This morning Katy Hogan and Michael James, owners of the Heartland Cafe at Lunt and Glenwood, got a visit from the Chicago Department of Health. And judging from the sign on the door today, it's a visitor they wished didn't show up.
Blognotes: Instead of actually cleaning the place properly, let's see how long it takes for Katy and Mike to call Joe to have him "fix it."
Updated - 11:24 AM: Workers can been seen inside the Heartland Cafe frantically cleaning the place. Even behind the socialistic reading material rack. The ice from the ice-making machine has all been dumped in the alley behind the Heartland Cafe. A pest control company was seen parked in front of the Heartland Cafe. Potential customers are coming to the door, reading the big green sign, and walking away from the Heartland Cafe.
Updated - 1:33 PM: Inspectors found mouse dropping though-out the restaurant. Mold in the ice machine. Food was stored at the wrong temperatures and was ordered to be tossed out. These are "critical violations," according to the health department. Each violation carries a $500 fine. The reason for the closure was due to a diner getting sick eating tofu, sautéed vegetables and a spicy sauce. (This latest updated information was complied by Lorraine Swanson.)
Update - 5:10 PM: I bet Katy and Michael are going to blame me for their problems now. Brettly's already pissed. Chicago Sun-Times gets into the act of trashing the Heartland Cafe.
Update - 5:15 PM: The Bench has his view of the situation.
Update - 7:15 PM: The Chicago Tribune mocks the Heartland Cafe woes.
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18 comments:
Glad they apologized for the "inconvience!" Very inconvient indeed. :)
Actual Yelp Review on the Heartland Cafe:
"I've been to this place at least twenty times, and I really don't know how that happened. The food is mediocre at best, I'm not into the activist/hippie culture embraced by the owners, and the silverware/glasses are always dirty (like they've gone through a dishwasher but still have food chunks stuck to them).
In the beginning, I had a relatively positive association. I went there with my girlfriend when we first started seeing each other. And while I'm not really into the birkenstock/Che patch aesthetic, I was willing to tolerate it if I was eating good food. I went back several times over the past year with friends from Rogers Park. But as I started to experience really good breakfast places (and Chicago has loads of them), I realized Heartland can't compete.
Yesterday was the last straw. I went at 1:30 p.m., and it took a long time to get noticed by the hostess (which was extra annoying because the morning rush was clearly over). It also took a very long time to get my order taken, though I've come to expect humdrum service here.
I got catfish tacos, and they were by far the worst fish tacos I have ever eaten. The fish was of decent quality, and cooked well, but had no flavor whatsoever. No lime, no garlic, no peppers, no spice, no zesty white sauce, nothing. And the double soft corn tortillas holding the fish completely overrode the tiny hint of flavor provided by the diced tomatoes. I don't understand how anyone could find such a flavorless dish satisfying, and why a restaurant would keep it on their menu.
Then I realized that I've slowly grown to resent Heartland because all of the dishes are bland. Dishes that I usually love die a slow painful death on the Heartland menu as they are served in a flavorless variety again and again. I used to think this was just because they serve loser animals (turkey instead of pork bacon, buffalo instead of beef burgers), but even the vegetarian dishes lack pizazz.
I left completely unsatisfied with a heavy feeling in my stomach and a gross corn taste in my mouth -- which I got rid of with an Oreo McFlurry on the way home. And if you need to go to McDonald's to get the taste of something out of your mouth, things have gotten very bad indeed.
Rachel R.
Feb. 8, 2009
For a second I thought that was my own Yelp review of Heartland. Then I realized, oh wait, almost all the reviews are like that.
Heartland Cafe sucks.
That review is a red herring. The only relevant part is the dirtiness of the dishes/silverwear, which honestly I have never noticed before. The rest of that is immaterial--the tastiness of the food matters not, and anyway is subjective.
It's not my favorite place in the world, but relevancy helps.
I wondered how long it was going to take for the health department to shut that dirty dump down.
Cute place, but lousy food and visibly poor sanitation. Chunks of food attached to filmy glasses should have had them shut down years ago.
Nice passive/aggressive post, Jay. There's nothing subjective about getting closed down.
Heartland's filth gives a new meaning to the term "earth muffin"
Hey, Lorraine, if you're going to use a story you heard from me or saw on my blog, source it out properly.
You lazy news thief.
Old hippies and crunchy progressives are notoriously unclean....errr, organic!
Other comments.
ayemack08 wrote: I've eaten there and I'm not surprised. Everyone that works there looks like a dirty hippie.
aftos11 wrote: HAHAHAHAHA!!! I hope you are shut down for good! SCUMBAGS!!!!!!
scottevil wrote: Go to their website and it says "Closed for spring cleaning"! Nice spin, you scumbags!
scottevil wrote: Ewwwwwww.
They've change the notice on the website.
It now reads: "HEARTLAND CAFE CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS
We apologize for any inconvenience
Please check back for our re-opening celebration
And, don't forget the Red Line Tap and No Exit Cafe
will be open until the Heartland Cafe's re-opening celebration"
So did the inspectors check out the Red Line Tap and No Exit Cafe?
I would have expected the same filthy conditions there!
this is being blown out of proportion!!
The Chicago Journal article says that the closing "affects" the No Exit Cafe and Red Line Tap, but maybe that just means they can't serve Heartland food there? Like many people, I've been to the bar several times, but haven't ordered food there in at least a year (know better). I guess the bottled beer is safe, but I'm not sure I could sit at the bar without thinking "mouse feces" and "slimy black mold in the water."
A friend of mine use to work at a expensive/upscale restaurant in the Viagra triangle and according to him, it was not much difference in cleanliness from a whole in the wall joint.
Thank goodness I am a feign for home cook meals.
Clean up your act Heartland and keep it that way.
That jcore comment is a spam blog comment. Whatever robot is behind it tried to post the same comment to my post about Heartland a few different times in the past day or so.
Thanks for the heads up, Al. It seemed on topic. Not like the three dozen hate and threat comments I've had to delete this weekend.
Most from Heartland lovers... I'm sure.
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