Sam Sianis, 'Cheezborger'-Flipping Owner of Chicago's Billy Goat Tavern, Dies at 91

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Sam Sianis, ‘Cheezborger’-Flipping Owner of Chicago’s Billy Goat Tavern, Dies at 91

His dive bar became famous thanks to Mike Royko’s columns, a baseball curse and a “Saturday Night Live” skit.


Sam Sianis in 2009. For more than 50 years, customers could find him at the Billy Goat Tavern, tending bar or manning the small kitchen in back. José Moré for The New York Times

By Clay Risen
May 20, 2026

Chicago is a sprawling metropolis. But for those looking to sum up the city in a single place, an afternoon with Sam Sianis at the Billy Goat Tavern, a watering hole as rich in local character as a Saul Bellow novel, offered a master class.

Like any pilgrimage site, the Billy Goat — or the Goat, to regulars — is hard to reach, down two flights of stairs to a subterranean street below North Michigan Avenue. It was, however, conveniently across from the headquarters of The Chicago Tribune and a few blocks from several other dailies, making it popular with reporters, editors and pressmen.

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[murielm99]

1. I ate there with my daughter

when she still lived in the city.