Results tagged “doh”

Yesterday we broke the gag-inducing news that Junior's in Downtown Brooklyn was now adorning their famous cheesecakes with some real life mice, after photos of the vermin brushing up against their desserts appeared on the Brooklynian message board over the weekend.

The nightmare on Jane Street continues, though it still remains uncertain if the real nightmare is the Jane Hotel, or the wealthy NIMBYs who are unleashing every city agency upon their new neighbor.

Workers at the DUMBO grocery store Foragers spent about a week installing what was supposed to be a vastly improved salad bar at the Front Street location. It finally debuted last Friday, but it looks like they've decided not to install the customary plastic shield that protects consumers from strangers' unhygienic snot spray. The city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene directed our questions to the state's Department of Agriculture and Markets, so here's Section 271-8.2 about salad bars from the state's regulations for retail food stores:

Continue reading "Gross Trend? Salad Bar Without Sneeze Guard!"

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) fell far short of its mandate to inspect all NYC restaurants in Fiscal Year 2008, according to an audit by city Comptroller William Thompson, Jr. The report also finds that the agency has not been following up fast enough with restaurants that have failed inspections to ensure that health code violations are being remedied. In a statement, Thompson said that "in one instance, a restaurant was allowed to remain open even after four failed inspections, two of which detected mice. It is important to ensure that compliance inspections are performed timely. Otherwise, the danger that food-borne illness could occur as a result of unsanitary conditions being allowed to continue is increased." The audit calculates that of the 19,321 restaurants with permits in FY08, 4,267 (22%) were never inspected. A spokesman for the health department admitted to City Room that it was an off year, with inspectors getting around to only 80.1% of NYC restaurants. But the DOHMH insists it's on target to inspect 99% this year, and in 2010 restaurants will have to start posting those letter grades.

The Department of Health has just issued a warning stating that six rabid raccoons have been found in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx in recent weeks. As such, the DoH warns us all to stay away from not only the black-eyed beasts, but also skunks, bats, stray dogs, stray cats and other wild animals.

The New York State Department of Health recently started drawing attention to their Hudson River Fish Advisory Outreach Project, according to FreeWilliamsburg. The site has a photo of a Parks Department sign, taken at the North 5th Street pier behind the Northside Piers development, which actually alludes to the fact that one can eat what they catch from the East River without a trip to the ER. Well, there are some caveats, the sign reads: "Pregnant women, women of childbearing age, and children under 15 years old should not eat fish or eels caught in these waters." Reassuring, no? So what goodies can be hooked in the river? According to NYC Fishing: bass, blues, stripers, snappers and flounder. Well, it's probably better than whatever you'd find in the Gowanus, but maybe not at Prospect Park.

Good news for budget gourmands on the Upper West Side; after being closed for two days by the Department of Health, Kefi will reopen tonight at 5 p.m. The wildly popular Greek restaurant, which recently moved to a bigger space with the same high-quality, low-priced menu, was closed Wednesday after a health inspector cited them for missing paperwork, improper food storage, and not having a sink in the basement where prep work is done. A publicist for Michelin-starred chef Michael Psilakis tells us "the proper paperwork has been filed and an inspection this afternoon resulted in zero violations. Opa!" That last bit, according to the internets, is a Greek exclamation used to express joy.

Kefi, the insanely popular Greek restaurant (photos) with the astonishingly sane prices, was closed yesterday by the Health Department. Chef Michael Psilakis—who has never been slapped with such a serious DOH penalty at his other hit restaurants, which include Anthos and Mia Dona—says the problem had to do with a paperwork oversight, not the usual "rat rodeo" situation that has shuttered other eateries in recent years. The Health Department confirms they closed Kefi after it failed its initial pre-permit inspection:

They were found operating without a permit and a Food Protection Course certificate holder present. Other factors that contributed to the closure included holding several food items at unsafe temperatures and having no hand washing sink in the food preparation area in the basement. In order to reopen, the operator of Kefi must apply for a permit, correct all conditions that led to violations, submit an affidavit of correction to the Health Department and schedule a re-opening inspection.

Yesterday State Senator Jeff Klein, a Democrat from the Bronx, released his third annual "dirty dozen" list of New York City's most unsanitary restaurants, based on inspection scores and citations for pest problems. Unfortunately for celebrity chef Mario Batali, the press conference was held outside his Del Posto Ristorante in the Meatpacking District. The three star restaurant was hit with dozens of violations in June, including a citation for food that was "spoiled, adulterated, contaminated or cross-contaminated."

There was some surprise when Geoffrey Zakarian’s three star restaurant Country (pictured) was shut down by the Department of Health last Friday. But it turns out that fruit flies, mouse droppings and a fly in the Maker’s Mark were the least of its problems – the main infraction was the restaurant’s unapproved sous vide method, which Country utilizes to vacuum-seal raw meat in plastic for slow cooking at low temperatures.

You would think that living in the city with the highest herpes rate would put the fear in New Yorkers, but a new Dept. of Health report is calling NYC out on its unsafe sex practices...and promiscuity! The Daily News breaks down the report, which shows that 40% of residents (your friends, neighbors, colleagues!) with multiple partners didn't use a condom the last time they had sex. 11%--that's around 610,000--had more than one partner in the past year, and 17% of men listed multiple partners (compared to the ladies at 6%). These weren't just single folks either: 5% of married men and women had two or more partners in the past year. The DoH isn't saying we're the sluttiest city in the world, but they do suggest having fewer partners and using more condoms! (Their report was based on telephone surveys with 10,000 city adults.)

With the Knitting Factory looking for a new home, and Luna Lounge being closed since April, all signs are pointing to the former moving into the latter. In fact, a sign on the front door of the now defunct Luna Lounge says as much.

Time to break out the subway condoms! The Health Department reported yesterday that "more than a fourth of adult New Yorkers are infected with Herpes Simplex Virus-2, the virus that causes genital herpes." For contrast, the national average for genital herpes infection is 19%.

Some West Village restaurants can’t catch a break this week; first an old water main broke and flooded them out during Memorial Day weekend, now the city has been stone cold shutting them down. Eater has it that the Department of Health ordered Diablo Royale on West 10th Street to close yesterday for “unsanitary conditions” – a tipster says the inspectors faulted the restaurant’s flooded basement. Now the swank bar/restaurant Employees Only has gotten the hammer. The DOB’s sign on the door reads:

The Department of Buildings has determined that conditions in this premises are imminently perilous to life. This premises has been vacated and reentry is prohibited until such conditions have been eliminated to the satisfaction of the department.

Fellow vendors and loyal customers are rallying to the defense of Antonios Dragonas, the 50-year-old pushcart food vendor who may soon be put out of business. For the past 25 years, Vendy runner-up Antonios Dragonas, has been serving his famous lamb shish kebab from the corner of Madison Avenue and East 62nd Street, but now the Department of Health is refusing to renew his license and permit.

Today’s wake for a beloved New York institution is being held in honor of Mei Lai Wah Coffee House in Chinatown. It seems the Times’s Eric Asimov, who usually writes about wine, doesn’t subsist on vino alone; he needs his coffee and steamed pork buns as well. And ever since Mei Lai Wah closed last week after a long, losing struggle with the Health Department, Asimov has been in mourning:

Mei Lai Wah was indeed singular because of its unusual character. It was grungy, but it had personality. I can think of other bakeries and tea houses in Chinatown, but they all seem bright, barren and sterile by comparison. Perhaps sterility is what the Health Department is after... I don’t know exactly what the issue was, and I’m not sure I want to look under the surface. I just know that I never had a bad or disappointing meal there and will miss the reassurance offered by its existence.

The earlier reports of the city’s sudden shutdown of Veniero’s pastry café have been followed up with some rather revolting details, sent to Eater by a tipster at the Department of Health. The beloved East Village institution, founded in 1894 by Antonio Veniero, had posted a sign on the door next to the DOH sticker blaming the shut-down on a “pest problem” caused by “a large Capital Improvement Project.” Pest problem, indeed:

Veniero’s Café was closed on Tuesday, May 6 following an inspection that found a vermin and rodent infestation. Over 300 mice droppings were found in six separate areas of the café. Two dead mice were found, live roaches were observed, and mice droppings were found in a 10 lb box of chocolate... Other conditions contributing to the closing were substantial amounts of food that were in uncovered containers, garbage accumulation, and six holes in walls that would allow rodents to enter.

Is Luna Lounge the latest casualty of the Department of Health? Eater reports that the venue "was shuttered on Friday and has yet to re-open." Recently another Williamsburg fixture, Sound Fix, was forced to close its doors after being harassed by the DoH -- they told us the irony of being "shut down for not having a food permit - and WE DON'T SELL FOOD! Ice is considered food in the health dept's eyes, I kid you not."

On the evening of April 3rd it was announced that Sound Fix, the record shop/cafe fixture on the corner of Bedford Avenue and N 11th Street in Williamsburg, was shut down. Since first mention the Dept. of Health has been blamed with locking the doors, but noise complaints are generally at the root of every establishment's demise.

Earlier this week, Mayor Bloomberg announced a new plan to put health information of millions of New Yorkers online. He touted the initiative, "By bringing this health technology to New Yorkers, we are building a national model for a health care system that works... In Washington, they talk about how our health care system should be reformed; here in New York City, we are actually doing it."

Here's some good news for all you offal lovers out there, specifically those with, ahem, a foot fetish. Hakata Tonton plans to reopen tomorrow. The West Village Japanese spot specializing in all things pig feet has been closed for a little over a week after recently failing a Department of Health inspection. The gal who picked up the phone at the restaurant today said the temple of trotters plans to open tomorrow. DOH gave them the go-ahead after they passed their inspection yesterday.

It's a dark day for South Billyburg lovers of southern comfort food – dark as blackened catfish on a moonless Brooklyn night. Eater points out Peter Meehan's discovery that the beloved hole in the wall Pies 'n' Thighs, in the shadow of the Williamsburg bridge, will close tomorrow night. Party, or wake, to follow.

Mayor Bloomberg, our city's tireless crusader against vice, whose victory against the artery-clogging forces of trans fat has drawn outrage from bakers and restaurateurs, was recently caught trans-handed in this Wired magazine photo. Or was he? amNY is absolutely one hundred percent certain that’s a Cheez-It in Hizzoner’s right hand (in the Wired photo, not the image here.)

The mice at The Mermaid Inn’s East Village location picked a mischievous moment to scurry out into the dining room a few nights ago – as luck would have it a writer for Time Out New York was there waiting for a table! The immodest mice must have been looking for their 15 minutes of fame, because they timed their appearance perfectly with TONY staffer Jordana Rothman’s emergence from the bathroom.

The New York Sun is reporting that the operator of the midtown Japanese restaurant Naniwa has been arrested for trying to bribe a city health inspector in order to avoid a summons. Kazuo Mitsuya allegedly tried to slip the inspector $200 to make the restaurant’s violations just go away. Presumably offended by the low sum offered, the inspector got on the horn with the Department of Investigations, who sent in an undercover officer posing as...

Governor Spitzer said that the NY State Department of Health's response regarding the Nassau County doctor exposed over 600 patients to hepatitis C and HIV was "unacceptably slow" and ordered an investigation. Dr. Harvey Finkelstein, an anesthesiologist, reused syringes and multiple-dose medicine vials between January 2000 and January 2005; some patients learned they had contracted hepatitis in 2005, but the state and Nassau County officials waited 34 months to contact other patients. It turns out...

Just a week after making headlines for unveiling the world’s most expensive dessert – $25,000! – the popular Upper East Side restaurant Serendipity 3 has been shuttered by the New York City Department of Health. Could all the hoopla surrounding the Frrrozen [sic] Haute Chocolate have brought some unwanted attention to the establishment? The shutdown went into effect last night and calls to the restaurant have thus far not been serendipitous. We do know that...

As health-code inspections in bars and restaurants continue apace in the wake of The Great Rat Rodeo of Aught Seven, strange, unheard of violations are coming to light: a bartender at Red Hook’s Moonshine bar was recently cited for “having bare-hand contact with one slice of ready-to-eat lime while placing on top of beer bottle for patron in bar.” In other words, every time you see your bartender poke a wedge of lime into your...

After weeks of media attention about the rising incidence of people, especially students, being afflicted by an antibiotic-resistant strain of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, more commonly known as a staph infection, MRSA has struck NYC. The Health Department confirmed that Omar Rivera Jr., a 7th grader at I.S. 411 in Canarsie, Brooklyn, died of MRSA on October 14.