Restaurants and Air Pollution Question (Chicago: houses, closing, live in)

[emathias]

I live in River North. I can smelll restaurants all the time. That's fine and expected. That's not what I mean by "air pollution."

What I'm talking about is grease smoke. There is some place (I think it's Portillo's, but honestly it could be Fogo de Chao or any number of other nearby places) that frequently releases such large quantities of grease smoke that you can taste the grease in the air blocks away. When that happens, it's disgusting, and as if someone dumped a bucket of tallow on hot coals.

Has anyone else had a similar issue? Did you try to do anything about it and if so, what did you try?

[grapico]

There are a bunch of steak houses down there... It is just the smell at night. Not sure if you can do anything about it though. If your lucky the wind will blow in from the west and bring you the smell of chocolate. Weber Grill is also a huge meat cooker.
There are some places while waiting for the el that is above a mexican place I think I am eating refried beans and lard.

[Irishtom29]

Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders.........

[emathias]

Originally Posted by grapico

...
If your lucky the wind will blow in from the west and bring you the smell of chocolate.
...

Interesting example, given that you can almost never smell that anymore since the EPA forced them to scrub their emissions.

And this isn't just wood smoke and it isn't just cooking smells, it's heavy grease smoke. I can't imagine it's even close to being healthy, since charbroiling is known to produce carcinogens. If the City can ban smoking in taverns, I'm not sure how it can allow carcinogen-laden air to be released in such amounts.

Most of the steakhouses don't release the kind of smoke I'm talking about - it is far heavier than the average cooking smell. It's worse than even the smell of a grill when I grill my own meat. It's a concentrated grease combustion smell/smoke.

[jdiddy]

I work in the NW loop, and smell chocolate pretty often.

Then I get the uncontrollable urge to watch 'Romancing the Stone' with a box of Fannie Maes and some kleenax.

[grapico]

Originally Posted by emathias

Interesting example, given that you can almost never smell that anymore since the EPA forced them to scrub their emissions.

And this isn't just wood smoke and it isn't just cooking smells, it's heavy grease smoke. I can't imagine it's even close to being healthy, since charbroiling is known to produce carcinogens. If the City can ban smoking in taverns, I'm not sure how it can allow carcinogen-laden air to be released in such amounts.

Most of the steakhouses don't release the kind of smoke I'm talking about - it is far heavier than the average cooking smell. It's worse than even the smell of a grill when I grill my own meat. It's a concentrated grease combustion smell/smoke.

Just typical policy I guess. Same way with states that don't have emissions controls on the cars. Jogging through streets is not too healthy on the lungs, that is why I try to go out by the lake when I'm taking in more oxygen.

[tonythetuna]

We have high levels of chromium in our drinking water,high levels of diesel fuel emissions in our Metra trains/at the Metra stations downtown/in our air,and severe car emissions pollution at street level. You are worried about fumes from restaurants?

[tonythetuna]

Originally Posted by tonythetuna

We have high levels of chromium in our drinking water,high levels of diesel fuel emissions in our Metra trains/at the Metra stations downtown/in our air,and severe car emissions pollution at street level. You are worried about fumes from restaurants?

Next time someone rags you out for smoking a cigarette or "polluting the air" with food smells tell them to choke on this :

High levels of chromium found in Chicago-area tap water - Chicago Tribune

Metra riders subjected to high amounts of diesel soot, testing finds - chicagotribune.com

[grapico]

Yeah...you are in the city, there is pollution. If you don't want to be subject to it, need to move to the country. I have had water filters as long as I can remember, I am not sure if they will take out the chromium 6 though.

[tonythetuna]

And now the Metra air pollution is said to be worse than was thought:

"A summary of tests conducted in response to a Tribune investigation shows the highest levels of lung-damaging soot inside Metra's stainless steel cars were in outbound trains. Levels at times spiked hundreds of times above what is normally found on urban streets."

Metra: Metra's dirty air problems even worse than previously thought. - chicagotribune.com

And there is always that great air coming from our two coal fueled power plants:

"The fight has been under way for years, with critics citing medical studies that attribute premature deaths, heart attacks, and respiratory diseases to the soot and chemicals that Fisk and Crawford put in the air."

Residents in Pilsen, Little Village call for the cleanup or closing of Fisk Generating Station and Crawford power plant due to concern over pollution | abc7chicago.com

But I am more worried about the smell and fumes of steak and cheeseburgers in River North.