriding game plan for the future.”

He said the group will make “a significant investment” in the building but declined to discuss specifics.

The “O” was founded by brothers Sydney and Morris “Moe” Simon at the corner of South Bouquet Street and Forbes Avenue.

Documentarian Rick Sebak featured The Original in his PBS special, “A Hot Dog Program,” which aired nationally in the late 1990s.

According to Mr. Sebak, the brothers rushed to open in 1960 in time for the opening of the World Series at Forbes Field, which was several blocks away.

The Post-Gazette reported in April, shortly after the Original announced its closing, that Michael Chabon, author of “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh” and “The Wonder Boys,” reminisced about being a patron during a 2001 talk at the Carnegie Institute: “The holy grail of sitting at a table at ‘the O’ next to a brutally loud video game at three o’clock in the morning, drunk out of my mind inhaling a basket of cheese fries so massive that it is a feature of USGS maps of the greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area.”

This is awesome!

Glad some Pitt fans bought it. Gosh I have great memories of avoiding starvation as a poor student walking back to my apartments in south Oakland from trees hall or benedum hall And grabbing a 2.99 full ass pizza. Literally a full size, good cheese pizza for 2.99 or 1.25 more for pepperoni if I had the extra cash.
Then taking my wife and kids there later on and seeing their faces at a large fries. It was Pitt. I always say you can tell a Pitt fan from a PSU fan cause they would al
 
What I don't get is isn't the O "brand" worth something? You mean to tell me the Simon's can't open up a restaurant somewhere else or sell the brand name?
 
I know while i was there it was Johnny Rottens, but they couldn't get a liquor license and couldn't sell alcohol.

Then it became something called Boomerang's. The only thing I remember about that place is that they had MTV producers there one day for Real World auditions and every frat guy in a 15 mile radius showed up.

Then it became a Dunkin.

My only memory of Boomerangs is one of my coworkers at kennywood showing up at work hungover and telling me that they went to boomerangs on a $1 drink night, drank too much, threw up, and stared at the ground thinking "there is $12 of puke on the ground"
 
Oh yay, the Stack'd version of the Instagram taco of the moment that no one will even care about once the place opens next summer and a fancy Jimmy John's.
 
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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.
I have some great memories from Peter's Pub as well. Classic college bar. Drank beers with Tom Tumulty and his dad one night in there after a Pitt game in one of the last years up on Cardiac Hill. I had a shirt with the logo below on it for years. That's the kind of bar every college community needs at least one or two of. Was bummed to hear it closed years ago.

peters-e1526561803611.png
 
This is awesome!

Glad some Pitt fans bought it. Gosh I have great memories of avoiding starvation as a poor student walking back to my apartments in south Oakland from trees hall or benedum hall And grabbing a 2.99 full ass pizza. Literally a full size, good cheese pizza for 2.99 or 1.25 more for pepperoni if I had the extra cash.
Then taking my wife and kids there later on and seeing their faces at a large fries. It was Pitt. I always say you can tell a Pitt fan from a PSU fan cause they would al
I mean, I can't really say I'm excited about it. Yeah it's great that a former Pitt student is involved, but they are bringing to the table a pair of chain shops. I can't see anything that they are bringing to the table that outdoes what would be expected from any other developer. Maybe I'm wrong and current students feel the same about Stacked and CHiKN as I did about The O and Uncle Sam's.

I mean I ate at Subway and Szechuan far more as a student than I did at the O, Antoons, Dave and Andys, or Uncle Sam's but I didn't make sure to stop by those places on return visits after graduating. The places announced for the old O will be just that, places for college kids to eat that will most likely be instantly forgotten after they graduate.
 
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Like an on campus athletic venue, theses eating places help connect generations of fans and provide some great campus memories.
 
I mean, I can't really say I'm excited about it. Yeah it's great that a former Pitt student is involved, but they are bringing to the table a pair of chain shops. I can't see anything that they are bringing to the table that outdoes what would be expected from any other developer. Maybe I'm wrong and current students feel the same about Stacked and CHiKN as I did about The O and Uncle Sam's.

I mean I ate at Subway and Szechuan far more as a student than I did at the O, Antoons, Dave and Andys, or Uncle Sam's but I didn't make sure to stop by those places on return visits after graduating. The places announced for the old O will be just that, places for college kids to eat that will most likely be instantly forgotten after they graduate.
Yeah I totally agree, don’t get me wrong. Uncle Sams, SOD and Larry&Carols were my favs
 
What I don't get is isn't the O "brand" worth something? You mean to tell me the Simon's can't open up a restaurant somewhere else or sell the brand name?

Seems like they are known for being dirty and selling large quantities for cheap. That's probably isn't the best business model.
 
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?

TOTALLY AGREE!! Every college needs that traditional eatery that defines the school and student body. If they are putting in two sterile generic spots then that's just a waste of prime real-estate.
 
Yeah
I really don’t get the anguish .
By sophomore year the novelty wears off -
Except for being drunk and wanting a garbage bag of fries
its not about the quality, or obvious lack thereof, of the joint. It was part of the connective tissue of the university for 60 years. I don’t think my family every took a trip to the Burgh without my old man taking us to The O to relive his college days.
 
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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?
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
 
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