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@FlavorCountry: If you really want to understand the history of the levees and why they and those responsible for building and maintaining them ought are at fault here, I'd direct you and anyone else interested to a phenomenal book called Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America. The historical lessons are directly on point and, because the book came out well before Katrina, it has none of the political finger-pointing that typically overwhelms disagreements about Katrina.

Also, without getting into a political discussion of how the role of government has changed since the 1870s, I'd still argue that the comparison to Chicago is inapt. Even after the fire, transcontinental commerce and transportation was such that Chicago was critical to the nation's financial lifeblood. There was a whole lot of money for private investors to make by buying up land and building up businesses in the city, some of which actually expanded thanks to the fire. New Orleans does not occupy nearly as important of a place in the country's finances. Even before the current financial crisis, there was simply not anywhere near enough immediate incentive for private business to invest in New Orleans.

@lkrier: The burrito pizza looks really good. Fewer pickles definitely would have been an improvement. I think an ideal cheeseburger pizza would also have some onion and another cheese in addition to mozzarella. The pickles were just way too strong of a flavor.

@hmlicata: The purpose of the trip was to try the cheeseburger pizza so Buffo's was not what I was looking for. I'll make it to Buffo's eventually.

These wings are addictive. They sell 5 for $5 or 10 for $7. I live 2 blocks away and have been many times. I've managed to limit myself to an order of 5 just once. Just thinking of these incredible wings has me salivating.

Nick, which heat level did you try? I've always gotten spicy. I'm tempted to go for the hotter one, but a bit worried about is as well.

@ALRUI: It's possible that the griddle wasn't hot enough, but the medium rare buffalo burger was also mushy.

@RossS: I agree that the problems are with the work Hackney's does, not with the quality of their ingredients. But Hackney's took good ingredients and failed to season them well and then failed to cook them well. How does my writing about that make the review unfair?

It's official: Doors will open on Friday, November 20.

I just discovered that Scharoff's feat is not unprecedented. Matt McClel­lan, owner of Tour de Pizza in Tampa, went a month earlier this year eating nothing but pizza. He was motivated to the challenge by a desire to show that pizza isn't actually that bad for you. His results were shocking: eating nothing but pizza for 30 days, McClellan lost over 20 pounds! Read all about his month in this article from the St. Petersburg Times.

@MsHumpal: It's my understanding that virtually everyone who has lived in Mundelein or the surrounding parts of Lake County in the last five decades has been to Bill's. I'm guessing your dad has some good memories of the place.

@Mad Ernie: Thanks. I don't know about Pyramid Pizza, but Beau Jo's has a considerably larger and denser crust than the Double Decker at Bill's.

@steelcity: Every kind of pizza is my kind of pizza! I looked at the website for Bill's in NC and the pizza looked very Midwestern to me (square cut, lots of cheese). Then I read the history section and it all made sense - the people who started it moved there from Indiana. I am very intrigued by the Carolina influence of the place though - they offer a mustard pizza sauce?

@DinnerDuJour and hookrilla: Glad you approve of my description of your local pizzeria. It really was a fun place to visit.

@HeartofGlass: In the Tribune article, he actually listed Tombstone as one of his favorites. Who am I to judge? As for the Tabasco, I don't use it myself, but it's not that different from using red pepper flakes, is it?

@dmcavanagh: You might be right. But like climbing Mount Everest, there is a big difference between having the theoretical capability of doing something and actually doing it.

@lemonfair: The weight loss is perhaps the most impressive part of all this. The guy who lost the bet attributes the weight loss, at least in part, to the fact that the bet stopped him from finishing off food his kids left behind on their plates.

@Brian Spangler: Is that because you don't like Little Star or is it just the concept of using someone else's recipe as the basis for a pizzeria?

@Nick: I might have to go to my decidedly not reputable local market and get some ground beef to whip one of these up tonight. Thanks for the idea.

@Meat guy: How do you get from "e coli concern" to not showing a picture of a rare burger. Leaving aside that I have no idea how you can declare that burger to be rare, I'll address the overreaction to e coli fears. If you, as I'm guessing Nick did in this case, grind the meat yourself, your chances of e coli are somewhere around zero. If you buy your meat from a butcher who grinds fresh chuck, then once again the chances of e coli are somewhere around zero. If you buy your ground beef from a store with standards like Costco that actually tests the meat they buy before they put it on the shelves, once again, your chances of e coli problems are about zero. Caution is a good thing and making sure that your beef comes from a safe source is certainly a good idea, but paranoia gets in the way of some excellent eats.

@hungrychristel: Try mixing an egg into your ground beef (one egg per pound). I don't think it affects the taste at all and the egg works binding magic.

@Chew on That: There's definitely more lobster on the pizza than appears in the picture. It wasn't overflowing with lobster, but I definitely didn't feel close to cheated. The manchego had a strong flavor but there was enough lobster that I could taste it in almost every bite.

@graciecat and Adam: One of the rules is that he can't add anything to the pizzas - ingredients must be cooked with the pies. So unless he finds a place that offers prunes as an ingredient, that's not an option. Of course, there are no rules against him asking for sausage with a quadruple helping of tomatoes, but inventive ways to get fiber onto the pizza isn't really necessary though because...

@Garvey: Metamucil is allowed as long as it's not in lieu of eating pizza.