Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year, reports FlyByBlog, which recently sat down for an epic interview with Joseph Bartley himself. Below, our favorite things we learned about Harvard Square’s premier burger expert.
He talks to Skip Gates on the regular: Not only does Bartley casually mention calling Gates to ask for an honorary Harvard degree: “I told him that I want a BS (burger science) degree. I mean, I’ve been feeding protein to the Harvard brain trust for 50 years now. Protein is great brain food. Without it, all of these bright students and professors might’ve ended up at Yale!” but even illness can’t stop the two friends’ communiques: “I remember a couple of years ago, Skip Gates called me and asked me to change his menu item from a chicken sandwich to a hamburger. I heard a lot of noise in the background, so I asked him, ‘Skip, where are you calling me from?’ He was calling me from the hospital—he had just gotten hip replacement surgery!”
He has fond memories of Jackie O.: “Years ago, Jackie O. and Caroline Kennedy came here on a busy Saturday night. The place was packed and noisy, but, right when those two walked in, total silence fell over the restaurant. I still remember what Jackie ordered: a Muenster cheeseburger and a glass of skim milk.”
Bartley’s decor isn’t haphazard: “I wanted to make the restaurant seem like a dorm, so I bought a bunch of long wooden tables and tons of posters. …We’ve got this great poster of Larry Johnson and Larry Byrd playing together as babies. It’s a great unifier. I really like it. In fact, someone offered to buy it, but we couldn’t let it go.”
Bartley’s Marks Its 50th Year [FlyByBlog/Crimson]
