Jeers to the hair scrambled egg. My nice Sunday brunch at Almond, quintessentially a New York style French bistro on 22nd and Broadway, quickly turned into another post when I found a fresh follicle melted into the cheddar over my scrambled eggs.
Mmm.. gross.
Despite my inevitable loss of appetite, I sucked up my pride enough when a new meal was brought out to enjoy what ended up being a fantastic brunch. The locale can’t be beat either—low traffic street with a great view of the flatiron building and around the corner from Madison Square Park.
At least the manager at Almond was sincerely apologetic—nothing like the I-couldn’t-care-less tone I once received from the Lyric Diner manager in a similar situation. He comped the eggs and iced coffees which left me feeling somewhat satisfied yet disgruntled to have another hair meal experience.
These practices are unacceptable for a city that prides itself in its cuisine, harboring an ensemble of restaurants that collectively are deemed a premiere market.
The New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene needs to step it up during their inspections because this is disgraceful. Clearly their guidelines need to be redefined.
Since the hair meal is equal opportunity despite cost and expected luxury of the restaurants it invades, my guess is that the NYDMH regulations for hairnets and acceptable personal care of the kitchen staff in general are lax to say the least. Either that or the inspectors have taken so many bribes that even the FDA looks like it takes it job more seriously these days.
KitchenBitchNYC 