Stage Deli Shut Down Again Due to Vermin

For the second time in as many years, the famous Stage Deli in Manhattan was shuttered by the Dept. of Health after inspections found the restaurant infested with vermin. The Times Square institution was last closed in mid-2006 after it accrued too many points during a health inspection (points are for violations and a score above 28 is a failure.) As reported in The New York Times, the DOH inspected the Stage last Wednesday and assigned it a failing score. The deli was allowed to remain open while it corrected major violations, but a subsequent inspection 48 hours later still resulted in insufficient cleanliness.

Most of the current violations are located in the restaurant's 4,000 square foot basement. Co-owner and manager Paul Zolenge said that every step was being taken to repair pipes and seal cracks in walls that might be allowing mice and other vermin into areas below street level, while emphasizing that the restaurant area upstairs was very clean.

The Dept. of Health has toughened up its stance on closing restaurants--even popular tourist attractions--since a scandal surrounding a West Village Taco Bell exposed serious lapses in inspections. Stomachs turned when videotape was released of dozens of rats frolicking openly in the fast food joint after hours. The resulting crackdown had many restaurant owners claiming they were the victims of a hysterical witch hunt by the DOH.

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By Dave Hogarty in News on March 16, 2008 9:30 AM

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Fritzdecat

I like the way you think Cucarachita

cucarachita

There will always be vermin in NYC. Where do we think they go when we seal up our holes and cracks? They're still around. What restaurants need to do is construct their own little custom mouse doors, equipping them like car washes so that when the mice go through them they get washed down and disinfected! Then by the time they're in the restaurant they're actually cleaner than the staffers. They could even fit the mice with tiny little antibacterial slippers, so that as they ran around on the counters, they'd actually be cleaning the place up. They could leave Listerine-injected pieces of cheese around, so that their tiny little mouths would get disinfected while they eat, and then when the mice get into the cutlery and lick the greasy spoons clean, they'd be doing everyone a favor.

One just needs to be clever!