Chicago Cracks Down On Unlicensed Eating
Via @againstcronycap, Illinois Policy has a story on how Chicago regulators are cracking down on "underground dining" -- people who charge willing others to dine in their home.
According to Thrillist, the city of Chicago issued a citation to Julia Pham, who ran Relish Underground Dining from her apartment in Lincoln Square, forcing her to shut down. Pham, according to the profile, is "a 20-something, self-taught chef who got her start in her aunt's kitchen at Ba Le," a popular Vietnamese restaurant with locations in Uptown and the Loop. She sees her project as a way to take a more creative approach to cooking, learning about food and sharing her food with guests....Cities should value experiments of this sort because of their potential to lead to successful new businesses down the line. Thrillist notes that 42 Grams, a Chicago restaurant that was just awarded two Michelin stars, got its start as an underground restaurant. In this regard, underground restaurants are no different from small businesses that start off in a garage, a parent's basement or at home. A thriving entrepreneurial culture depends on the ability to experiment and take risks without begging for permission from the government. An experiment can then grow into a new business that makes all of us better off. But that can't happen if local government decides to focus its efforts on shutting them down.
Sorry to go off topic, but how is Aida doing? We haven't heard much lately. I thought of her over New Years as I read some posts about dogs and the fireworks.
Luckily I don't have that problem out here in the sticks, but you haven't mentioned much about how she deals with the world outside, visitors, noisy neighbors and the like.
Annie at January 2, 2015 7:31 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2015/01/chicago-cracks.html#comment-5731913">comment from AnnieAnnie,
Thank you for asking. She is just a daily joy. I'll have to post a photo of her. She just got a new red sparkly sweater and is wearing it while asleep in her little plush bed (in my lap) right now. She's pretty well-socialized but will bark at what she perceives to be danger, though I bring her in right away if she starts barking.
Amy Alkon
at January 2, 2015 8:16 AM
Restaurants pay sales taxes and employment taxes. Home sales of prepared food don't.
Conan the Grammarian at January 2, 2015 8:28 AM
Conan is on to the real reason ("taxes").
But of course, food prepared in a commercial type kitchen must be safer, right?
I guess nobody ever watched Kitchen Nightmares, or Restaurant Impossible. Or peeked into a restaurant kitchen.
DrCos at January 2, 2015 9:30 AM
Here's a similar situation.
If you are "engaged in the business" of selling/trading guns, you must comply with BATFE regulations, including background checks and the maintenance of a "bound book" recording each and every transaction.
If you are not, then you don't.
Commercial? Regulated. Private? Nope.
Do you want to change that?
Meanwhile - absolutely nothing keeps the practice in the topic from going on as a non-profit dining club. As you know, non-profits pay their principals, sometimes quite well.
Radwaste at January 2, 2015 9:30 AM
Have standards or don't, but no fair making some businesses jump through hoops but not others, especially if it is the same product
NicoleK at January 2, 2015 10:50 AM
What we need is more regulation. Our betters know better and they need more and more money to know better. Silly rabbits.
Dave B at January 2, 2015 5:03 PM
Home kitchens aren't inspected. I know several people who got food poisoning after a meal at one of LA's underground dining clubs.
kateC at January 3, 2015 7:52 AM
Home kitchens aren't inspected.
A lot of restaurant kitchens aren't inspected as often as we think. You think people working for minimum wage or slightly better are going to be the most fastidious when it comes to the kitchen they have to clean 'every' day?
DrCos at January 3, 2015 12:28 PM
My restaurant had to have a certified staff member trained in food safety. We were subject to (and always passed with flying colors) random inspections - at least once every 6 months. We also had to follow labor laws, fire laws, regulations regarding refrigeration, storage, and food preparation. The standards I enforced always exceeded any regulation, which is why I never worried about a major violation (in fact, once DURING a Health Department surprise visit, the inspector remarked that my kitchen was exceptionally clean - I was unhappy with my night cook's poor cleaning the previous night, and told the inspector that his standards were too low!).
Knowing how easy it is to handle, store and prepare food improperly, I would never once eat at an underground restaurant. It's literally an accident waiting to happen, and I'm not willing to bet my life on a meal.
Gary G at January 3, 2015 10:26 PM
How safe do you want to be? Nanny Statums can make you safe, very very safe.
The inconvenience annoys. The non-consensual infantilization enrages.
phunctor at January 3, 2015 10:48 PM
Weighing I a little late here; but, I agree with NicoleK - have standards for all; but don't have them for some and not for others.
charles at January 4, 2015 6:00 PM
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