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.
Open All Night was on hand for the opening and indeed found it was infested with celebrities - not health code violations.
We stopped by the Union Square restaurant on Wednesday after owner Charles Milite had announced that unspecified "celebrity customers" would be there in a show of support when the cafe reopened after being shut down by the New York City Health Department for minor code violations.
And what do you know, the guy didn’t lie. Julianne Moore and her husband, director Bart Freundlich, popped in for lunch with daughter Liv. Once inside, Moore stopped to chat at Susan Sarandon and Stanley Tucci’s table.
Also present: A pregnant Naomi Watts and her brother, photographer, Ben Watts. These celebs are a testament to how clean the Coffee Shop must be, if pregnant ladies and children are eating there! And maybe Taco Bell should bring back the chihuahua to reopen its 6th Avenue location.
Photograph from Open All Night
