Chicago's Oldest Restaurants: 10 Vintage Eateries That Only Get Better With Age (PHOTOS)

In honor of Chicago Restaurant Week, which begins Friday, apartment search website Domu.com has paid tribute to the city's "vintage restaurants" -- that is, eateries open for a half-century or longer.

As Domu explains, "we figure if you can keep it going for 50 years you must be doing something right" and, indeed, among its list of 58 fifty-plus-year-old dining establishments are many local favorites.

Schaller's Pump, opened some 130 years ago in the city's Bridgeport neighborhood, took top honors in the ranking. Though originally opened under a different name, the restaurant, purchased by George "Harvey" Schaller just on the heels of the Prohibition Era, is a short walk from U.S. Cellular Field. It is also known to be a favorite of many a Chicago mayor, particularly the five, including two Daleys, who grew up in the neighborhood, according to the Chicago Bar Project.

Below, check out the rest of the top 10. While Domu admits their list may not be exhaustive, we felt it was a good opportunity to pay homage to some of the city's most storied restaurants. Check out their full list here.

Comments

[random100]

02:28 PM on 02/23/2012

Three old places I like for breakfast, I don't know how old qualifies, but Tre Kroner on Foster near Kimball, Svea in Andersonville and Romova grill on Halsted near 35th.

[Gregory Salustro]

01:06 AM on 02/20/2012

Sorry, but the Berghoff is not what it was. The great waiters are gone, the kitchen's been drastically reduced, and the food is just mediocre. I think one of the Berghoff children (Karlyn?)-who didn't get along with her parents or siblings-took it over, and the rest of the family gave up. Tragic, IMHO.

[48thGuy]

08:36 AM on 02/24/2012

Her name is Carolyn and she's not very good at her trade.

[CRAVECOFFEE]

07:58 PM on 02/16/2012

Berghoff's is the very best! I'm 62 now, but during my childhood my father took me to Berghoff's for lunch every Wednesday. Had their ground sirloin every time. When I became engaged my dad took us their for a celebratory lunch and had lake trout. They served it with the head on. I panicked, my fiancee cut the head off and put it in my salad bowl. There the fish head sat among all the lettuce. The formally dressed waiter, took the white towel that was hanging over and placed it over the fish head and then took the bowl.

Excellent, excellent restaurant!

[goblue137]

06:05 PM on 02/15/2012

My two cents, Manny's Deli deserves to be on this list.

[Sharon Woodhouse]

02:10 PM on 02/15/2012

Book that came out in Feb. 2011, "Oldest Chicago," (Lake Claremont Press) gives history of these and other oldest things in various categories.

[JustaSlob]

01:49 PM on 02/15/2012

Not sure how old, The Chicago Chop House is still my favorite.

[robertchicago]

12:59 PM on 02/15/2012

The Walnut Room has a great location and nostalgic feel -
But the food is terrible! Absolutely awful. My family used to go every year around Christmas - last year we just ate and commented on how bad it was - this past Christmas we left because both my mom and sister's chicken was so undercooked we could not comfortably send it back and eat anything else...

[LiberalUnderYourBed]

09:30 AM on 02/15/2012

I remember, sometime in the late 1980s, watching a big warehouse building across from the Green Door burning to the ground. The wall facing the Green Door toppled over into the street. It crashed into a corner of the green awning. Man, I thought the Green Door was gonna be a goner but the damage was minimal.
Anyway, loves me some Green Door.

[LiberalUnderYourBed]

09:27 AM on 02/15/2012

Hey! Where's Le Creperie????

[Arlene Cayer]

09:02 AM on 02/15/2012

Berghoff beer is still good. They used to give you two slabs of German rye bread. Now you only get one slab and the second slab is "whole grain." They used to have venison with plum sauce in November, too.

My late husband and I used to go to Margie's for ice cream when we lived in the area.

One long-time Chicago restaurant that I worked for for many years was Henrici's owned by the John R. Thompson company. They were bought out by Green Giant and disappeared.

[local21]

06:36 AM on 02/15/2012

When I had jury duty downtown I would always have lunch at Berghoffs.....sure beats 26th & Cal

[Rock Jocelyn]

06:25 AM on 02/15/2012

Dude the Walnut Room sucks since Macy's took over. Like, it's legitimately terrible. I can't believe it would be on the top ten list of anything.

[jazzypaul]

06:45 PM on 02/16/2012

this is a top ten list of old things. not good things.

[Cyke101]

11:01 PM on 02/14/2012

Yay Margie's!

[ChiGuy]

10:42 PM on 02/14/2012

I haven't been lately, but used to love to go to Valois in Hyde Park.  Met Bill Veeck there in the early 90s.

[PizzamanBiz]

10:26 PM on 02/14/2012

Who wrote this? I've lived in Chicago only four years and I could give you more accurate list. This should have been called "Ten Random Food Purveyors That Have Been Around A Long While"

[Cyke101]

11:02 PM on 02/14/2012

Just curious (and definitely not meant to antagonize), but what would your list look like? I'm a lifelong Chicagoan and as long as someone has a recommendation, I'm all ears.

[PizzamanBiz]

10:35 AM on 02/15/2012

No offense taken. I owned a successful Italian restaurant for 12 years before I sold it and moved to Chicago. Off the top of my head and in no particular order:
German: Mirabell, Edelweiss, Chicago Brauhaus
Italian: La Villa, La Scarola, 10+ others-great town for Italian
Chinese/Asian: Phoenix in Chinatown esp. Dim Sum
Beef Sandwich: Johnnies Beef. The others WISH they were this good. Must get a lemon ice as well
General: Yoshis-Lakeview, The Little Island-Evanston, Cafe Iberico
Like all restaurant lists, there could be endless combinations. I don't know how old Iberico is, but it feels established and the best in tapas.