Question dogging Council: Do fruit garnishes turn taverns into restaurants?
Do fruit and vegetable garnishes used to decorate cocktails turn a Chicago tavern into a restaurant?
Some city inspectors apparently believe they do — to the point where they are citing customers who bring their dogs with them to the bar for violating a city ordinance prohibiting dogs inside restaurants.
On Monday, the City Council’s License Committee moved to stop such overzealous inspectors dead in their tracks.
The ordinance — championed by downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) at the behest of tavern owners — adds the words “portion of a premises licensed as a retail food establishment” to the section of the city code prohibiting dogs from entering restaurants.
Reilly stressed that the change only affects “tavern licenses, not restaurants” and is simply aimed at clearing up “ambiguity in the city code” that some city inspectors have seized upon.
“What we had was certain Health Department inspectors walking into taverns that don’t have a retail food license, citing the fact that these taverns had garnishes for their drinks — like limes and lemons and orange slices — and therefore calling that food and suggesting then that dogs shouldn’t be allowed,” Reilly said.
“To be very clear, this does not mandate dogs in taverns,” he added. “This is voluntary. Only those tavern owners who choose to allow dogs in their establishments really care about this.”
Reilly noted that allowing dogs to accompany customers drinking at “outdoor patio spaces” has become a “very popular practice” at a number of taverns throughout the city, particularly during warm weather months.
“This is in response to a plea for help from the tavern industry,” Reilly said. “This simply is to clarify that, so long as a tavern licensee isn’t serving food as a retail food establishment, it’s OK for them to allow their customers to bring their dogs in for a visit.”