Do you have a favorite breakfast dish? Let me guess – arany galuska, right? Who wouldn’t want to start their day with something so familiar and so sweet?
How about a favorite breakfast restaurant? I wouldn’t be surprised if you said The Golden Egg; after all, their version of arany galuska is a refreshing twist on a classic.
All right, all right, you’ve never heard of arany galuska, and until I looked it up this morning, neither had I. Arany galuska was the original monkey bread – the sticky confection made with balls of dough, cinnamon and sugar.
This treat first appeared in the United States in the mid-20th century. Hungarian immigrants brought it to the country and popularized it in their bakeries.
There are references to the dish in Hungarian literature, dating back to the 1880s.
Monkey bread, on the other hand, was originally made only with dough and butter. People discovered the Hungarian version and confused the two, applying the name monkey bread to arany galuska.
Perhaps owing to the greater ease with which monkey bread is pronounced, it caught on as a popular breakfast and snack item. The Golden Egg has taken its evolution one step farther and serves it as “Monkey Bread French Toast.”
I love monkey bread and French toast, and when I saw it as one dish on their specials menu, I had to try it.
I was not disappointed.
Presumably, the chef baked the monkey bread in a loaf-shaped dish to create bread that could be sliced. I got two big slices of bread…monkey bread…that had been battered and fried – just enough to make it golden brown with crisp edges.
Sometimes, monkey bread, being a sticky chunk of dough, doesn’t get cooked all the way through and comes out a bit mushy. Not so at The Golden Egg; it was just right.
I also ordered two fried eggs, which came out perfect. I order my eggs over hard, and this often results in eggs that are dry and overcooked.
Not so at The Golden Egg! They were just right.
This was actually my first visit to the restaurant. (It won’t be my last.) The server said they’d been at the current location since Covid forced the original owner to close.
The new buyer took over and moved the business to its present home at 72 Mirona Road, formerly the site of a popular Greek restaurant.
It’s a great spot, with ample parking and a comfortable atmosphere. It’s roomy, clean, and has a touch of “farmhouse chic” décor.
The service was friendly and fast.
I’d certainly recommend this popular restaurant, especially if you have a hankering for arany galuska. This delicious creation is one more reason to be thankful we live in a country rich with the contributions of many cultures.
If you think that praise is a bit high for monkey bread, Ronald Reagan would have disagreed. On the night before his testimony on the Iran-Contra affair, Nancy Reagan served monkey bread to the Gipper; according to legend, he quipped, “Mommy, I may go to prison, but I’ll always remember this monkey bread.”
I’m not looking at hard time, but I won’t soon forget my over hard eggs, or the delicious Monkey Bread French Toast at The Golden Egg Diner.
Read more about the surprisingly interesting history of monkey bread here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_bread
For hours and more information on The Golden Egg Diner, please visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thegoldeneggdiner/, or call 294-9475.
