Crash-and-grab burglars smash into Chicago's Golden Apple restaurant while it's open

Burglars crashed into the renowned Golden Apple Grille and Breakfast House in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood early Monday morning, while the 24-hour restaurant was open.

At 3:43 a.m., police were called for a burglary at the restaurant, at 2971 N. Lincoln Ave.

Police said three burglars crashed a gray Jeep Grand Cherokee through the front of the restaurant, and then stole an ATM once they were inside. The burglars escaped with it in a waiting black sport-utility vehicle, police said.

Video captured from inside the restaurant showed a driver hitting the window of the restaurant three times before the three thieves dressed in black hoodies and masks took the ATM.

"They were going around, scoping the place out," said owner Tom Dalakouras.

Dalakouras, who for 30 years has been an owner at the 80-year-old community staple, said the chain of events played out within about four minutes. He said his staff quickly boarded up the window and cleaned up the glass to start seating customers around 8 a.m.

Dalakouras said a customer was mere seconds from being hit.

"There was somebody coming out of the bathroom. It was like literally not even a minute," he said, "and when she sit down, that's when they started, you know, coming in with the car."   

There were almost a dozen people inside at the time of the incident. Fortunately, there were no reports of injuries.

"It can't be a 24-hour place, I mean, there are people in here, and they are still doing this stuff?" Dalakouras said. "I've seen a lot of times when a place is closed, but not when a place is open."

Dalakouras said he learned from CPD that the cars were stolen, and the one the thieves drove off in did not have a license plate. He said he does not plan on replacing the ATM, but fixing the entry area will cost around $20,000 to $30,000.

"All this stuff has to be replaced," he said.

The Golden Apple is located at the busy intersection of Lincoln, Southport, and Wellington avenues, across from the Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture and St. Alphonsus Church.

The restaurant started as part of the Golden Nugget chain and was purchased by Greek immigrants in the 1970s.

The Golden Apple website notes that Tina Fey frequented the restaurant during her time at the Second City and wrote her scripts in the booths. The Golden Apple added that Phil Jackson loved the restaurant's burgers when he was head coach of the Chicago Bulls, and that CBS Chicago's Bill Kurtis also visited to talk with Chicagoans and hear about their struggles.

In 2000, the public radio program "This American Life" documented 24 hours at the Golden Apple — back in the days when restaurants still had smoking sections. Host Ira Glass and the program's correspondents talked to everyone from older customers who came alone to drink coffee and talk to the waitresses during the day to rowdier and inebriated patients at night, and from a pair of Chicago police officers to a man who claimed to have been the youngest butcher in Illinois when he was 8 years old.

Dalakouras said police do have footage of the cars from traffic cameras nearby. However, detectives are still investigating.