Restaurants take note: your report card will be plastered on the proverbial refrigerator for all to see. When I started this blog over a year ago, one of my first posts discussed LA’s restaurant grading system and how, after many hair sandwiches, I couldn’t believe NYC had nothing more than some inspection info buried deep within the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website. No more. Hopefully the salt wizard will back this one too.
“Restaurants will be graded on food safety starting at the end of July, city officials said Tuesday. The NYC Health Department announced it has drawn up plans to begin assigning grades of A, B or C to the city’s over 24,000 restaurants.
Restaurants with 0 to 13 “violation points” will receive an A. Scores of 14 to 27 points are a B, and 28 or more results in a C.
…According to the NYC Department of Health, Los Angeles’ implementation of letter grades resulted in twice as many restaurants receiving the highest food safety standards: 40 to 80 percent.”
A pseudo-fast food, surprisingly popular Indian restaurant around the corner from my apartment, Curry in a Hurry, closed down for 1 week last month because they failed their food safety inspection. Had there been a “C” grade posted on the front door, the cheap prices would not be enough to keep grossed out customers from deciphering where violation points were accumulated (was it the curry or the hurry?)
Finally, a way for New Yorkers to gain some control over the food we eat and a lot more accountability for restaurant owners. No more blaming poor regulation for rat infestations in Taco Bell or the painfully indifferent “my workers wear hair nets” response I once received from the manager at Lyric Diner after finding and clearly displaying to him a short, curly dark hair in my chicken wrap. Sorry Mr. Rude Dude, they clearly don’t.
For those of you who will continue to frequent restaurants where the food and environment reminds you of a gym sock, enjoy the pleasure of building up immunity to various food-borne bacteria. For the rest of us, let’s embrace the power of choice.
KitchenBitchNYC 