i grew up outside of new york where there was the occasional kosher resteraunt which was always enjoying a short-lived run. there just werent enough kosher patrons to sustain one. when i moved to new york for college i was overwhelmed by the plethora of culinary options for the kosher diner.
in addition to enjoying various price ranges and genres of kosher food, i also got to know the true meaning of the term greasy spoon and by greasy spoon i dont just mean that the food is greasy. the spoon is greasy, the chair, the table. bh every jewish establishment is not a contender for the greasy spoon award.
last thursday night i passed by j2 marketplace and was greeted by a sign saying their were closed down by the department of health and mental hygeine. when i read the mental hygiene part i was especially disturbed. there was also another note on the window saying they were closed until further notice. i dont know if they have re-opened yet. i suppose didnt care enough to walk past there before writing this post. j2's misfortune is not the point of this post.
when i saw the sign on j2 last week it got me thinking. just because the health department doesnt close down an eatery doesnt mean its up to par. they just may not have gotten caught yet. i also looked up the nyc dept of health and mental hygiene http://167.153.150.32/RI/web/index.do?method=goldenAppleList and typed in my favorite eateries.
if an eatery has a rating of over 28 violations are reinspected. the average rating for a new york restaurant is a 16. the lower the number the better the rating.
many kosher eateries had a score of 24 or 25. even "nicer" ones. netanya's pizza and pizza time on avenue j had ratings under 16 at the time of their last inspections. kosher delight in the city is the best rated kosher delight. the one in boro park was the worst. none have an optimal rating. mendy's on coney island and schnitzel king had the best ratings by far. under 10 at the time of last inspection.
along with the number of violations is the description of the violations. mouse droppings anyone? unkempt workers , poor plumbing and mishandled food storage and preparation to name a few.
after reading all these violations i realized i will be saving alot of money cooking my own food.
7 comments:
I try not to think when I eat out, or look behind the counter.
mike-
when i eat out i try not to think too much when i eat out, at the same time its good to be aware.
Either Meisner's or Meal Mart on M had 45 2 years ago. Forget about the last inspection violation count, look up their previous inspections.
I worked in the food industry and the goal of the inspectors is to find something wrong with the establishment. I am not saying that many establishments have major health violations, but some of the violations are just nonsense.
Buyer beware!
And if you come into an establishment and they have no soap in the bathroom, what are you gonna say then? How about obviously dirty cups or forks?
How about stores that regularly sell spoiled food?
charmedoneysg-
i tend to think that most restraunts have even more violations that what are listed. that said, i do agree that it depends on how many violations and what the violations are. i do agree with you that they go out of their way to site violations, but since some establishments do actually have a low number of violations, i do think that its possible.
p.s. j2 is still closed.
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