Bleeding Heart Bakery Does Damage Control

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Feb 10, 2009 10:04PM

Yesterday we received an e-mail from the City Department of Public Health announcing the closing of Bleeding Heart Bakery for some health code violations. Rather than go into hysterics, we called the bakery, asked to speak with owner Michelle Garcia and, when told she wasn't available, left our number and asked that she call us back regarding the inspection. After all, the prudent thing in these matters is to get both sides of the story. So we decided to sit on the story until we heard back from Garcia.

Today Garcia responded, in a big way. After multiple local blogs trumpeted the closing yesterday, Garcia sent out an statement on the closure (we've included the full statement following the jump). Suffice it to say, Garcia has already requested re-inspection and expects Bleeding Heart to be open by the end of the week.

Breaking News: Stop the Rumors! The truth Behind the Very Temporary Closing of Bleeding Heart Bakery

It was reported yesterday, 2/9/09, that the Chicago Health Department conducted a routine inspection of Bleeding Heart Bakery, resulting in its closing due to clogged sinks, no manager on duty and overflowing garbage in the alley. The blogs, internet and news has run am muck [sic] with the story and many speculations and slanderous comments have been made.

We are writing this statement to put a stop to the rumors and to state our side of the story, which not one reporting agency, besides the Booster, has bothered to ask.

On Sunday night, after service, our kitchen sink became clogged, once noticed in the morning, the sink was covered and not used. The hand sink near by was affected and was also closed. These are two of 6 sinks we have in the bakery, three of which are hand sinks. This in no way said that we were not either washing our hands (as there is a sink 15 feet away for that) or our dishes. We were not actually open and no food could have in anyway been affected. Drano (yes, I know...bad) had already been purchased and cleared the drain in minutes. Problem solved before 11am.

We get our trash serviced every Monday by Waste Management. They usually come around 10 am which they did yesterday. As our inspection was between 8 and 9, the garbage was not emptied yet. We pay for this service and they come faithfully every week.

There were two members of the staff present both of which had their sanitation license, they were not asked for it. However, the bakery was cited for not having a staff member with their sanitation license present. The owner, Michelle recently had surgery and had to run out for 1 hour to a post op appointment. This one hour just happened to be the hour the health department showed up. Interesting.

We have always prided ourselves on our cleanliness and have supported an open kitchen from the very beginning to prove we have nothing to hide.

We apologize for any problems this may cause people, we have already gone back to the city and will be re-inspected within 48 hours, which is routine procedure. We will be open for business this weekend or sooner, without a doubt, and we will be celebrating another wonderful Valentines Day.

Michelle & Vinny Garcia
The Bleeding Heart Bakery
1955 W Belmont Ave