The Mice Keep Winning

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Jul 16, 2008 3:51PM

First it was the advanced civilization found in O'Hare Airport. Then the North Avenue Whole Foods was shut down because of them, sending shoppers into a mild panic and showing that some of Our Town's better newspaper columnists has as loose a grasp on the definition of "irony" as Alanis Morissette.

Now the mice are at it again, this time contributing to the closing of the legendary Soul Queen restaurant in Pill Hill (9031 S. Stony Island). To be fair, the health hazards posed by the rodent infestation were just the tip of the iceberg. Inspectors also found raw food stored at unsafe temperatures, a faulty walk-in cooler, serious grease hazards and raw sewage overflowing from a floor drain near a hand washing sink. Still, none of that would have been found if a diner hadn't called 311 to report that three live (and presumably not blind) mice were seen in the dining room.