The Chicago Department of Public Health has ordered one of the city’s beloved seafood restaurants to close after it repeatedly failed health inspections.
Calumet Fisheries, located at 3259 East 95th Street, was shut down Oct. 31 after health inspectors found evidence of about 400 mice and rat droppings. During another inspection a week later, city officials again found about 150 mice or rat droppings in the basement and in a storage area, according to public health data.
“I hate it,” co-owner Mark Kotlick said of being forced to close. “We’ve never had an issue with the city and we’ve been in business for 75 years, totally 95 years. It’s an old store. They gotta consider that it’s not something that was built yesterday.”
The restaurant was also cited for about a dozen other minor facility issues, such as leaky faucets and damaged floor tiles.
Kotlick said they’re working to correct the violations, including repairing holes in the basement to prevent mice from getting through and calling an exterminator. He said they’re also remodeling the store while it’s shut down with paint and flooring touch-ups.
On Saturday, one sign at the restaurant read “closed due to remodeling” while another from the city said “license suspended.”
“It’s a 95-year-old building that needs a lot of tender loving care, and that’s what we give it,” Kotlick said. “We’ve got a lot of positive feedback from our customers saying, ‘can’t wait for you to reopen.’”
Kotlick said they hope to reopen either this week or the following week.
Calumet Fisheries is known for its smoked and fried seafood, dished out since 1948. It’s housed inside a tiny building with no dining room. It won an America’s Classics Award from the James Beard Foundation in 2010.
Vice President Kamala Harris made an impromptu visit to the restaurant in January, ordering pepper garlic trout, smoked salmon and more. Anthony Bourdain also stopped by in 2009 for his show “No Reservations” on the Travel Channel.
