Results tagged “tacobell”

Over the summer rapper 50 Cent declared Taco Bell had wronged him by using his name without permission, and filed suit against the chain for 400,000,000 Cents. Now the Daily News is reporting that "in unusually nasty court filings, Taco Bell called Fitty a common street thug who's trying to look tough." Originally, Taco Bell President Greg Creed asked the rapper in an open letter/ad campaign to change his name to 79 Cent, 89 Cent or 99 Cent for a day, and noted if he rapped his order at a drive-thru it would result in $10,000 being given to his favorite charity. Creed says, "This lawsuit is another of [50 Cent's] attempts to burnish his gangsta rapper persona by distorting beyond all recognition a bona fide, good faith offer that Taco Bell made." Meanwhile, Taco Bell's lawyer (who better run for the border after all this name-calling) also claims that the rapper uses "his colorful past to cultivate a public image of belligerence and arrogance." 50's lawyer wonders "why they would decide to use his name in their ad campaign if they think he's such a bad character."

Rapper 50 Cent has filed a federal lawsuit against Taco Bell, claiming the fast food chain used his name without permission in an ad campaign that asks him to change his name to 79 Cent, 89 Cent or 99 Cent. The ad is part of their "Why Pay More?" campaign, and a Taco Bell rep addressed the debacle, saying, "We made a good faith, charitable offer to 50 Cent to change his name to either 79, 89 or 99 Cent for one day by rapping his order at a Taco Bell, and we would have been very pleased to make the $10,000 donation to the charity of his choice." The problem is that 50 never agreed to it, and now Taco Bell may be left paying more than they bargained for as they face a $4 million lawsuit; the rapper wants payback for "diluting the value of his good name."

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.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a missing child on 94th St. and Broadway in Manhattan, a disabled train in the Amtrak tunnel under the Hudson River, and a shooting on Mott St. and Central Ave. in Queens.
• Miss Subway: beautiful at any age.
• For environmentalism, blue may be the new green. Coal miners and New Yorkers will probably stick with black.

From rats ruling a West Village KFC/Taco Bell to Governor Spitzer's downward spiral, from a shock jock's questionable words to an up-and-down year for the MTA (and its riders), we bring up the biggest stories of 2007.

Cats in delis: they are ubiquitous, loved, objected to, necessary, and illegal. City inspectors are constantly on the prowl to ferret out deli felines, but deli owners say they are necessary fixtures to keep their businesses free of pests like mice, rats, and roaches. The New York Times has a story today on the ongoing battle between the city and the cats that are the sentinels of its delis--feline samurai who serve their masters in return for food, shelter, and the occasional scratch behind the ears.

To store owners, the services of cats are indispensable in a city where the rodent problem is serious enough to be documented in a still popular two-minute video clip on YouTube from late February (youtube.com/watch?v=su0U37w2tws) of rats running amok in a KFC/Taco Bell in Greenwich Village. Store-dwelling cats are so common that there is a Web site, workingclasscats.com, dedicated to telling their tales.

Bostonist knows how to party, and party it did this week! As the Red Sox played their winning Game 4 against the Colorado Rockies in the World Series, one fan composed tunes for each player on the team. Then, when the Red Sox won the World Series, fans celebrated all over town and snarfed the free tacos that Taco Bell gave the nation when Jacoby Ellsbury stole a base. Then they watched jigging Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon get his boogie on at the Red Sox Rally after the World Series. Manny Ramirez also invited them--and the entire city of Boston--to his house for drinks, but since the invitation came from the elusive Mr. Ramirez, Bostonist didn't believe him. And now we're moving on to the mother of all football games and the rise of Ghidorah on the basketball court. Beyond Red Sox news, Bostonist is honoring the passing of the late, great Robert Goulet by encouraging men to grow mustaches.

Nowadays, when people see rodents at restaurants, they aren't necessarily calling 311 immediately - it seems the first call is to the local news station! A couple strolling by the Upper East Side Pinkberry at 82nd and 2nd Avenue called WABC 7 when they saw mice running around the store at 2:30AM yesterday. WABC 7 observed, "The mice seemed to prefer the counter area. It is just feet from the yogurt machine where the fresh-fruit toppings are kept." One Pinkberry customer, who had waited 20 minutes on line, told the Post, "As long as there's no rats in the ice cream, I'm OK." And, plus, mice are way cuter than rats.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a brush fire at 165th Ave. and Crossbay Blvd. in Queens, a stabbing on Bedford Ave. in Brooklyn, and hazardous material reported at 86th and 1st Ave. in Manhattan.
• A Credit Suisse First Boston banker faces up to 20 years in prison and $14 million in fines after he and a co-conspiritor were arrested for insider trading.
• Preservationist irony: Brooklyn's epic-sized grain terminal in Red Hook will remain a neighborhood fixture as it is repurposed for a new and useful life. It will soon hold ingredients for concrete to be poured over the rest of the present city.
• The McGreeveys continue their less-than-amicable divorce proceedings in the pages of the NY Post.
• A drunk off-duty firefighter nodded off in an East Side pizzeria, which was fine with the owner until it was time to close up. The police had to be called, and when they arrived the firefighter punched one of the cops in the face.
• The infamous West Village Taco Bell/KFC that drew attention as a haven for publicity-hungry rats will not reopen. We were amused to see that the owner of the restaurant is named Yum! Brands.
• 68% of New York City students graduate with a Regents diploma, versus an 87% statewide average outside of the city.
• Taking a page out of Lloyd Braun's political playbook, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn distributed nametags to the Council's other members.

In George Orwell's 1933 debut roman a clef novel "Down and Out in Paris and London", the author asserted that the more high-class an establishment in Paris, the more disgusting its kitchen could be counted on being. We certainly don't feel that holds true today, but the New York Times has a piece this morning about the closure of Brasserie la Côte Basque in the wake of the health scandal that stemmed from a rat rodeo in a West Village Taco Bell. The widely publicized downtown event resulted in the firing of at least one health dept. inspector and the closure of dozens of restaurants that were quickly re-evaluated.

Remember when a filmmaker claimed that a group of lesbians attacked him outside the IFC Center last summer? And it was revealed that the women felt they were defending themselves, with one woman saying, "I admit I did cut him one time for my own safety"? Well, the case has made it to court.

The 22nd Annual April Fools' Day Parade is today. Did you go? We hope not, because this is a long running joke itself. During its 15th year the press was fooled and showed up to find no parade. From the Museum of Hoaxes:

Untitled, by Raymond.

amNewYork features State Senator Jeff Klein's letter grading idea for restaurants on its cover. In the wake of the media capturing rats running around a KFC-Taco Bell that had just passed a health inspection, the Health Department has been under fire.

Coffee Shop was closed for a few days when the Department of Health tallied up 102 points of violations - 28 or more requires a closure - at the restaurant, finding "Cooked or prepared food is cross-contaminated" and issues with plumbing among the concerns. The Union Square eatery posted a snippy sign explaining the closing, and owner Charles Milite went to the NY Times and said Coffee Shop was "caught in the cross hairs of this unfortunate Taco Bell Situation," since Coffee Shop had operated for 17 years without incident. And he promised the restaurant would reopen yesterday.

There may be March Madness in the air, but East Village Idiot has the cure for New Yorkers who can't get behind the NCAA: March Radness, which take 64 disparate NYC moments/ people/ objects/ stores/ trends/ nonsense and sees who will reign supreme.

This will probably be a familiar sight: An explanation from your neighborhood restaurant that details why it's closed. And most likely it will include a complaint about the Health Department's sudden change in restaurant inspection behavior in this post-rats at a KFC-Taco Bell world. This sign was spotted outside The Coffee Shop by Joe Schumacher, proving that model-esque hostesses and servers are no match for making sure there are rubber gloves in the first aid kit.

While it seems like many restaurants are suddenly closing in the wake of the scandalous appearance of rats at a Greenwich Village KFC-Taco Bell, the Health Department claims it's just going about business as usual. Their statement to amNY: "Our policy remains the same: Inspectors should cite violations that they see. Our only mission is to enforce the health code and keep restaurants safe for customers." And the DOH denied that closings had spiked recently, which makes this graph very weird.

A new shocking Health Department-related video has emerged, but there are no rats in this one. Apparently, a restaurant inspector looks like he's sleeping at a restaurant's bar area before handing over a notice of inspection failure!

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Restaurant Inspection division is on a tear. The DOH shut down three Pizza Hut restaurants owned by the franschisee who owns the rat-infested KFC-Taco Bell in Greenwich Village, the restaurant that launched a thousand shocked giggles and a million more eeewww's. And maybe there were a couple, "Oh, the rats look cute. Behind the glass." Franchisee ADF has eight restaurants in NYC that were allowed to remain open; the company claims it is reviewing its maintaintence procedures.

Not only do rats like gorditas, they like faux French food too!

Once upon a time at the corner of West 63rd and Broadway, there was a 6,000 square foot stationery store called Lincoln Stationers, where you could find airmail envelopes, buy a snazzy pen and order your wedding invitations. But Lincoln Stationers closed last year and a Starbucks and Duane Reade rose in its place - exactly what the neighborhood was in desperate need of, because the only other Starbucks and Duane Reades are 4-5 blocks away!

- Going to provide "training specific to assessment of rodent infestation...to more than 100 DOHMH food service establishment inspectors within the next 8 weeks"Um, that last point? Why didn't the Health Department have that before? The Health Department also says it has "performed a series of rodent exterminations on the block of 6th Avenue in Manhattan where the restaurant is located," but we'll rely on people who live there to tell us if they worked.

You're in town for the weekend. You've seen the Statue of Liberty, eaten pizza at Lombardi's, and taken in the view from the Empire State Building? What else is there do to in New York? Why, see the KFC/Taco Bell rats of course! What could be a better Big Apple experience?

It's pretty funny when a story about over a dozen rats scurrying around a West Village Taco Bell-KFC location is the leading story on the local news (okay, there was a mention of an off-duty police officer shooting a neighbor, too). The footage (see here at WNBC), while totally repelling, is also amazing. And that rat dangling from the chair? No wonder everyone is swarming to 6th Avenue and West 4th Street to catch a glimpse of those huge suckers!

You know what's awesome in high definition TV? Seeing images of huge, fat rats run around a fast food restaurant in the Village! WABC, WCBS, and WNBC descended on a Taco Bell-KFC location on Sixth Avenue at 4th Street. The restaurant had been open until 11PM last night, and someone called in a tip when they saw rats running around. While people have seen rats in restaurants, they probably haven't seen something that looked this close to the Rats of NIMH. This story also made the Today Show, in a broader piece about "Is food from your restaurant safe?" Which makes us wonder about the pros and cons of e. coli and rats.

I saw Zach Galifianakis(Comedy Central Presents, Comedians of Comedy, Dog Bites Man) at the UCB theater a few months ago and he was going some crowd work. Some lady said something, I don't remember what, but Zach's response was, "Don't get me farted." From that, you can gather two things: Zach Galifianakis is a comedic genius and you should definitely see him at Irving Plaza on the 24th of February.

Untitled, by Lara Wechsler on Park Slope Street Photography.