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Meanwhile, Back In Peoria...

A Travel Blog In And Around The River City With Your Host, Marty Wombacher

January 1, 2013

Sunday Night Out And About—A Tale Of Two Pizza Parlors—Davis Bros. Pizza and Oliver’s Pizza & Pub

by MBIP


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Sunday night is my favorite night to go out and I’ll be taking pictures and blogging about my Sunday’s on Tuesday, the day after Cheeseburger Saturday Night on Monday. Keep all this straight because there will be a pop quiz on all this soon.

This week my Sunday adventures and drinking started early. Jim Rustman and his brother, Kirk are long-time friends of mine. They’re originally from Pontiac, Illinois, but they both live in Las Vegas now. They came home to Pontiac to see their mom and are flying out of Peoria on Sunday night. So that left a few hours for them to kill in Peoria, so we decided to murder the hours at my place and then over to Davis Bros. Pizza in East Peoria to sample some of their legendary pies.

And then for the night portion of the evening, it’s more pizza and meeting my old friend, Mark Barra. Mark used to write for my magazine POP and is now the General Manager of the Woodford County Journal. We’re meeting at Olvier’s Pizza and Pub in Peoria Heights for more pizza and beer. Okay, let’s get this saucy show on the road!

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And here we are on the road to Davis Bros. Pizza. Since none of us have lived here for years, we're letting the GPS guide us to East Peoria, where the Davis Bros. Pizza parlor is housed.

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The GPS has served us well, here we are at Davis Bros. Pizza in East Peoria. It's been a long time since I've been here and I can't wait to try their pizza again! They're the oldest pizza restaurant around these parts. The original Davis Bros. opened in 1948 and they are now owned by Cheryl Scott. You can read the history of Davis Bros. Pizza here.

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And here we are inside the legendary pizza parlor. It's Sunday around two in the afternoon, so it's not too crowded in here.

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They have a nice wooden bar here, but since there's three of us, we decided to get a table to sit at.

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And no shot of a bar is complete without the patent-pending Spike shot of the beer taps. That lady on the left...is that Lady Gaga? (Lady Gaga joke is patent-pending by THE N.O.TO.R.I.O.U.S. L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N.)

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Serving us was the friendly and beautiful, Alicia. She was very nice and I love her smile!

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This is the original phone booth from the 1948 Davis Bros. pizza parlor. I bet that a lot of teenage making out when on in there!

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And speaking of the original Davis Bros. Pizza, here's a photo of the place.

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Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. Love this three Stooges photo on the wall!

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And here's three more stooges at our table waiting for our pies.

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Jim tries in vain to find some Degenerate Crust tunes on the jukebox. Speaking of Degenerate Crust, I heard that the brains behind that band, Mark Schwahn went on to create and write a hit TV show called, "Two Shrub Speed Bump." I gave this guy his first piece of press in my magazine, POP. Hey Mark, would it kill you to share a little of your Hollywood dough with me?

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Stop. The. Fucking. Texting. Kirk!

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I went over and snapped a photo of our neighboring table who had just finished a delicious pizza lunch at Davis Bros. Pizza. Nice people.

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And speaking of delicious pizza's, here's ours served piping hot from the kitchen. We each ordered individual pies and then split them up between us. I got the double cheese, Kirk ordered the pepperoni and Jim got the supreme which is cheese, sausage and mushroom. The pizza was really tasty and just as good as I remembered it to be!

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And before you can say speed eating, the pizza is gone, The Rustman's are on a plane back to Vegas and I'm home taking a nap and getting ready for the next portion of this glorious pizza  Sunday.

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Okay, the afternoon has dissolved into night and since I've been drinking, a cab has delivered me to Oliver's Pizza & Pub in Peoria Heights. Let's go check it out.

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It's nice and dark in here and lots of wood, it kind of has a ski-lodge feel to it. I'm meeting Mark Barra here, but I'm early, so let's go snag a seat at the bar.

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Christy, the pretty and friendly bartender serves up a fresh and ice cold Budweiser.

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There's tables behind the bar for eating and hanging out.

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And there's more tables up front, to the side of the bar.

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Vintage concert posters line the wall in the front room.

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Here's one featuring The Rolling Stones at the Cow Palace with the Doobie Brothers. Moo!

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George Harrison and Bob Marley at the Lyceum Ballroom. Jah, mon!

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There's more tables in the back room, plus there's...

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Popcorn!

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And it's free, all you can eat, self-serve popcorn. Oh mama, I just died and went to heaven!

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Here's Nicole who witnessed me pigging out on the free popcorn and ended up being our waitress as the night wore on, as it so often does.

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Meanwhile, back at the bar, things are jumping.

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A lone ceiling fan hangs up above in the wooden rafters.

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Patent pending Spike shot of the taps, part two!

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And here's my long-lost pal, Mark Barra! I hadn't seen this guy in about twenty years and it was fun to catch up on things and have a beer or four with him.

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And this Sunday ended just as it started, with a delicious double cheese pizza! Cheers and see you all tomorrow! Oh, and happy new year, here's wishing us all a great 2013!

Davis Bros. Pizza
2402 E. Washington St.
East Peoria
309-694-0990

Oliver’s Pizza and Pub
1231 East Samuel Street
Peoria Heights
309-681-1779

Further Reading: Peoria Journal Star, CI News Now and Best of Peoria.

Every little thing she does,
She does for me, yeah.

Daily Slideshow—Photos via the internet, Photoshoppery by me!

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Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!

17 Comments

TAGS: Sunday Suds And Swizzle Sticks


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