| A family-owned business dating back to Prohibition, Hackney's hospitality started in the glassed-in back porch of the Glenview home where Jack and Bebe Hackney sold corned-beef sandwiches and beer. When the Volstead Act was repealed in 1933 they added a four-stool bar and started cooking up Hackneyburgers in 10-inch black iron frying pans, served on Bebe's homemade dark rye, just the way they still serve them today.
When the Hackneys died in 1939, their nephew Jim Masterson and his wife, Kitz, took over the business. The Masterson family still runs the original Harms Road location; a second Glenview site where Jim Masterson's grandparents once ran a tavern; and more recently acquired sites in the former Behm's in Wheeling; Poppe's Alpine House in Lake Zurich; The Matterhorn in Palos Park; and this newest, the one-time Moonraker in Chicago's South Loop.
Besides the half-pound Hackneyburger, made from fresh — never frozen — ground beef, Hackney's is especially known for its french-fried onions, sweet Spanish onions battered and fried, served in a hot, crispy loaf, and its original cole slaw, not to mention the world's second-best martini.
—Leah A. Zeldes
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