The New York Times rolled out a nifty interactive map cataloging restaurant sanitary inspections, putting all the dirty details at diner's fingertips. The vast majority of restaurants in our fair city receive high marks from the Department of Health, a good chunk don't—and now you can search through those by specific violation. Because you can still earn an A after evidence of rodents and roaches is detected. Would you be surprised to see that hundreds of restaurants across are home to furry frenemies? more ›

Restaurateurs, the City Council feels your pain. Though the Department of Health's restaurant letter grade program has proved popular among consumers, many restaurateurs are still not loving it. Some are even taking pains to skirt DOH inspections. But don't worry, 2013 election-ready Speaker Christine Quinn and her Council hears the cry of the common cook and is doing something about it! Why, they've even set up an online survey! more ›

Restaurateurs aren't exactly big fans of the Department of Health (see: the guy who got big fines, he says, for photographing an inspector working) but the Daily News today notices an interesting way that some are getting out of the standard inspections entirely: Just claim to be a supermarket or a warehouse! more ›

Following the lead of Mayor Bloomberg and other city councilmembers, Queens State Senator José Peralta says he will introduce legislation this week that will require local health departments to set up a letter-grade systems for food carts. Perhaps this will allow the food vendors to end the siege that is the Great Food Truck Crackdown of 2011 and literally come clean. more ›

Remember way back in 2010, when restaurants were worried that they'd be driven out of business by the then-new letter grading system? Well, lookee here, turns out they weren't just being paranoid! The number of restaurants getting shuttered by the Health Department has skyrocketed by more than 17 percent in the past year, thanks in large part to the letter grades. Oh, and restaurant owners are pissed. more ›

Some joker had some grade A fun last night with the kitchen at Occupy Wall Street last night by putting up a fake Health Department inspection sign. Stand up comedian and writer John Knefel spotted the sign and took this photo, writing on Twitter that volunteer kitchen workers told him the A rating came from city health inspectors. But the kitchen has not been inspected by the Health Department, as far as we know, and Knefel later tweeted that he was "asked not to discuss it further by Kitchen. I tweeted it too early, got excited." He wasn't the only one. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg, who apparently harbors a dirty water habit himself, thinks the city's street food vendors should be subject to the same letter grading system as brick-and-mortar restaurants—but the Health Department isn't so sure. more ›

New York's restaurant letter grades have been around for a year now, most restaurants have been graded and a majority have gotten themselves A's. But along with the rise of letter grades (and the increase in fines for the city's coffers that have come with them) something else has been on the rise: attempted bribery. Yesterday the police arrested a restaurant owner in Queens for trying to pay off an inspector with $500. His was by no means the first such case this year. more ›

Restaurant letter grades have been the law of the land in New York City for a year now, though not every restaurant has gotten a grade yet, and many C-graded spots are not loving it—just look where some of them put their grades! "It's killing us," a host at a Washington Heights restaurant told the Daily News. "People see the C and they walk away." But not everyone is as worried about bad health scores. At least not when there is a celebrity chef attached. more ›

As we well know, all restaurants in the city get letter grades from the DOH, whether or not they decide to show them. Some have even suggested that supermarkets should get them as well. But do Broadway theaters really need grades too? more ›

How much is a good letter grade worth to a restaurant? Apparently, if they are smart, more than $300 bucks. After not making any arrests for attempts to bribing health inspectors in 2009, the city's Department of Investigations busted four people in 2010 and have already made four more arrests this year! more ›

Since New York started handing out letter grades with their Department of Health inspections, a number of college cafeterias have been performing quite poorly and students and their parents are not amused. Today the Times catches up with the story, and though the schools are rushing to fix things ("We let the students down,” one admin said) it is too little, too late for some. Why bother with school food, these kids want their Five Guys, and they want it now! more ›

Health Department inspections at three of Fordham University's dining facilities last month revealed a (dirty) laundry list of violations, including "evidence of mice or live mice present in facility's food and/or non-food areas, 'filth flies,' and not storing hot food items above 140 degrees Fahrenheit and cold food items below 41 degrees Fahrenheit." Two things to note here: The cafeterias are operated by Sodexo, a French multinational corporation that has previously been fined by the NY State Attorney General and that is now contracted to run concessions at the soulless new Coney Island. Second: Fordham students are as outraged as they are unsurprised, and they say they've found all sorts of weird stuff in their food. more ›

The Health Department has been giving restaurants letter grades for nine months now—so how're our eateries doing? A-OK, actually. Health Commissioner Thomas Farley showed up at City Council yesterday to tout the good news that more than half of the 15,000 restaurants the department has inspected since the new system was put in place are now sporting blue A's in their windows. more ›

This week, the Department of Consumer Affairs announced the very disconcerting results of the latest fall supermarket inspections, and it turns out we're all getting ripped off: compliance rates have hit an all-time low of 33 percent, and there have been more than 750 charges against supermarkets in the last four months alone. They found that the most common violation was for a lack of item pricing, which according to the DCA resulted in city inspectors getting overcharged a third of the time (it's like their very own mini taxi overcharging scandal!). So in light of that, some are wondering if it's time supermarkets started getting letter grades. more ›

Times reporter Henry Alford got the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to send an inspector to his kitchen. (Your tax dollars at work, saving journalism!) After a thorough review, inspector Beth Torin told Alford his kitchen's so unsanitary she wouldn't eat in it. And this after he spent a day cleaning it! Violations included Alford's washing his hands in the kitchen sink, a too-warm refrigerator, and a broken meat thermometer. But the biggest transgression was his cat, which "can blithely go from litter box to tabletop or kitchen counter, transporting bacteria." In the end, Torin has a heart and says, "I'll give you the cat if you swear you’ll wash your hands in the bathroom. Then I’d come over. You’ve got to eat somewhere." more ›

Not satisfied with a solid B grade from Health Department inspectors, midtown sandwich shop and catering company Cer Té got creative with their mandatory letter grade sign last week. Just add three more letters in the same font and presto: That "B" is the BEST! The Wall Street Journal spotted the signage and wonders what they'll do if they ever get a saddled with a C grade. We're thinking you can't go wrong with CHEAP, right? more ›

Say hello to real Peking duck! After years of strict temperature regulations, the Department of Health has finally made revisions which allow roasted meat to be exposed in the open for up to four hours at any temperature, The Wall Street Journal reports. Previously, "potentially hazardous prepared foods" were to be kept below 41 degrees or above 140 degrees, and only out for up to two hours, making the traditional practice of hanging duck, chicken, and pork by storefront windows very difficult. more ›

Now that Health Department's restaurant letter grading system is going full steam, the spotlight is on some well known restaurants to see how they do. But is the Health Department grading fairly? McSorley's Ale House's last grading would put them in C range, with violations for cold food being held above 41 degrees, evidence of flies and for the facility not being vermin proof. However, Di Fara Pizzeria in Midwood would get away with a B, even though their violations sounded much worse. more ›

The Health Department has begun rolling out its controversial letter grades for restaurants, and the first high-profile casualty is Katz's Deli, which racked up 47 points after a recent visit found evidence of roaches and mice. That score puts Katz's squarely in the C range, and owner Alan Dell is miffed, because he thinks the scarlet C will stay posted until he's inspected again. "Sometimes they take points off when they aren’t warranted, and that sits with you till the next time you’re inspected, which could be six months," Dell tells Grub Street. (N.B.: C-grade restaurants are reinspected within 90-150 days.) "It all depends on which inspectors come in," Dell adds. "Sometimes you get a rude disgusting person, and sometimes you get a nice, normal person." We suppose the ideal inspector is the nice, disgusting person? more ›

Despite an outcry from restaurateurs, the city Health Department has voted to approve a reform measure requiring NYC's 25,648 food-service establishments to publicly display letter grades that summarize the results of food-safety inspections. A similar public grading system has been used in LA for years, and NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley insists, "The grade in the window will give you a sense of how clean the kitchen is—and it will give every restaurant operator an incentive to maintain safe, sanitary conditions." Specific rules and procedures have yet to be written, but officials say the system will be phased in this summer, and will work something like this: more ›