A 60-Year Family Tradition

"Mary, this is Blair. Can you work the bar today?" It's 8:55 a.m. and William Blair, manager of the Hackney's on Harms restaurant, needs a last minute bartender, so he calls his niece.

She is available. His wife, Jane Blair, is due in at 11 a.m., to wait tables. His mother-in-law, Marcella Masterson, owner of all the Hackney's restaurants, lives just a few yards away in the adjacent white house. She may be in later.

Welcome to the beginning of another day on Harms family - literally. Something has driven this famous Hackney's coach forward, with great success, for almost 60 years. Is it the hands-on family commitment or is it just good food?

"Well it has to be a combination of both, I think" explains Blair, whose last name is also his nickname. "It's true that every operation is run by a family member. We like what we do and it shows. But it has to come back to the food, too. People eat at Hackney's because the food isn't complicated. It's cheeseburgers, fries, apple pie, and Coca-Cola - classic American. But it's top quality food and people recognize that. Oh, and you've got to have a good bar, too," he added with a smile.

A typical day at his north shore institution begins when the cooks arrive at 7:30 a.m. to prepare the food and the kitchen. Scattered food and bar deliveries arrive all morning, including that famous dark rye bread used on the Hackneyburger. It appears in clear plastic bags every morning after it is baked just down the street at Hackney's on Lake.

The wait staff usually appears between 10 and 10:30 a.m. to help set-up the tables with condiments and to stack napkins with place mats. On this particular day, Heather Dillabough, Dan Strening and Jane Blair will share the workload of all 20 tables. They will also share the tips.

The policy here is to pitch in to take drink orders, deliver food or clear dishes; no matter who "started" the table. It's a we're-in-this-together community attitude. It works.

Katie McDonald, a part-time bookkeeper and waitress says, "It's a great place to work. The money is great and I love the people I work with. It really is a family. It gets crazy in here over the summer, you know, and it helps to know you've got people you can count on."

Summer, indeed, marks the peak of business for Hackney's on Harms (so much that a beloved picture of local weatherman Tom Skilling is a framed, permanent fixture hanging behind the bar.) In summer Blair's staff jumps from 70 to 170 employees, many of then kids home from college.

A ton of onions
"Yep, we go from serving 500 people on a winter weekend day and night, to serving 1,400 in a full day during the summer," said Blair.

"On a strong summer day, we can go through 200 pounds of burgers, 400 pounds of onions and 500 pounds of potatoes. We literally go through a ton of onions and 1½ tons of potatoes during the week."

By comparison, the much larger Hackney's on Lake will consume about 300 pounds of burgers, 480 pounds of onions and 600 pounds of potatoes daily.

By now it's 12:30 and there's a busy lunch crowd. It's a mix of business people sitting at the bar with a burger, and retirees enjoying a leisurely meal.

Carole and Jack Russell are retired and live in Florida, but they are in town, and they headed for Hackney's.

"It's a fun place to come to," Carole said. "I actually like the turkey sandwich, and everyone likes those onion rings."

Ahhh. Those onion rings. "We buy them sliced and raw from the distributor, EZ Spuds in Evanston," said Blair.

"We first make sure that we break the slices into rings and then we coat it with a batter, which is essentially a pancake batter. We then put flour on them, wait until they dry, put 'em in a frying basket and finally cook them in pure vegetable oil at 350 degrees. The famous cone shape just comes from the shape of the basket."

Jane Masterson Blair picks up her onion rings order and shares her historical knowledge of Hackney's.

"Jack and Helen Hackney, my great aunt, opened the original Hackney's here at 1241 Harms Road sometime during the 1930's. When both Jack and Helen passed away within a short time period, the restaurant was left to Helen's sister - Elizabeth Engels. Now some people may remember Engel's Steakhouse."

She paused to clear a table.

"My great-aunt Elizabeth ran that restaurant. It kept her busy, so she sold the Hackney's place to her son, Jim Masterson, my dad, in 1939. He eventually inherited Engel's too, which later became the Hackney's on Lake. When he died, my mom, Marcella Masterson, became the owner and chairwoman of the monthly board meetings.

"We now have five locations in all, including Wheeling, Lake Zurich and Palos Park."

Family Dinners
Hackney's on Harms sees a few customers in for a meal or a drink during the late afternoon hours. The cook and wait shifts change before the families begin to arrive for dinner.

"Hey, how' re you doing Blair?" exclaimed one customer. Blair remembers when this man came in as a child with his family, and now he is returning with children of his own. New generations continue to gather at the house that Jack built for a burger and a beer. And the new generations of the Masterson clan will be waiting to serve them.

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