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 in a waiting black sport-utility vehicle, police said.There were no reports of injuries.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 adds 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.Belmont Area detectives were investigating the smash-and-grab burglary at the Golden Apple Monday.