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Caught on Tape: More Rats!
By
Jen Carlson
Published Sep 7, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Sep 7, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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This week Inside Edition aired footage of rats in some of New York's more popular restaurants. The statement we received from the program states: "In middle to late August, Inside Edition’s 'Rat Patrol' took to the streets of Manhattan between 1am and 4am peering their cameras and flashlights into the windows of a wide variety of eateries from fast food places to fine dining establishments." In total they found 22 restaurants harboring the urban wildlife. To keep us guessing, they only sent out a partial list of 17:
Abitino’s Pizzeria, 233 Bleecker Street
Da Silvano, 260 Sixth Avenue
Yuen Yuen Restaurant, 61 Bayard Street
HSF, 46 Bowery
Pecan Fine Foods and & Coffee, 130 Franklin Street
Senor Swanky’s, 142 Bleecker Street
Hello Berlin, 626 Tenth Avenue
Hour Glass Tavern, 375 W. 46th Street
Blue Water Grill, 31 Union Square West
Friend of a Farmer Country Café, 77 Irving Place
Pongal, 1154 First Avenue
Hawaii Sushi, 1477 Second Avenue
Blue Ribbon, 97 Sullivan Street
Ottomanelli’s, 395 Amsterdam
McDonalds, 26 Bowery Street
Peter Luger Steak House, 178 Broadway
Vynl, 507 Columbus Avenue
On three separate nights cameras caught the critters feasting "on scraps that were left on the dirty kitchen floor and climbing over crates of glassware" at Da Silvano's (pictured top left). The owner there said the problem was caused by nearby construction and recent renovations and claimed he will be throwing out everything edible in the restaurant and starting fresh. Ah, not even the celeb hot spots can escape the wrath of roaches and rodents.
The cameras also spotted the rodents on two separate nights at Peter Luger's (pictured top right). One owner said the restaurant is spotless and blamed it on recent renovations, claiming that exterminators visit on a regular basis. However, the President of the steak house (Marilyn Spiera) told the Brooklyn Eagle that “It doesn’t look like our place. I don’t see the waiter stand [where the waiters congregate] outside the kitchen.” They're celebrating 120 years this year, we'd be more surprised if there wasn't a rodent problem during all that time. Just think about them having the voice of Patton Oswalt and it'll be fine.
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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