For one of their first dates, Francisco Foley took his girlfriend, Hannah Szatko, to the iconic Northwest Side drive-in Superdawg, where he personally favored the hamburger.
Szatko was a picky eater, but tried the hot dog. Sitting in their car with the famous blue cardboard box, she “fell in love.” It soon became their go-to spot.
“It started to become a tradition,” Szatko said. “When something good happens, we go eat at Superdawg. When something difficult happens, we drown our tears at Superdawg.”
So when it came time to propose, Foley surprised Szatko by designing a “Superdawg Cinco De Mayo special” with an engagement ring. He called it the “SuperLovie” and made a poster that Superdawg management happily hung up over the parking lot. It advertised “a life full of happiness and joy” with a price of only “SAY YES.”
Ring firmly on her finger, Szatko took engagement photos with Foley under the neon lighting of Maurie and Flaurie, the famous 12-foot hot dogs flirtatiously winking at each other on the roof of Superdawg.
On Tuesday, Superdawg, at 6363 N. Milwaukee Ave., celebrates its 75th anniversary. And while it might not look romantic from the vantage point of a busy street corner, the drive-in holds surprising appeal as the site of countless first dates, more than a few engagements and catered weddings. And it’s powered by a love story all its own, one that starts with Maurie and Florence “Flaurie” Berman, the newlyweds who opened it in 1948.
Today, Superdawg is still run by the same family.
“It gives you the chance of having a private dining room without being in a fine-dine restaurant,” co-owner Lisa Drucker (Maurie and Flaurie’s daughter) said during a recent chat, sitting in the Superdawg dining room. She and her husband, Don Drucker, described the nostalgic joys of ordering from electronic speakers and having your meal served to you by carhops.
“It’s a nice place to be alone in your car and get to know each other and become comfortable,” Don Drucker said.
As a young man growing up in Chicago, Don Drucker said he never heard of Superdawg until he was set up on a blind date in 1987 with Lisa, and she invited him over to lunch at her parents’ restaurant.
“It was kind of nutty here.” Don said. “I came during lunch on a Saturday.” Lisa chimed in with a smile: “To see your girlfriend!” He agreed. They were married in 1988 and he officially became part of the Superdawg family, now a co-owner alongside Lisa and her brother Scott.
“We’re so lucky because our days are spent together,” Lisa said. And she tells stories of other Superdawg romances — long-time employees, like the late Harold and Marie Kennett, who started working at Superdawg in the ’50s and were married in 1961. They both worked at the drive-in until they retired decades later.
But none of this could have happened without the original Superdawg love story.
On May 9, 1948, Maurie and Florence Berman, then high school sweethearts only a year married, opened Superdawg as a summer business to fund Maurie’s CPA education at Northwestern. Maurie graduated, but never practiced — instead, Superdawg began running yearlong. It quickly became an institution for families, cyclists, and for many, many first dates. Maurie died in 2015 at the age of 89; Florence passed away at the age of 92 in 2018.
Even as ‘50s style drive-ins shuttered and closed across the country over the years, and later, even as COVID threatened small businesses — Superdawg managed to thrive, in no small part due to the family’s passionate commitment to the original drive-in model.
Longtime customer Jim Bohlman remembers taking his bike up to Superdawg as a child in the 1960s.
“It just evokes a lot of memories of how businesses used to be,” said Bohlman on a phone call, “of keeping customers engaged in the business.”
Bohlman said that he and Susan, his wife of 47 years, have spent many a birthday meal stopping by for a quick bite to eat.
“I’ve got an angel of a wife. I save a lot on electricity; she walks in the room and her halo lights up the room.” He also met his best friend, Bob Everly, at Superdawg.
And then there are Cheryl Esken and Scott Gelman, who have been married for 34 years. When they met, Esken was in the radio business and Gelman was a concert promoter. Esken picked the first date, a concert, and Gelman picked the first dinner: Superdawg. It was, after all, his favorite place to eat.
“We were in the car and he was so excited to show me that they actually bring it to the window,” said Esken.
Esken and Gelman’s engagement, too, happened at Superdawg. After the birth of their only son, they brought baby Gelman to Superdawg as his first outing. Now grown, their son, Joey, is a superfan like his parents. For their anniversary, Joey purchased an actual Superdawg drive-in menu, just like the ones used over the years by customers to place orders from their cars. The family proudly displays the menu inside their home.
New fiancés Francisco Foley and Hannah Szatko considered serving Superdawg at their upcoming wedding, but said they went with a different option. Still, they hope to make a Maurie and Flaurie cake topper for the nuptial cake.
They also plan to spend their first meal out as newlyweds there, the perfect ending to their big day.
Ahmed Ali Akbar is a James Beard-award winning food writer and audio journalist living in Chicago.