Cooked?
Dear Margaret
- resultPass
- critical violations1
- last inspectedMarch 11, 2025
- address2965 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago 60657
Is Dear Margaret clean?
Dear Margaret is currently Pass from Chicago Department of Public Health, from an inspection on March 11, 2025. Inspectors wrote up 1 critical violation — the kind most directly linked to foodborne illness. On Cooked's ladder that reads clean 😇.
What did inspectors find at Dear Margaret?
These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on March 11, 2025, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.
- 🚰handwashing sink blocked or barecriticalAdequate Handwashing Sinks Properly Supplied And Accessible • NOTED NO HANDWASH SIGNAGE AT ALL HANDWASH SINKS IN FRONT AND REAR PREP/KITCHEN/ DISHWASHING AREA. INSTRUCTED TO PROVIDE AND MAINTAIN.
- 🚻bathroom / plumbing issuesPlumbing Installed; Proper Backflow Devices • NOTED SLOW DRAIN AT HANDSINK NEAR FRONT COFFEE STATION. INSTRUCTED TO REPAIR AND MAINTAIN.
When was Dear Margaret last inspected?
Dear Margaret has 8 inspections on record going back to December 1, 2020.
| date | result | score |
|---|---|---|
| October 8, 2025 | — | |
| March 11, 2025 | Pass | |
| March 6, 2024 | Pass | |
| March 1, 2024 | — | |
| January 27, 2023 | Pass | |
| June 17, 2021 | Pass | |
| December 29, 2020 | Pass | |
| December 1, 2020 | — |
Dear Margaret vs Lake View
Lake View runs 40% clean across 2,211 tracked restaurants — 880 clean, 214 mid, 1,110 cooked.
Against the 2,211 spots Cooked tracks in Lake View, this one comes out cleaner than 60% of them.
Other spots in Lake View
How Chicago grades restaurants
Chicago does not use letter grades. Every inspection ends in one of three official results: Pass, Pass with Conditions, or Fail. Pass with Conditions means violations were found but corrected on the spot or under a deadline — the restaurant is open, with homework. A Fail means serious violations went uncorrected, and it usually brings a re-inspection within days. Chicago also flags “priority” violations, the ones most likely to actually make someone sick. Cooked reads Pass as clean, Pass with Conditions as mid, and Fail as cooked, and shows the itemized violations behind each result.
Source: Chicago Department of Public Health via Chicago Data Portal. Cooked refreshes this data daily — this listing's most recent inspection is dated March 11, 2025. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.