Chicago Dept of Health - Inspection Report
Nuevo Leon Restaurant
January 8, 2008
I am writing this summary to share my unfortunate experience with a well-known neighborhood restaurant. Nuevo Leon, located at 1515 W. 18th Street in Chicago (http://www.nuevoleonrestaurant.com/), was my families’ favorite restaurant for years. We came here for holiday dinners, birthdays and reunions. When we hosted parties at home or at a hall, of course the catering would come from Nuevo Leon.
I hosted my niece’s 2nd birthday party on Saturday, November 17, 2007. We ordered the Guisado de Res (Beef Stew) and Guisado de Puerco (Pork Stew) for 25 people. The order comes with rice, refried beans, tortillas, salsa and jalapeno peppers. The food was picked up at 12:30 and the party began at 2pm. Everyone that ate the guisado de res became very sick that night and into the next day. 13 adults and 1 child suffered from food poisoning. The symptoms ranged from vomiting, diarrhea, severe abdominal cramping, fever and chills. 6 adults present ate only the guisado de puerco or did not eat at all and did not become ill. There were 12 children present who ate hot dogs and did not become ill.
On Sunday, November 18, 2007, I went to Nuevo Leon restaurant to inform them of the food poisoning that occurred from the order we received. I spoke with the owner’s son, Daniel Gutierrez Jr. He looked at my receipt, then pulled his copy. As I began to inform him of the situation, he got very defensive and began passing the blame to me. He claimed his kitchen was clean and we must not have maintained the food at the proper temperature. He asked me how the food was kept warm, at what temperature, for how long, etc. I attempted to inform him that both stews were handled in the same manner, yet, those who ate from the beef became very ill. He finished with “This is not my problem. You must’ve not kept the meat warm enough.” Not once did he offer an apology, he did not ask if everyone was OK, he did not offer to look into the issue further, he did not even ask for my name or phone number. I work in the service industry and anyone who does, knows this is not the way to treat a customer with such a severe concern. Mr. Gutierrez Sr. attempted to contact my father, who placed the original order and his number was on the receipt, shortly after I left the restaurant. I called him back the next morning and his son answered, who again was very unpleasant and accusatory on the phone.
On Monday, November 19,2007, the Chicago Department of Public Health inspected Nuevo Leon restaurant and they failed the inspection. The inspection report is attached. You will see 10 code violations found in the “clean kitchen”, with two of those findings being critical. There is also a note by the inspector that the source of cross contamination of the beef is violation 04 and possibly violation 16. On Wednesday, December 12, 2007, Nuevo Leon received a follow up inspection in which 3 code violations were found, however, the establishment was found to be in substantial compliance with Chicago’s Health Code. This inspection report is attached at well. A citation was issued for the initial inspection and Nuevo Leon was to be in court on December 20, 2007. They did not attend their court date and were fined $1,290 for the code violations.
I called Daniel Gutierrez Jr. on Thursday, December 27, 2007, to see about receiving a refund for the $149.88 catering order. He denied failing the inspection and said if they had failed they would have been shut down. I informed him I had a copy of the inspection and that I knew he had received fines for the code violations. He was surprised at the information I had and just repeated that he could not give me a refund. There is no way he could do that. I was very surprised when the phone was passed to the owner, Daniel Gutierrez Sr., who asked if I was the one who called the Health Department on him. I said I was his customer of over 10 years who received a catering order that resulted in 14 people suffering from food poisoning. He then stated “People like you should not exist. You are just trying to get your money back. It’s all about the money with people like you.” Then he hung up on me.
All of the time and effort put into this situation to have the owner of this food establishment tell me I should not exist when he is serving hundreds of people daily from a kitchen that is barely in “substantial compliance with Chicago’s Health Code.” My goal is to inform, as many people as possible of my terrible experience with Nuevo Leon. Any business that treats their loyal customers in this manner truly deserves to not be in business. Please share my story with your friends, families and co-workers.
