CALUMET HEIGHTS — Smoked fish fans will be able to get their fix before Thanksgiving: Calumet Fisheries will reopen Saturday.
The Far South Side’s beloved seafood spot was shut down by the city in late October after failing a health inspection, but its owners posted on Facebook Friday that it will reopen Saturday morning.
“Thank you all for your patience,” the post reads. “We will be open tomorrow morning, we appreciate the support from all our loyal customers thank you so much.”
The Chicago Department of Public Health suspended the license for Calumet Fisheries, 3259 E. 95th St., Oct. 31 over “evidence of rodents (mice and rats),” a health department spokesperson said in a statement earlier this month.
Health inspectors were called to the fishery based on a complaint, according to public health records. It then failed a Nov. 6 follow-up inspection.
But on Friday it passed inspection and was cleared to reopen, a health department spokesperson said.
Mark Kotlick, co-owner of the fishery, could not immediately be reached for comment. He told the Sun-Times earlier this month they “got a bad deal from the health inspectors” after more than 75 years in business without issues.
He told the paper the shack would be remodeled when it reopened, with new flooring and paint in addition to fixes requested by the health department.
The Chicago staple — known for its wood-smoked fish — opened in 1948 near the 95th Street Bridge over the Calumet River and has long attracted celebrities and tourists to the Far South Side.
Vice President Kamala Harris picked up 3 pounds of fish from Calumet Fisheries after speaking on bridge infrastructure in January. Late chef and travel documentarian Anthony Bourdain featured Calumet Fisheries on a 2009 episode of “No Reservations.”
In 2010, Calumet Fisheries won an America’s Classics Award from the James Beard Foundation, long considered the gatekeepers of American culinary excellence.
City health records dating back to 2011 show Calumet Fisheries routinely passed its health inspections before failing one in 2019 and another in 2020.
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