Golden Angel Restaurant
4340 N Lincoln Ave
(773) 583-6969

Golden Apple Restaurant
2971 N Lincoln Ave
(773) 528-1413

Golden Bull Restaurant
242 W Cermak Rd
(312) 808-1668

Golden Chop Suey
3000 W 38th St
(219) 949-4226

Golden Crown Restaurant
2341 N Narragansett Ave
(773) 745-9200

Golden Crust Pizzeria
4620 N Kedzie Ave
(773) 529-4926
Visit Web site

GOLDEN CUP
2351 N CLARK ST
(773) 525-8833

Golden Duck Restaurant
4801 N Milwaukee Ave
(773) 205-7300

Golden Fish
4457 S Cottage Grove Ave
(773) 538-3474

Golden Fish & Chicken
2926 W 63rd St
(773) 434-0449

Golden Fish & Chicken
3356 W 79th St
(773) 434-4200

Golden Goose Catering
150 S Wacker Drive, Hartford B
(312) 240-1000

Golden Heart Restaurant
4210 S Archer Ave
(773) 254-5591

Golden House Restaurant & Pancake House
4744 N Broadway St
(773) 334-0406

Golden Nugget Pancake House
2406 W Diversey Ave
(773) 252-8903

Golden Nugget Pancake House
2720 N Clark St
(773) 929-0724

Golden Nugget Pancake House
3001 N Central Ave
(773) 725-5510

Golden Nugget Pancake House
3234 W Irving Park Rd
(773) 267-1987

Golden Nugget Pancake House
3959 W Diversey Ave
(773) 227-4346

Golden Nugget Pancake House
4229 W Irving Park Rd
(773) 777-7107

Golden Nugget Pancake House
4747 N Ravenswood Ave
(773) 769-6700

Golden Nugget Pancake House
4747 N Ravnswd Ave
(773) 769-6700

Golden Valley Liquors
1339 W Morse Ave
(773) 338-5478

Golden Wok
5731 N Central Ave
(773) 631-8884

Saleem Golden Pan
2504 W Devon Ave
(773) 465-2955

You have a restaurant with the area code 219 ... where is that?

golden nugget! golden nugget! i love that place.

Golden Bowl Restaurant

Golden Buddha

Golden Budha Chinese Steakhouse

Golden Waffle Restaurant

oh weird. maybe the 219 is a cell phone number.

The Golden Bowl, Golden Buddha, and Golden Waffle are in Chicago?

Golden Heart is a restaurant? Damn.

I tried to stay within city, as you did. I will double check and come back with the addresses for those actually in the 773 or 312 area code.

I think 219 is Indiana, but the addy looks like it could be Chicago ... maybe?

Golden Budha Chinese Steakhouse
312 W. Randolph St.

Golden Waffle Restaurant
5600 N. Broadway Ave.

The other two are in 708. My bad

Golden this. Golden that. Crimson is where it's at. Crimson Skies rules! (the best Xbox Live game ever!)

Somebody is obsessed

Does the Gold Star Bar on Division get an honorable mention?

yes! thanks Ron!

There is also a Golden Flame restaurant within city limits. Years ago a friend and I tried to visit as many non-Chinese golden restaurants as we could, and our quest took us there.

oh boy Wendy! did you document your golden journey? I was thinking of doing the same thing. When doing a series of visits like this, you have to have a certain methodology and structure for comparison and contrast.

I would:
A) photograph the building (standard)
B) photograph the menu (interesting to compare variety of food and price)
C) keep the napkin (napkins can be quite subtle. Perhaps writing a short story on each napkin would be delightful)
D) photograph the floor (is it tile, linoleum, wood?)
E) try to eat the same thing at each place (how does the denver omlete compare?)
F) time how long it takes for them to seat you, to bring your meal out.
G) Why stop at photographing the above items. Let's do: waitress/waiter, silverware, cups, table, cash register, the door, (let's not even start with the bathroom)
H) Then you have to tell the same joke to every waiter/waitress you get. And then log their response on a scale of 1-5. 1 being completely ignoring your joke. 5 being a complete baffow laughter.

What else could there be? I thought there would be a ton, but i'm running out now.

Once we got a good list going, i'm gonna make a cute little jpg/pdf of a designed checklist, so I will make sure to accomplish all the items on the list at every Golden restaurant.

"keep the napkin" ... ew! Get a matchbook. They are cleaner and infinitely more interesting.

A few years ago, a buddy and I went in search of the perfect martini. We created a chart and used "olive ratings" for each place and type of martini. We graded on size, overall appearance, taste and availability of a variety of garnishes [I love bleu cheese-stuffed olives in my martini].

If I remember correctly, the Grey Goose Martini at Smith & Wolensky was the clear winner, though Shaw's Crab House gets a close second with their Belvedere Martini.

I can't tell you how many times there was utter chaos and confusion late on a Saturday night caused by the Golden Apple and the Golden Angel.

We'd leave the bar, wanting a late night meal. Since we lived in different parts of the city, there were usually 3 or 4 cars for the 10 or 12 of us. "So we're going to the Golden Angel?" someone would ask. "No, the Golden Apple"

"But the Golden Apple isn't open after midnight."

"I thought that was the Golden Angel"

"No, Golden Angel is open all night."

"Right. But I think the Golden Apple is open til 2."

"Okay, which one should we go to?"

"Golden Apple."

"Good, ok, see you there"

You can guess what would happen. Since this was 10 or so years ago, before regular people had cell phones, there'd be 6 of us at the Golden Apple and 6 of us at the Golden Angel, waiting for the rest to show up, then giving up and ordering, figuring that if we left our Golden to find the others, they'd surely be leaving to find us.

Also, there's a Golden Olympic in Evanston that never EVER is busy, and must be some kind of tax shelter.

Sadly, our odyssey was not documented or even terribly well organized. I just remember we had certain criteria as to what made a restaurant Truly Golden. They are as follows:

1.) Not Chinese or Indian. We felt it necessary to limit our survey of Goldenness to Western Judeo-Christian restaurant traditions. Though we acknowledge the rich history and superior cuisine of the non-Western Golden paradigm, we felt it would be culturally imperialistic to impose our golden rules upon those restaurants.

2.) Golden Restaurant must have fake stained glass decor.

3.) Golden Restaurant must have a neon sign and/or a cluster of light bulbs on its sign.

4.) Golden Restaurant must have a pie display.

5.) Any Golden Restaurant with a revolving pie display is of particular interest and merit.

6.) Golden Restaurant must offer a Monte Cristo Sandwich and/or a Francheezie on its menu.

7.) Golden Restaurant must be open 24 hours a day.

Wow, who needs all the documentation anyways, wendy? You have encapsulated the essence of the Golden Restaurant formula. That is worth its weight in gold! You are now ready to open your own Golden Restaurant!

How many of those Golden restaurants are former Golden Nuggets? You can still see the gold nugget on top of the Golden Angel sign. I think I've seen another, but I can't remember where.

Excellent, complete log! It should be noted that we were very excited to live within walking distance of the Golden Angel, having spent several bleary mornings at the Golden Apple years ago.

However, after our "dining" experience, we renamed the restaurant in question to the Broken Ankle, and have stayed away ever since.

On the other hand, the Golden Nugget on Lawrence is a thing of beauty.

i love myself a good diner (or even a not so good diner). esp. late at night/early in the morning.

but there is something horrifically scary about that damn golden angel.

and while i have nothing against career waitresses (and they aren't really servers, they are from the time when they still were waitresses), these women are just something straight out of a stephen king novella.

the place just has this strange aura of time stood still, but not of a time where you'd want to be left. there's always this table of 3rd rate gangster types, and some decrepit old men hanging out at the counter.

there's inevitably some sort of beat up looking possible prostitutes in there, and never any of the good kind of life energy of rowdy drunks or young kids on the town, punks or goths or people in need of some sustenance after a night of carousing.

the place just sort of hangs with stagnant energy.

eeek.

anyplace that is open 24 hours a day is tops in my book.

My gosh, Jocelyn, you could be talking about The Cambridge House on East Ohio.

Laura, I believe you would think twice about that comment after dining at Zorba's on Halsted @ Jackson. The food isn't terrible, but the circuses and the service are sorely lacking

I also remember Golden Bear restaurants - kind of a "pancake house but we'll cook anything" sort of place. What I remember BEST about Golden Bear is the statue of a bear on the roof, wearing an apron and chef's hat with its NAKED BEAR BUTT showing from behind. Hee!

If you include "gold" in other languages, i think we (Chicago) have a couple of Italian places that count: Becco d'Oro ("golden spout", according to Babelfish) and Villa d'Oro ("golden villa").

Oh yes! "gold" in other languages. That's pure brillance!

The Golden Nugget breakfast burrito is a taste treat.

i like their omelettes, and their salads. plus, they have great Diet Coke.

Mmmm, did you say "breakfast burrito", Julianne? I had a little campaign to increase the frequency of appearances of the breakfast burrito in the Tribune cafeteria: http://www.spudart.org/blogs/randomthoughts_comments/P1220_0_3_0/

Does ANYONE recall the Golden Bear Restaurant jingle from the late 70's? If so PLEASE let me know what it is.

Thanxs, A

In response to...


Does ANYONE recall the Golden Bear Restaurant jingle from the late 70's? If so PLEASE let me know what it is.

Thanxs, A

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Golden Bear, Golden Bear
It's a honey of a honey of a place
Where food is fun
Golden Bear

"Golden Bear, Golden Bear. It's a honey of a place where food is fun." And I remember that after only going there once with my late grandmother. Stuck with me forever.

I was googling websites that feature the Golden Apple, and this post popped up.

Hi!

I have a full set of the Golden Bear story books that they sold at the Golden Bear restaurants. I absolutely cherish them.

Hey does anyone remember the commercial ? My little brother was in it. He is now 39 years old. He was in Kindergarten when they filmed it. Does anyone know what channels played it? It would be great to throw a copy of that on youtube!!

I think the idea is great. We all know that these kind of plates are liked by the clients of a restaurant that want to feel good while eating there.