February 28, 2007
Currently NYC's Public Enemy #1: Restaurant Rats
Not only do rats like gorditas, they like faux French food too!
Just after the Health Department announced new restaurant inspection measures in the wake of the rat-infested, yet-Health Department-passed Village Taco Bell-KFC, WNBC found rats at an Au Bon Pain at Third Avenue and 40th Street. Rats like Midtown, too! WNBC spoke to an ABP representative who "expressed surprise over the findings." (The last time the location was inspected was last August.) A reader updated us with the situation:
the health department must have just been there and ordered the place shut, because there's a big yellow sticker/placard on the front door, which notes that the joint has been "closed by order of the commissioner of health and mental hygiene." the doors are locked.Crazy! But that raises another question: If you just bought a meal, and then the restaurant was suddenly closed by the Health Department, would you stay and eat it or take it to go? And it's cute how there's a note from Au Bon Pain that they are closed early - it's almost sweet.but here's the really weird part: as of three minutes ago, there are still about six customers in the place finishing their meals! perhaps they can't read.
If you watch the WNBC video about the ratty Taco-Bell KFC , the best part is when reporter Tim Minton asks Health Commissioner Tom Frieden if there were possibilities for the restaurant to pass inspection "other than incompetence, sloppiness or corruption?" Frieden grimaces and says, "That about covers it."
The Observer has a great look at how the story emerged. A freelance cameraman saw it and sent it to WNBC: "He shot through a window at an angle to avoid glare, he said, and used a 30-volt light to illuminate the rats. Most were at the rear of the restaurant, about 100 feet away, in easy range of a 20-to-1 zoom lens."
WABC 7's "dirty restaurant story" is about the Vegas Diner in Bensonhurst being shut down after an inspection. No rats, though!
Photographs of the offending Au Bon Pain by The Smoking Gun
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You have to admit, rats are kinda cute.
eeewwwwwwww, i've eaten stuff from the ABP! I used to freelance at court tv in that building, they were a convenient source of breakfast and mid day snacks.
their bread is so good that even rats want to eat there!
Is that rats picture from KFC or from ABP?
Bummer about the Vegas Diner, that place is great.
Bummer about the Vegas!! Good thing no rats though, maybe they will reopen?
Wow that's gross. Is that how you yankees live up there? Lol just kidding, I love The City.
Bob Hasko
www.TeesMyBody.com T-Shirts
them rats is nasty bud they need to find they own place to eat j/p!!!!
F*ck! I just had a coffee and muffin from there this morning!
How is the food faux French? What does that mean? Are the croissants actually biscuits in a crescent shape?
evidence of smoking in the restaurant (Vegas Diner)-
probably some waitresses who didn't want to freeze their butt off during the cold temps recently.
Next stop, Starbucks!
Companies who REALLY want to discover how bad their RAT or MOUSE problems are could simply do the following:
--> get several mousetraps/ rattraps with bait and leave them in dark places ...
--> or for get several inexpensive night vision Cctv Cameras or Webcams with a motion detection and a DVR recorder - then install them in suspected places along with the traps to see what percentages were caught.
BTW:
If the latter seems like an ordeal - just imagine the bad PR and the money lost when any midtown store is closed....even with insurance, yet they still have to pay rent and taxes and get their customers back.
Or they could get a store cat to stay overnight. They are non-toxic, self sustaining rodent control, and nice to pet, too.
I LOVE that idea Shirley. It would attract more customers too. I know I can't resist a store or a deli with a cute kitty sitting in the window!
What about a cute kitty sitting in the window with a dead, mangled mouse dangling from its mouth?
Ugh! I just vomited in my mouth a little. I work in 605 Third directly across the street and while I usually bring my lunch, I have occasionally hit up this ABP in a pinch. Feeling like Ace Ventura whe he finds out that Einhorn is Ray Finkle - "Your gun is digging into my hip". Blech!
Do staff still get paid when stores like this close down temporarily?
EWWWW! I also used to work at Court TV and ate there frequently. I am so grossed out.
LOL, I stopped eating fast food years ago ! If the server doesn't put something in your food, Then you might have to worry about their level of pest control .
The Vegas Diner is open! They were ready to re-open immediately.... And, when they re-inspected it, there were no violations found! It's amazing how a good place could get so screwed! 25 years in business and never a problem, then suddenly something happens in the City and they are made an example of for no reason!