Customers and passersby have no doubt noticed a new sign hanging over the doorway of Bite Me Organic Pizza on Burlington’s St. Paul Street. While it’s probably the zillionth iteration of pop artist Roy Lichtenstein’s soapy comic-book style, this might be the first time it’s been appropriated by a pizzeria. But Bite Me is no run-of-the-mill slice joint — owner Jack O’Brien has an idiosyncratic sense of, well, everything. The double-sided sign features the same woman, two messages: “Yes, I’m having it delivered…” and “Oh, I love anchovies too… But…”
“I didn’t want a sign with the name of the business,” says O’Brien, who explains, sort of, the meaning behind one of the comments: “Anchovies are the most controversial things in the pizza business; you either love them or hate them.” The original sign, which appeared shortly after the shop opened in September 2008, resembled a TV test pattern, which was O’Brien’s way of suggesting we all step away from the mind-numbing television. That sign will soon relocate to the south side of the building as a light box, he says. The new sign, according to O’Brien, “draws people back to that time … when we had that collective consciousness of ‘We are all one.’”
Whatever. Even without subliminal messages, the pie’s damn good.
This article appears in May 19-25, 2010.
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