Will Chicago dining go to the dogs under new rules?

(Crain's) Dogs will be welcome at more Chicago patios if the City Council passes a new retail food ordinance next week. But while that would be progress in the eyes of some proprietors (and patrons), the action likely won't end the debate over what is allowed when guests brings their pooch to dinner or drinks.

Under the new law, your favorite haunts could become as popular with the canine set as they are with their owners. The ordinance is part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to streamline business licenses to 48 types from 117. If passed, the rules governed by the city's four-year-old dog-friendly area license would be folded into the main food retail license. Aldermen will review the proposal at a May 8 joint hearing between the budget and licensing committees and take a vote with the full City Council on May 9.

I welcome the change because people were not buying the license but yet I'd seen dogs on patios, said Didier Durand, chef and owner of Cyrano's Farm Kitchen, the Barrel Room and Cyrano's Caf on the River Walk. Right now, 98 businesses hold the $450 biennial supplemental permit out of 11,944 licensed retail food establishments.

When Mr. Durand first offered a $5 doggy menu a decade ago at what was then Cyrano's Bistrot & Wine Bar, there were no city regulations and most live animals were banned from food-service locations under state law. He backed former Ald. Gene Schulter, who co-sponsored the law to make legal what had been going on for years anyway. The council passed the dog-friendly ordinance in September 2007. The first license was issued Jan. 16, 2008, to Blackie's restaurant in the South Loop.

Now the chef and owner of two standard poodles, Princess and Duchess, says he gets four to five dog guests a day and up to 25 when a dog cruise sets sail. Legally, all he's allowed to serve them is water.

He doubts that the new ordinance will alleviate the confusion over doggy do's and don'ts. What if the guest brings their own food? How do we enforce that? he said. According to city records, he doesn't have a current dog-friendly license.

Nor do many other outdoor spots. Travel website BringFido.com lists 251 fido-friendly restaurants in the city, many of them submitted by site visitors. The site doesn't check for licenses for the restaurant list, says Melissa Halliburton, founder and president of the Greenville, S.C.-based company.

Even when restaurants have a license, they are fuzzy about the regulations. Bistronomic owner and executive chef Martial Noguier was disappointed to learn that the $10 scratch-made menu for dogs he announced last month was illegal.

Four Treys Tavern in Roscoe Village allows dogs inside the bar. We don't serve food, so dogs are welcome, said Jeanine Richard, daytime bartender, adding that she had three dogs there the other night.

Yet, according to current city code, which is expected to carry over to the new ordinance, other than service dogs, pups can't be inside the premises or where food is made.

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Will Chicago dining go to the dogs under new rules?