Someburger Stand At 745 E. 11th St.

[TJones]

They're just socialists - you know, anti-big business. No big deal though, right?

I don't know about socialists, I think I need to rent a U-haul, go around and kidnap Pineda, nmain, and the rest of that crazy bunch, and take them down to Kemah, force feed them some Jimmy Walker's seafood, a couple of bottles of house wine, I ain't buying them the good stuff, no way, no how. Let them enjoy the atmosphere, and a good sunset. They'd thank me for it.

[MarthaG]

IMO Jimmy Walkers was 10 x's better before Landry's took it over. The "sleepy village" of Kehma was the reason I would take a drive down there and enjoy the laid back atmosphere and great seafood. Ask the people who live in Kehma what they think of their town now. What he did to Kehma had nothing to do with what was best for the community.

When communties get all wrapped up with someone like Fertitta, what is going to happen when the ghosts do come out of his closet? Again, I hope he is a good guy, but I have a lot of doubt.

[RedScare]

I'm with Martha. I used to love hanging out in the bars and restaurants in Kemah, including Jimmy Walkers. Jimmy Walkers no longer exists. Hasn't for years. It is a 3 story Landrys with the old sign still painted on the side. There is not one item from the menu there. It is a Landrys menu.

If you like their food, good for you. I don't, therefore I don't go.

*beginning of rant*

And, if I see one more "family friendly" destination, I think I'll strangle someone. Families have ruined every decent nightspot in the country. Can't people get a sitter just once? My parents never forced everyone to endure their 7 kids at every restaurant. Why should we have to endure it now? And the worst part is, NO ONE disciplines their kids anymore.

*end of rant*

[TJones]

I'm with Martha. I used to love hanging out in the bars and restaurants in Kemah, including Jimmy Walkers. Jimmy Walkers no longer exists. Hasn't for years. It is a 3 story Landrys with the old sign still painted on the side. There is not one item from the menu there. It is a Landrys menu.

If you like their food, good for you. I don't, therefore I don't go.

*beginning of rant*

And, if I see one more "family friendly" destination, I think I'll strangle someone. Families have ruined every decent nightspot in the country. Can't people get a sitter just once? My parents never forced everyone to endure their 7 kids at every restaurant. Why should we have to endure it now? And the worst part is, NO ONE disciplines their kids anymore.

*end of rant*

Food is only as good as the Chef, not the place it's being served. I agree somewhat about "adults only". I guess there are very few places left like this, having children myself, I am very careful about where we dine out as to not have to make single adults have to endure a possible screaming nightmare of a child. My daughter is very well behaved I must say, but I know the type in which you speak of.

[HeightsGuy]

Not to take it too far off topic, but was Jimmy Walkers the restaurant that sold the pink shirts with the warf rats on them?

[TJones]

Not to take it too far off topic, but was Jimmy Walkers the restaurant that sold the pink shirts with the warf rats on them?

I would love to see one of those, I have never heard of such a thing. I have been going to Jimmy's for 30 years or so.

[HeightsGuy]

Like I said, I can't remember, but I do remember the restaurant was right there at the 146 bridge.

[TJones]

Like I said, I can't remember, but I do remember the restaurant was right there at the 146 bridge.

It is still kinda there, I still call it Jimmy's, the sign is still on the building, for nostalgia purposes now, but I don;t think they would have used wharf rats in any advertising. Jimmy's has always been an upscale joint.

[MarthaG]

Food is only as good as the Chef, not the place it's being served

When a restaurant buys frozen precooked meat and salad by the bag, what can you expect a "Chef" to do?

I ordered a "cobb salad" at Rainforst Cafe and this is exactly what I got....salad from a bag with some frozen precooked chicken pieces on top...cost was almost $10.

And what about the crabs at Joe's.....They are so rubbery that you cannot "crack" them and when you do finally get inside they the meat is shrunk up.

It is still kinda there, I still call it Jimmy's, the sign is still on the building, for nostalgia purposes now,

Exactly... It is NOT Jimmy's anymore.... It is LANDRY's.... the two should not be confused!

[TJones]

Martha, I couldn't tell any significant difference at Jimmy's, I said in an earlier post that I don't Eat at Joe's. I'll take Red Lobster any day over them. Coconut shrimp is awesome !

I don't think you go to "Rainforest Cafe" for the cuisine either. Let's be real here.

[heights_yankee]

Not socialists...just Liberals with good taste.

Exactly!

[bachanon]

When a restaurant buys frozen precooked meat and salad by the bag, what can you expect a "Chef" to do?

I ordered a "cobb salad" at Rainforst Cafe and this is exactly what I got....salad from a bag with some frozen precooked chicken pieces on top...cost was almost $10.

And what about the crabs at Joe's.....They are so rubbery that you cannot "crack" them and when you do finally get inside they the meat is shrunk up.

Exactly... It is NOT Jimmy's anymore.... It is LANDRY's.... the two should not be confused!

most of fertitta's restaurants have cooks, not chefs. of course, grotto and vic & anthony's most likely do. it makes a huge difference.

p.s. not a socialist or a big business detractor, i simply like better food and a better atmosphere than fertita's restaurants provide.

[heights_yankee]

I like The Heights. But moving "I am moving becase of Tillman" is simply too much to resist. Kinda like I am moving to Canada if Bush wins. Notice all those fools still live here?

Wirless laptops are wonderful for multi-tasking around the house. You should try one. Alt+Tab, and then you can watch the game stats real-time.

And FWIW, I have two tickets for game 5.

Talk about sad!

It's called HYPERBOLE, coog!

And no matter what you've said about The Heights, I'm sad there will be no game 5- for you or anyone else.

[MidtownCoog]

Hey, I really do like the Heights! But I think I like the Heights of ten years ago even better.

Ten years ago, my artist friends could afford to live there.

Those days are long gone. They all had to move to Canada with Alec!

[gto250us]

Mr. Tilman J Fertitta

President, C.E.O & Chairman Of T

Landry's Restaurants, Inc.

George W. Bush

$2,000 1510 W Loop South (map)

Houston, TX 77027

phoooey

it's a businessman supporting a businessman (or whatever), right

Fertita is a mobster, the whole family has been mobbed up for years. His cousin has run rackets in Vegas and are connected with the Kansas City mob. Only a matter of time before he is in jail.

[RedScare]

Careful with the attack statements, dude. We've all heard the rumors, but to repeat them as fact is a bit over the top.

[gto250us]

Careful with the attack statements, dude. We've all heard the rumors, but to repeat them as fact is a bit over the top.

Opinion, dude. You determine if it is fact or not.

[heights_yankee]

Hey, I really do like the Heights! But I think I like the Heights of ten years ago even better.

Ten years ago, my artist friends could afford to live there.

Those days are long gone. They all had to move to Canada with Alec!

Was it more like Berkely 10 years ago? I had only just moved to Texas 10 years ago and didn't live in Houston. I would live in Canada if it wasn't so cold!

BTW- I literally laughed out loud and almost couldn't take a phone call when I saw that pic. Thanks for the giggle

[TJones]

Hmmmmmmmm, ok, so we have some suspected Mob ties here, that would explain alot about how some folks feel about him, They just didn't want to post here. Sherwood Crier was suspected to be Dixie Mafia for years, that didn't stop people from going to Gilley's. Ok, bad analogy. What if any evidence is there to these "mob" ties, how it is known that his "cousin" ran rackets in Vegas ?

[gto250us]

Hmmmmmmmm, ok, so we have some suspected Mob ties here, that would explain alot about how some folks feel about him, They just didn't want to post here. Sherwood Crier was suspected to be Dixie Mafia for years, that didn't stop people from going to Gilley's. Ok, bad analogy. What if any evidence is there to these "mob" ties, how it is known that his "cousin" ran rackets in Vegas ?

It is 1993 in Galveston, Texas and a relative to the Fertittas, 89 year old Vic Maceo has just shown how business is done in his family. The aging alleged mobster had walked into the Galveston Post Office, pulled out a .38 calibre revolver and started firing at postal worker Pete Miller, whom Maceo believed owed him money. Maceo's aim was a little off since his hey day but he still managed to hit Miller in the right arm, shattering the bones and bringing him to the ground, wincing in pain.

When the Maceos and the Fertittas ruled the town a few decades prior, this was the way disputes were settled in Galveston, Texas. In this case Vic Maceo had sold a house to Pete Miller for $45,000 in 1968 and when Miller sold it in 1991, he sold it for $180,000. Naturally Vic felt that some of the profit should have been his. Miller had once worked as a busboy at the Maceo-Fertitta controlled illegal casino known as 'The Balinese Room' and Vic C. Mateo, who was also known as 'Little Vic' to distinguish him from his cousin Vic A. 'Gigolo' Maceo, could not cope with the fact that a busboy had seemingly gotten the better of him.

As Vic Maceo attempted to make his escape in his sports car, police apprehended him. He gave himself up willingly and when approached by the police, he said in a defiant and firm voice, "When you look a guy in the eye and tell him he owes you forty grand and he tells you, 'Let me get the file,' you know that the son of a delicate flower is lying." As the police slapped handcuffs on him he retorted with "You don't handcuff a gentleman in this town!" Such was the power that the Maceo and Ferttita gang once wielded in Galveston

Fertitta In-Law 'Big' Sam Maceo, The 'Barber of Galveston'

It all began in the early 20th century when two Sicilian barbers arrived in Galveston from Sicily via Louisiana. Rose and Sam Maceo were soon to build an illegal gambling empire from simple bootlegging roots and become known as Papa Rose and Big Sam. Along with their relatives the Fertitta family, they would control the black economy, the organised crime and the politics of Galveston for many years. One of their more well known illegal casinos was 'The Balinese Room' but by the mid 1930's, and the time that prohibition ended, they had built up an entire city block of illegal casinos and gambling dens in Galveston. Many people feel that they created the Vegas format before Vegas ever existed. Sam Maceo organized for all the big name singers and bands of the time to appear at his casinos, including Frank Sinatra.

The Balinese Room in Galveston Texas.

The Maceo-Fertitta gang was responsible for funding many things in the Galveston community and despite obvious connections to the New Orleans mob; no one dared to complain about the criminal benefactors of the town. In fact those that did complain usually ended up sleeping with the fishes, according to local legend.

The Maceo-Fertitta gang wielded great power and most of the other mobsters knew better than to tread on their turf. The Chicago crime czar Al Capone had heard about the lucrative gambling and bootleg empire that the Maceos and Fertittas had built in Galveston and he wanted some of that action. He planned to at first become a partner with them and then muscle them out of the picture once he had his hooks firmly embedded. Al Capone sent his main man Frank Nitti to Galveston to intimidate the Maceos into allowing Capone to "invest" in their businesses. The Maceos received word of Nitti's impending arrival and they decided that they would flat-out refuse any offers from Nitti on behalf of Capone to take a piece of their illegal gambling pie.

They decided to call on the skills of the most ruthless member of their family's gang, Maceo In-Law, Anthony Fertitta. Nitti arrived in town and was introduced to the Maceos and to Anthony Fertitta, Fertitta told Nitti that they needed to talk and he took Nitti for a drive in his car. The two men were gone for several hours and it is not clear what events took place during that time. All that is known is that Nitti was dropped at the city limits very late that evening, he appeared to be shaken but alive and well. No one knows what took place during the car ride but when Nitti made it back to Chicago, he told Capone that the Fertittas were no pushovers and it would require an all out war to move in on their territory. Capone never pursued it any further.

Rose Maceo was suspected of many gangland killings during the 1930's. Including his first wife and her lover, but no Maceo was ever convicted of a felony.

Al Capone came off second best when he tried to muscle in on the Fertittas.

Sam Maceo, was the brain behind the Maceo-Fertitta empire and he was directly under the control of New Orleans mob boss Carlos Marcello, who later would be linked to the assassination of JFK. Sam also helped the pioneer Vegas hotelier, Moe Dalitz to get a gaming licence for The Desert Inn Las Vegas's first casino, not very long before his death. Papa Rose and Big Sam had both passed away by the 1950's and many of the remaining Maceo's and the dealers who worked in their illegal casinos moved out to Las Vegas.

The Galveston gambling empire was under the control of mob boss Carlos Marcello, who would later be implicated in the JFK assassination.

The Fertittas, who were related to the Maceos by marriage, took control of the Galveston gaming empire, where they honed their skills in the casino and hospitality fields, a legacy that would remain lucrative to the family for generations to come. Unlike the socially more adept Maceos, who flaunted their success despite its illegality, the Fertittas did not take too kindly to publicity.

In 1955, a Time magazine LIFE reporter visited one of the illegal Fertitta casinos in Galveston. In an article entitled 'Thugs vs The Press', he reported the following in the August 1955 edition of Time Magazine.

" Many a mug on the edge of the big time thinks there is a formula for dealing with newsmen: intimidate or bribe. In Galveston, Texas, where vice and crime abounds, Gambling Boss Anthony Fertitta tried that formula in an effort to prevent LIFE from getting pictures of his illegal operations. It did not work.

After LIFE Photographer Joe Scherschel and Reporter Hank Suydam took pictures (with a concealed camera) in one of Fertitta's gambling houses, the boss and two henchmen followed the LIFE men to their hotel. Photographer Scherschel took his film upstairs while Reporter Suydam encountered Fertitta and his two strong-arm men in the lobby. Fertitta demanded an explanation of what Suydam and Scherschel had been doing, suddenly smashed Suydam in the face. By the time Suydam had picked himself off the floor, Fertitta had switched tactics, tried to stuff a $20 bill into the reporter's pocket.

Last week, just before LIFE published "Wide-Open Galveston Mocks Texas Laws," Gambling Boss Fertitta was tried for simple assault in the Galveston justice court. After Fertitta pleaded "not guilty" and then refused to take the stand, Justice J. L. McKenna found Fertitta guilty, gave him the maximum punishment: a $25 fine. The conviction was much more important than the small fine. In Galveston, where gang leaders like Fertitta have long tried to pose as legitimate businessmen, the criminal conviction reported on Page One of Texas newspapers helped to expose these "legitimate businessmen" for the thugs they are."

Partially in light of the adverse publicity that they began to attract and partially due to the more conservative political climate of the mid to late 1950's, the Galveston gambling empire began to slowly crumble. Many of the Fertittas also began to migrate to Las Vegas and it all finally came to a crashing halt in Galveston in 1957 when the Attorney General Will Wilson, along with the Texas Rangers, smashed the Fertitta's illegal gambling racket. The glory days for the Maceos and Fertittas were over in Texas, for the moment at least.

With no choice but to shut up shop and leave town, a mass exodus took place. With the vast experience the owners and employees had gained in Galveston by running or working in the biggest chain of illegal casinos and live entertainment restaurants in the country, Las Vegas seemed to be the natural place to migrate. A pilgrimage from Galveston to Vegas of mobsters, card dealers, croupiers, hores and gamblers began. In those days Vegas was not as heavily regulated as it is today and offered the lure of an easy buck to such dregs of society.

In 1960, a 21-year-old man named Frank Fertitta Jr would arrive in Las Vegas and find work at a Casino as a bellboy. With him are his wife and newborn son, Frank III.

The fun for him, was just beginning.

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[sevfiv]

Fertita is a mobster, the whole family has been mobbed up for years. His cousin has run rackets in Vegas and are connected with the Kansas City mob. Only a matter of time before he is in jail.

geez...

fwiw, the Vegas Fertitta's campaign donations are a mile long!

[gto250us]

Hmmmmmmmm, ok, so we have some suspected Mob ties here, that would explain alot about how some folks feel about him, They just didn't want to post here. Sherwood Crier was suspected to be Dixie Mafia for years, that didn't stop people from going to Gilley's. Ok, bad analogy. What if any evidence is there to these "mob" ties, how it is known that his "cousin" ran rackets in Vegas ?

"supected" ? We went to war in Iraq and killed 2000 Americans based on weaker suspicions.

[TJones]

That was a good read GTO, thanks.

[nmainguy]

Ah hum...back to Someburger...I watched the girl make our burgers last night. There was no frozen meat involved as I watched her make the pattys. Fresh lettuce right off the head...mmmmmmmnow THAT'S the real thing-as opposed to god knows what is going on in Tilman's kitchens.

Yech

[Who knew this little Someburger topic would spill over into 3 pages?]

[MidtownCoog]

It was not exactly Berkley, but Art Cars ruled the streets year round, sculptures were in lots of yards, and just a lot of neat junk everywhere.

Of course, it was a little more dangerous back then, too. You really had to watch your back leaving Fitzgeralds.

The place has cleaned up a lot over the years for the better, but those art guys were way cool.

You can still find some of these same guys in The Warehouse district nowadays.

[MarthaG]

Ah hum...back to Someburger...I watched the girl make our burgers last night. There was no frozen meat involved as I watched her make the pattys. Fresh lettuce right off the head...mmmmmmmnow THAT'S the real thing-as opposed to god knows what is going on in Tilman's kitchens.

Yech

[Who knew this little Someburger topic would spill over into 3 pages?]

Like I said, I was thrilled this subject came back up... I know I should keep my feelings about this person more to myself, but I just could not resist the temptation.

Hey nmainguy.... glad you got a Someburger. Do you remember "Minuteman" Hamburgers?

[nmainguy]

Like I said, I was thrilled this subject came back up... I know I should keep my feelings about this person more to myself, but I just could not resist the temptation.

Hey nmainguy.... glad you got a Someburger. Do you remember "Minuteman" Hamburgers?

ARRRRGGGGGGGGGGG! Minuteman...here's a gross story with a happy ending:

The first time I recall vomitting was because of food from Minuteman. A couple of years later my sisters took me there-I think I had the same burger as before-and I loved it!!!! I write off the original experience to a bad food day. From that day on I was a regular as long as I could black-mail my sisters into taking me there.

[...and what would be your feelings toward "that person"?]

[MarthaG]

Tilman = repulsion

[heights_yankee]

Like I said, I was thrilled this subject came back up... I know I should keep my feelings about this person more to myself, but I just could not resist the temptation.

Hey nmainguy.... glad you got a Someburger. Do you remember "Minuteman" Hamburgers?

And here is the whole point of this thread, Tillman or no Tillman:

I hope we (or some other group of socialist, yuppie, big business hating, Berkeley wanna-bes ) aren't here in a few years, saying "Do you remember Someburger hamburgers?"

[native_Houstonian]

Since many of us will be practically across the street tomorrow night at the OFFICIAL HAIF