dishing on diners

RAVENSWOOD, Chicago, Ill. — It’s difficult to write a blog about experiences in diners in Chicagoland without including The Golden Nugget, since — at best estimate — 78% of people under 30 have entered one of its umpteen (eight?) locations after midnight while drunk or almost drunk, and/or because they are low on funds. The Nugget is the north/northwest side of Chicago’s answer to Denny’s, since you’ve got to go out almost to O’Hare to find one of THOSE, and who really ventures there (unless you work or live there, the latter of which you might as well be honest with yourself and admit that you’re not really a Chicago resident and have more in common with those folks in Norridge, Harwood Heights, Morton Grove, or River Grove). But ANYHOW…it was a balmy Friday at noontime when Vegan Mama decided to skip class (still suffering from the ravages of a full-blown flu) and convinced Sax Man to meet her at The Golden Nugget for what they promised was the last. time. ever. they would go to said diner. As Sax Man said, “I do believe we have, quite literally, had enough of the Nugget.” Indeed.

VEGAN MAMA SAYS…
All I wanted when I suggested going to the Nugget was to get a quick meal and lots o’coffee, since it’s been a rough week, trying to stay caught up on work and grade papers and not sleep 19 hours a day even though I felt as though I’d been run over by a Mack truck. In other words, I had the flu but my “real life” didn’t stop (funny how that works) and it pretty much sucked. Of course, Slavegirl (my best friend) and Sax Man brought me food, comfort, Pellegrino, and toilet paper (ah, the necessities of life…) but by the time I ventured outside the house today to teach my Friday morning class, I was itching for some eatin’ out. And eat out we did… it was difficult to figure out what I *wanted* to eat, since my initial instinct was to order (I kid you not) potato pancakes, French fries, a Belgian waffle, and coffee. I don’t know why I was craving so many carbs, other than I’ve been subsisting on Pellegrino, chocolate, and kettle corn for the past 96 hours, but I successfully (half-way) resisted said carb overload and ordered Greek toast + potato pancakes + coffee.

Greek toast: A+, as usual. For those who don’t KNOW what Greek toast is, it’s thick toast with a sesame seed crust, and it’s the yummiest thing in the entire world of diner food (except, perhaps, for those muffin thingies at the Rainbow Restaurant). And this sample was particularly awesome, with just the right amount of toasting and flakiness (can toast BE flaky?). The coffee was hot and plentiful, though we did have to wait at times for a refill (which shouldn’t come as a surprise since the service was, uh, slow from the beginning). But the potato pancakes… well, I’d give them a C+ because they really disappointed me. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by too many visits to the Walker Bros. Pancake House (which is soon to come on our Dinerd Agenda), but I like my potato pancakes thin and crispy, with the same thickness throughout. I’m not sure, since I’ve never MADE a potato pancake, but it seems like a tad bit of laziness to not ensure a uniform thickness and instead allow a big poof (yes, that’s a technical term) in the middle that ends up all soggy on the inside. These potato pancakes made me very, very sad. And somehow they also made me long for the vegan French toast at the Pick Me Up Cafe, so I believe it’s high time we left the average drunk-person diners alone and headed for the high-class hills of hipster cafe-dom.

SAX MAN SAYS…
It’s true, for blogging purposes, we had to get the Golden Nugget out of the way. I think we’ve gone here six times in the last month. I mean, it is convenient, reliable, and not too expensive, but those aren’t good enough reasons to keep eating there. Maybe it’s due to the frequency that we’ve been there lately, but I was a bit disappointed with the Nugget this time.

What is it about waiters and waitresses who don’t check on you when it’s time to order? When our waitress came by the first time, we weren’t ready to order. Then enough time passed before she came back that we could have gone somewhere else, had a sandwich, and then returned before she took our order. Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but, like my cohort, I am given to hyperbole.

When we finally ordered, I had a spinach/feta omelette with hash browns and wheat toast. The omelet was excellent (I will never, ever say “eggscellent” in this blog), but the hash browns were soggy. Vegan Mama and I had a discussion about whether or not toast can accommodate both jam and butter. As in so many other things, we agreed that it can. However, one complaint about The Golden Nugget – no orange marmalade! The percentage of the population who likes orange marmalade is probably pretty low; maybe 15%. I have a feeling that it is similar to the number of people who like black licorice. I happen to be among those who love both. At any rate, no marmalade and weak coffee made this a less than satisfactory diner experience.

Thanks, though, to Vegan Mama, who introduced me to the joys of random percentages!

This Golden Nugget (773.769.6700) is located at 4747 N. Ravenswood Avenue. Take the #81 Lawrence bus to Ravenswood or, if you’re feeling superior, the Union Pacific North Metra train to the Ravenswood stop. Either way, it’s off of Lawrence at Ravenswood and just west of Hermitage, and if you’re one of those driving folks, limited free parking is available in a lot just to the east of the diner.