About us
Golden Boy Barbecue is a live-fire restaurant inspired by Texas barbecue and located in Elmhurst. We work to provide the Western suburbs of Chicago with the best smoked meats, sides, and desserts to be enjoyed with cold beer, delicious cocktails, and live music.
OUR STORY
Starting the Fire
The holy road to Golden Boy Barbecue began in 2016 when Joey Calcagno entered the local “Cue for a Cause” rib competition in Elmhurst alongside his family. There, he developed a taste for the patience and creativity essential to competition barbecue.
Stoking the Flames
While away at college, Joey used his apartment as his test kitchen to learn the ways of Central Texas Style barbecue, trialing his cooking on a willing audience of friends and teammates. Eventually, Joey’s story was captured in a Big Ten Network feature, putting his barbecue operation on the track to feed even more people.
Burning Hot
The fire growing in State College was kept alive with the support of teammates. Together, they developed new recipes, created side dishes, handmade sausages, and entered into local barbecue competitions. Quickly, the group had to expand their arsenal of smokers to meet the demand. Weekends turned into 48-hour barbecue cookouts, selling plates out of their apartment to support the progress.
New Levels
Post-graduation, Joey took pilgrimages to the heart of Texas to understand the soul of its barbecue culture before teaming up with long time restauranteur, Tony Gambino, to offer barbecue at the Elmhurst staple, HB Jones. With Tony’s wealth of restaurant expertise, the barbecue product on the "little" red offset, the barbecue product was taken to new heights with the wealth of restaurant knowledge from Tony.
ALL IN
In 2024, fueled by their shared vision, Tony and Joey knew that it was time to bring the full live-fire, Texas inspired barbecue experience to Elmhurst and the Western suburbs of Chicago. Golden Boy Barbecue is the culmination of years of progress in barbecue and hospitality: producing the highest quality meats, cold beer, exciting cocktails, and extensive bourbon and tequila selections to create an unmatched experience for all of our customers.
