853 Chronicles: Dr. Lazo

As they transitioned from college students to young professionals, a bunch of friends lived together at 853 N 26th Street. These are their stories.

Making sure you have a go-to place for pizza is, obviously, a necessity. When that pizza shop also offers a wide-variety of sandwiches, an impressive wing selection, and just about anything else you could want for right around $10, you’ve hit the jackpot.

If Lazo’s, just half a block away from 853, had been an average pizza shop it still would have easily become the favorite of the house. I’m sure we would have ordered from Lazo with some measure of regularity, and we may have occasionally ventured away from standard orders and tried something rather adventurous.

But Lazo’s wasn’t an average pizza shop. Lazo’s was awesome. The pizza and wings were great and affordable, but so was the Chicken Cutlet Club, and so were the salads, and so were the oven-based rustic sandwiches. I haven’t had Lazo’s in a long time, and just reading the menu right now is bringing a rush of delicious memories. At the height of our relationship, I myself probably ate from Lazo’s 3 times a week, and that’s to say nothing for the other people in the house.

Of course, as any good owner would, Lazo himself started to get to know us. He would greet us with a healthy “Hey Buddy!” when we walked in, a courtesy I’m sure he extended to other customers but one that felt especially welcoming when it was directed toward us. Even now, in a time when we find ourselves there quite rarely, Lazo still seems to recall our faces when we see him, even if he’s not entirely sure how he knows us.

One year, I believe it was our second in the house, we made a point of it to order from Lazo’s every Sunday. We would typically wake up, go to brunch, and then come home and wait for football to start. When we got hungry again, we would order a bounty of pizza and wings from Lazo. We called it “The Longest Sunday”, and it became such a tradition that we would often have friends who lived around the city visit and participate.

Once, early on in my relationship with my now fiancée, after we had spent the day running around the city, we came back to 853. We were starving, and we needed to call Lazo. Normally we would just run and grab a slice, or maybe order something simple like a cheese or pepperoni pizza if we were feeling really hungry. Today though, for whatever reason, we decided we needed to get a pizza with green peppers, sausage, and mushrooms. It’s not a crazy order by any means, but we were so hungry that we thought it was some kind of maniacal pizza concoction, and we were so satisfied by the pizza that it cemented itself in our brains as a must-have. We still order that type of pizza to this day.

We started calling Lazo “Dr. Lazo” because of a show we were fans of, but the moniker fit. Hungry? No matter what you were hungry for, Dr. Lazo could prescribe the cure. Hosting a Super Bowl or Wrestlemania party? Dr. Lazo had what you needed to please the guests. Just feeling a little down? Order 10 mild wings, and see how you feel.

After several years in Graduate Hospital, I’m planning to move back into Lazo’s neighborhood in just a few short weeks. While I don’t think I’ll ever engage with Lazo’s the same way I once did, I now regularly go grocery shopping and at least try to limit how often I order takeout, I do look forward to a little reunion.

I’m sure the food will be great, but it’s the “Hey Buddy, welcome back!” that I’m really looking forward to.