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."
Klein has been pushing for legislation that would require restaurants to prominently display their health inspection scores for customers. (As it stands now, that information is publicly available on the Health Department's website.) According to Eyewitness 7, in 2000 Klein sponsored a bill modeled after a Los Angeles law requiring restaurants to post letter grades indicating their health code status. Last year the Restaurant Association and the Health Department said such a grading system "could leave customers confused because it's vague and it may not accurately depict the cleanliness of a restaurant over time"; WCBS reports.
But Klein's still committed to the idea, and his yearly report sifts through 20,000 restaurants with the worst inspection reports. The full "Dirty Dozen" list is here; while perusing the filthiest offenders, keep in mind that it only takes 28 points to fail an inspection. (The top five had over one hundred violation points!) And to cleanse the palate, here's the list of the 12 most sanitary.
Photo courtesy Miss Ginsu.
