Sears Tower cafe closed for kitchen sewage

CHICAGO, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Chicago health authorities have shut down the Corner Bakery Cafe inside the Sears Tower after backed-up raw sewage was found in a kitchen sink.

The Chicago Department of Public Health said it suspended the cafe's restaurant license Thursday after an inspector responding to reports of a foul odor at the restaurant discovered sewage from an employee toilet was backing up into a sink and floor drain in the Corner Bakery's kitchen, Crain's Chicago Business reported Friday.

"The raw sewage problem was compounded by Corner Bakery staff, who failed to clean up the sewage and instead walked through puddles of waste water, tracking it throughout the facility," the health department said in a statement.

The inspector also cited the restaurant for a broken sink that was designated for employees to wash their hands before handling food.

A spokeswoman for Dallas-based CBC Restaurant Corp., which owns the Corner Bakery Cafe, said plumbers are working on the problems and the restaurant hopes to reopen Friday.

The cafe is expected to pay $3,250 in fines and must send a representative to an Oct. 9 administrative hearing.