The Chicago Restaurants, Grocery Stores Ordered Closed Last Week

CHICAGO, IL — Dozens of Chicago restaurants and grocery stores are slapped with fines for health violations each week, but it takes a serious violation for a restaurant to be ordered closed, the city said. Places are ordered shuttered for reasons such as roach and mice infestations, major plumbing problems, food stored at the wrong temperatures and basic food safety rules not being followed, the city said.

Less-serious violations, which don't require closures, often include issues such as poor ventilation, inadequate lighting, worn seal on refrigerators, a few fruit flies and inappropriate materials like cardboard and paper sitting in the wrong places. Restaurants and stores are required to fix those problems immediately.

These were the restaurants and grocery stores that were ordered closed last week, according to the city's Department of Health:

• La Torta Chilanga at 5407 S. Kedzie Ave. in the Gage Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side was ordered closed after health inspectors found "deep" standing waste and sewage water in the restaurant's basement, the city said. About 20 mice droppings and a live roach were also found in the dry storage stairwell area, health inspectors said.
• New Tea Garden Chop Suey at 11342 S. Michigan Ave. in the West Roseland neighborhood on the South Side was ordered closed after health inspectors found hundreds of rodent droppings throughout the restaurant's food preparation and dry storage areas, the city said.
• Wing Yip Restaurant at 537 W. 26th St. near Chinatown in the Bridgeport neighborhood on the near Southwest Side was also ordered closed due to a rodent infestation, the city said. Health inspectors discovered hundreds of rat droppings in the restaurant's basement storage area, around freezers, in the front serving area and in the employee washroom, the city said.

Information on which Chicago restaurants and grocery stores have been ordered closed is not available on the city's data portal. The city's public health department has committed to sending Patch weekly reports, and we will publish those as long as they are made available.

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