Cooked?
Joe's Breakfast & Grill
- resultPass w/ Conditions
- critical violations1
- last inspectedMarch 4, 2026
- address1156 1/2 W 51St St, Chicago 60609
Is Joe's Breakfast & Grill clean?
Joe's Breakfast & Grill is currently Pass w/ Conditions from Chicago Department of Public Health, from an inspection on March 4, 2026. Inspectors wrote up 1 critical violation — the kind most directly linked to foodborne illness. On Cooked's ladder that reads mid 😬.
What did inspectors find at Joe's Breakfast & Grill?
These are the violations recorded at the most recent inspection on March 4, 2026, in plain English, with the city's own wording underneath.
- 🚿water/temperature at the sink offcriticalNo Bare Hand Contact With Rte Food Or A Pre-Approved Alternative Procedure Properly Allowed • Bare hand contact with ready-to-eat food items, Observed several food handlers handling toasted slices of bread, cheese and bacon with bare hands. Instructed manager not to use bare hands when handling such foods. Priority violation 7-38-010.
- ⚠️Utensils, Equipment & Linens: Properly Stored, Dried, & Handled • Observed clean utensils placed on cloth towels after washing, instructed not to use cloth in drying process.Utensils, Equipment & Linens: Properly Stored, Dried, & Handled • Observed clean utensils placed on cloth towels after washing, instructed not to use cloth in drying process.
When was Joe's Breakfast & Grill last inspected?
Joe's Breakfast & Grill has 21 inspections on record going back to April 22, 2015. The 12 most recent are shown below.
| date | result | score |
|---|---|---|
| March 4, 2026 | Pass w/ Conditions | |
| March 25, 2025 | Pass | |
| April 9, 2024 | Pass w/ Conditions | |
| April 10, 2023 | Pass | |
| June 15, 2022 | Pass | |
| June 8, 2022 | Fail | |
| May 3, 2021 | Pass | |
| April 19, 2021 | Fail | |
| February 13, 2020 | Pass w/ Conditions | |
| February 7, 2020 | Fail | |
| January 31, 2020 | Pass w/ Conditions | |
| May 1, 2019 | Pass w/ Conditions |
Joe's Breakfast & Grill vs New City
New City runs 64% clean across 490 tracked restaurants — 311 clean, 76 mid, 98 cooked.
Against the 490 spots Cooked tracks in New City, this one comes out cleaner than 25% of them.
Other spots in New City
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 4, 2026. Inspection results describe one moment in a kitchen's life, not a permanent verdict.