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Defiant Midtown Lunch Spot Cer Te Tapes "C" Grade To Bottom Of Door

By

John Del Signore

Published Jun 28, 2011

Modified Jun 28, 2011

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Courtesy Midtown Lunch

By

John Del Signore

Published Jun 28, 2011

Modified Jun 28, 2011

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Back in September, the popular midtown lunch spot Cer Te coped with a disappointing "B" grade from the Health Department by turning letters into lemonade: on the front door, they used the "B" as the first letter in "BEST." Problem solved! But what do you spell when you get stuck with a "C" grade? "CLEAN" just seems ludicrous in that context. "CONTEMPT"? "COMPETENT"? "COMITY"? Oh no, Cer Te devised a more elegant solution.

Midtown Lunch reports that Cer Te is hiding their new "C" grade "all the way at the bottom of the door." But there's a simple explanation for all of this! A Cer Te rep writes into Midtown Lunch to clear things up. An excerpt:

What we do in a 3,200 sq. ft. place would take a normal restaurant about 10,000 sq. ft. As we grow, we refuse to take short cuts such as ready made food. The violations we received are mainly based on non-food items. We are committed to buying from the right sources and ensuring that we feed our customer the proper product.

Without realizing, the DOH is contributing to the McDonaldization of NYC and we refuse to bend. After all, it is much easier to store frozen & canned products, than fresh products. We are adamant about preparing our food on-premise and not having a hidden off-premise commissary that is under the radar of the DOH. The DOH hardly grades on cleanliness & they do not reward for superior products. They are more concerned about temps and holding points.

For the record, Cer Te racked up 38 points during its most recent inspection at the end of February. Among other things, the establishment was cited for:

• Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided.
• Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
• Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.
• Non-food contact surface improperly constructed. Unacceptable material used. Non-food contact surface or equipment improperly maintained and/or not properly sealed, raised, spaced or movable to allow accessibility for cleaning on all sides, above and underneath the unit.

C? THE DOH JUST WANTS YOU TO EAT AT MCDONALDS!

Tagged

cer te

doh

health department

letter grades

sanitary inspection

John Del Signore

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Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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