Open Thread Wednesday 1/19/11

Warning!
Montague Bagel racked up a whopping 62 points in their 1/13/11 Department of Health inspection. They currently have a grade pending. The city website prevents a posting direct link, so here is the closest: http://a816-restaurantinspection.nyc.gov/RestaurantInspection/SearchBrowse.do

Enter the business name: HOT BAGEL & DELI

and the zip: 11201

Here is a copy of the info:

Violations from 01/13/2011 Inspection
Tip! “Critical” violations are displayed in red (1-7 are in red).

Violation points: 62

Violations were cited in the following area(s).

Sanitary Violations
1) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F.
2) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.
3) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan.
4) Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding.
5) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
6) Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
7) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
8) Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to attracting vermin to the premises and/or allowing vermin to exist.
9) Toilet facility not maintained and provided with toilet paper, waste receptacle and self-closing door.
10) Plumbing not properly installed or maintained; anti-siphonage or backflow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly.
11) Accurate thermometer not provided in refrigerated or hot holding equipment.
12) Proper sanitization not provided for utensil ware washing operation.

I spoke to the manager of Key Food today regarding the odor. He said, Yes they became aware of the situation. They had to replace the whole floor beneath the “chicken” refrigeration unit – took them two days. The situation is being corrected In the future, if you have a problem like that management is usually eager to hear about it and solve the situation.

I assume you’ve all heard the news about the mass roundup of the mafia across NY, NJ and elsewhere. Evidently AG Holder announced it from Downtown Brooklyn. Was it the US Attorney’s office? Did anyone notice a cavalcade of SUVs this morning?

/wishing there were an “ignore” button for the word “whambulance”.

The other day I saw a family on the Promenade, assumed they were tourists, but they weren’t. Didn’t get the name, but the man is the new pastor at the German Zion Lutheran Church on Henry Street. He speaks German and comes from South Africa. He, his wife and young son and daughter should be a worthy addition to BH.

Oh, and about framing: think local. Why would anyone go to Coney Island Avenue to have something framed, when there are wonderful places, such as Jubilee, which has been in the neighborhood for 40 years, or Montague Framing, or others, to deal with?

Red Baron. it’s near the front end (nearer Montague Street) by the non-fancy cheese and possibly even nearer the ice cream. Or that’s where I smell it.

AAA ain’t what it use to be. I took a cross country road trip in 09. I had current AAA maps and guide books. I found them to be filled with erroneous, inaccurate and out of date information…
AAA no good.

AAA has devolved into being the AARP for car owners. Quite a shame, given their past reputation and the need for a 21st century incarnation based on the the services they provide. Unfortunately, they seem to have lost touch to the point that they think GPS stands for Geriatric Preservation System.

Below is a link to a good article concerning the lack of meaningful local government in Brooklyn. Part of the argument is that there is not an independent-borough wide daily newspaper to hold politicians accountable. This is where Homer and the other Brooklyn Heights Blog contributors are filling an important void.

http://tinyurl.com/nyt-powerless-in-Brooklyn

I was in Key Food (Montague Street) earlier this evening and the armpit smell seems to have left the dairy aisle. I live in hope.

@BookLover: If you’re willing to step into Cobble Hill, BookCourt has a reading club. I believe FreeBird Books (123 Columbia St., between Kane & Degraw in the Columbia St. Waterfront District) still has their apocalyptic book club (SF). Both bookstores will notify you of events via email.

Here ya go David have a drink on me,

Waambulance

@Arch
Perhaps you just got out on the wrong side of bed this morning – I don’t know. But it’s unfortunate that you have to resort to name calling and nastiness just because you encounter someone whose opinions are different than your own. It lowers the whole level of discourse on what is normally be a very civil blog by Internet standards.

Then again, maybe you’ve been spending a little too much time around the crappy cashiers at Key Foods.

Sometimes I think modern cashiering is a kind of sweatshop work, where the employees have one highly specialized, repetitive job they do for their whole shift, and are expected to keep up the pace.

It’s hard to keep up the pace hour after hour, day after day, year after year, and still make eye contact, smile, say “Hello!”…especially when so many of your customers are just trying to get through a line. A long time ago I worked both behind an electronics counter (hitting the register after talking with the customer and making the sale), and also exclusively at check-out. The two are night and day.