Two more items on the Heartland Cafe:
From the ChiTown Daily News and Chicago Journal: on work towards rehabbing the Cafe to meet the standards laid down for re-opening, and also on on the past history of the Cafe’s health violations from a FOIA of the Chicago Health Department.
One local very right-wing and abrasive blogger, who really can’t stand the owners (mostly over their left-wing politics) did point out one good question; did the cafe owners get the proper permits for the major work done on the restaurant to get it back up to snuff? Beats me.
The restaurant’s website says that they’re now open, and is a good deal more forthcoming about the problems there than in the past:
The inspection < that closed down the Cafe - JimR > was fair and we immediately set about to address the issues raised and some that weren’t. We basically rebuilt the joint from the inside out. Laid new kitchen and dish room floors, patched and mortared endless nooks and crannies of our 100+ year old building, scrubbed every single piece of equipment until it shone like new and generally took this crisis and turned it into an opportunity.
On the heels of our passing the city’s re-inspection yesterday, the Heartland Café family feels both relieved and blessed; relieved that we are again serving our ‘good wholesome food for mind and body ‘ and blessed bythe generosity, spirit and loyalty of our workforce, neighbors and friends from all over.