A blow for the pro-foie forces

Chicago Dept. of Public Health wrote:Wednesday, September 5, 2007

River North Restaurant Shut by City Health Department

Foie Gras Complaint Leads to Cockroach Discovery

An ordinance designed to protect ducks and geese today had the unintended and indirect result of protecting human health, City health officials said today.

Responding to a complaint about a restaurant selling foie gras, Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) inspectors shut down Cyrano’s Bistrot, Wine Bar & Cabaret, 546 N. Wells, after discovering a cockroach infestation in the kitchen."

No foie gras was found on the premises.

The restaurant also was cited for a kitchen in need of a detailed cleaning.

Cyrano's owner, Didier Durand, has been one of the leaders in the fight against the foie-gras ban. As of today, Cyrano's license was still suspended.

I think this is more of a blow for the pro-cockroach forces.

At this hour Sunday evening, Cyrano's remains closed, but there's an inadvertantly hilarious chalkboard sign out front. It says they are closed due to a "plumbing problem," but erased underneath this notice but still visible is an earlier rendition: "...due to a small remodeling."

Some things are better left unsaid, especially in a digital age when there are always going to be people who will quickly know the real story.

Chicago Dept. of Public Health wrote:No foie gras was found on the premises.

hey that's not foie gras, that's a slice of bread with special sauce on the side!

Is it illegal to have it, or just to sell it? I would think they couldn't get busted unless it was on a menu or they were caught serving it?

Cogito wrote:Is it illegal to have it, or just to sell it? I would think they couldn't get busted unless it was on a menu or they were caught serving it?

not illegal to have just to sell.

i've had it from cyranos (recently--in the past 2 or 3 months). it was on the menu as 'special slice of bread' ...there was even a foie gras special that night--making for 2 choices in how it was prepared

looking at that inspection report, you got to wonder if there wasn't some political vendetta on the part of the inspector... (perhaps due to the ousted idiot of an alderman? hmm? who knows)

My guess is that there probably was foie gras in the restaurant, which the inspector wasn't savvy enough to identify.

=R=

Indeed.. who knows if there was any actual cockroaches in the restaurant either?

With regard to the sign: A Chinese place just off Michigan Ave. that was closed by the health department had a similar sign -- "Closed for remodeling."

If anyone is interested in looking up health code info, see:

http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/health/inspection.jsp

Back open.

Apparently the infestation was caused by condo renovations above the restaurant.

gleam wrote:Back open.

Apparently the infestation was caused by condo renovations above the restaurant.

That's a new one for me - I've heard of plenty of apartments infested by roaches from the restaurant downstairs, but never the opposite.

From that article, its also odd that Chef Durard had to request three more inspections over the course of a week before the city finally allowed him to re-open again. I can't imagine that he would ask them to return multiple times if anything was out of line, unless he's just out of his mind. Makes me wonder if they're not just screwing with him.

wak wrote:

gleam wrote:Back open.

Apparently the infestation was caused by condo renovations above the restaurant.

That's a new one for me - I've heard of plenty of apartments infested by roaches from the restaurant downstairs, but never the opposite.

From that article, its also odd that Chef Durard had to request three more inspections over the course of a week before the city finally allowed him to re-open again. I can't imagine that he would ask them to return multiple times if anything was out of line, unless he's just out of his mind. Makes me wonder if they're not just screwing with him.

Interesting.
Makes me wonder if he can recognize a problem.

wak wrote:

gleam wrote:Back open.

Apparently the infestation was caused by condo renovations above the restaurant.

That's a new one for me - I've heard of plenty of apartments infested by roaches from the restaurant downstairs, but never the opposite.

Well, even if the infestation in the apartments was originally caused by the restaurant, which, I wouldn't necessarily say is the case, if you disturb their habitat they will move. A similar scenario played out a number of years ago when they were building a new restaurant in Oakbrook Mall. They tore down one wall and suddenly every restaurant in the area had a problem.


Flip

speaking of this... does anyone follow the politics of the chicago farmer's market world?

didier apparently had a big blowout several times over (first with the CHIC market a few years back, then with the one over by millenium on sunday?) ... from what i gathered after the CHIC blowout, didier got into it with the CHIC people and somehow got them all kicked out and they no longer have the market. not sure what happened at the new east side one.

a lot of the other vendors don't like him, apparently... anyway, my favorite cheese vendor in the city (who used to be at the CHIC market, then at the one by millenium park, now at evanston and a few others) just sent out an e-mail blast to his e-mail list "I'll have my foie gras with roaches, please" with a copy of this press release..

(btw, if anyone is curious... chef didier now does the farmers market in Michigan City Indiana.. make of that what you will! though if you're in that area i'm sure it's a welcome addition)

Can't wait to go back...

hopefully the jagoff that reported the foie gras didn't break their ankle jumping on and off their moral soapbox.

ab wrote:Can't wait to go back...

hopefully the jagoff that reported the foie gras didn't break their ankle jumping on and off their moral soapbox.

You are not concerned that this guy twice called the inspectors back when the place was not up to speed?

Do we really believe that he would recognize a problem if we saw it?

The place never gave me the impression of not being clean. The two extra failed inspections, rather than the first failed inspections, will probably keep me out of there. There are a lot of good places in that area.

It could be any number of things that resulted in the extra visits, like not having the right paper-work or any of the hundreds of things the city of chicago bureaucracy could come up with... So no, it doesn't bother me in the least.

I'm sure 50% of the kitchens in chicago have had roaches at some point.

Not to digress, but in checking the records, it looks like Bice was just shut down.

http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/health ... id=1056460

This should send a real message.