If you care about cooking on food trucks, you can lend your voice to Let Them Cook. more ›

After 19 health inspections in two years, Logan Square Kitchen finally went to the city to complain. Guess what, they won. Unfortunately, the health record of the shared-use kitchen wasn't cleared, because of the way administrative hearings work in Chicago. Undaunted, the owner, Zina Murray, told us last night that she was starting "Health Inspection Parties," with the premise that "Hey, transparency can be fun!" more ›

Our hats are off to the owners of Logan Square Kitchen. We've watched them fight, successfully, for more than a year to keep their business open amidst the city's regulatory mess. Everything seemed to be settled, but it appears now that while the city may sort of know how to categorize them, the health department might not like them very much. According to a blog post on their site, the establishment has been inspected 19 times in 2 years. The law required two per year. more ›

We've been following the saga (disaster) of the local ice cream industry for the past several weeks. The state has imposed new regulations that make it nearly impossible for small companies to do business, and due to the new regulations, large stores like Whole Foods have stopped ordering. Enter social media: Nice Cream is taking to the ether to support themselves. Starting last week, a Twitter-driven kickstarter campaign has been moving forward to keep Nice Cream alive, and a fundraiser next week at Revolution Brewing will support the effort. more ›

We wanted to take a closer look at the proposed ordinance and the issues surrounding it, and contacted Harry Rhodes, executive director of Growing Home, to walk us through it. Rhodes doesn't seem nearly as worried as others about the new ordinance, and informed us that the city has been "very open" to meeting with representatives of the agriculture community. more ›

While it's been in effect for three years, but the state of Illinois is just now getting around to enforcing a law that requires tattoo parlors (as well as piercing places) to pass an annual inspection by the state Department of Public Health. Parlors will have to register with the state and meet a set of regulations to earn a passing grade. So far, 212 parlors have registered. [Tribune, NBC 5] more ›

Pedicabs are a growing business and are going to be making their way downtown, but not without a price. Based on an ordinance introduced to the City Council yesterday, Mayor Daley is looking to regulate the pedicabs on Chicago streets by forcing pedicab bikers to get licensed and pay a fee. The borders for the pedicabs would be approximately Oak Street, LaSalle, Roosevelt and Lake Michigan and fares, while not regulated by the city, would have to be clearly posted, eliminating haggling. The license fee of $400 would only be issued to pedicab bikers who have, per the Sun-Times, "insurance to cover $50,000 worth of property damage, $100,000 to cover injuries to one passenger and $300,000 to cover multiple injuries." Pedicabs would also be limited to weekends and after 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. more ›