After a busy Friday night service, a collection of restaurants were greeted with flooded basements early Saturday morning. Thanks for the massive headache goes to a torrential rainstorm, which the Tribune confirmed was the “largest single-day rainfall since records began in 1871.” Among the effected restaurants were Lula Cafe, Longman and Eagle, Telegraph, all of the Boka restaurants, and even Alinea, Next, and Aviary. No one was harmed in the incident, though “a good amount” of sausage from Hot Doug’s was lost when two chest freezers tipped over. (We’ve already held a moment of silence for the encased meat.) Luckily, unlike the Great Flood of 2010, it appears that most restaurants are back to normal today.
We’ve checked around, and all of the restaurants we mentioned above appear to be up and back to normal. That includes Lula Cafe, which had to close for nearly a week last year after serious flooding. Lula was only closed for Saturday brunch and reopened for dinner that night.
Now that everything appears to be back to normal, it is a good time to question the water management in Chicago — especially in Logan Square, where serious flooding has happened now two years in a row. That said, it’s hard to imagine an effective way to deal with 7 inches of rain.
Hot Doug’s temporarily closed due to flooding [Chicago Tribune]
