Rockland County, NY – The Rockland Department of Health took action against restaurants in Monsey and Spring Valley that had numerous sanitary violations
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Eli’s Bagel Shop, 58 North Myrtle Ave., Spring Valley, was fined $1,300 for 16 violations including hundreds of mouse droppings, insecticide stored near food and dirty equipment. Inspectors ordered the shop closed until it was cleaned. When inspectors visited the shop two days later, they found that the notice of closure notice had been taken down , and a second closure sign was obscured by a sign saying “No hot Water.”
Owner Eli Solomon attended a hearing with the department and said he would improve conditions. It will be reinspected.
Royal Barbeque Inc., operator of Monsey Barbeque, 106 Route 59, Monsey, was fined $2,350 for 52 code violations, including raw meat thawing in buckets on the floor, mold in food containers, chicken blood splattered in a cooler and workers failing to use gloves.
During another inspection made on July 8, officials found food that should have been refrigerated being stored at 70 degrees, Stoughton said. That food was ordered destroyed.
“The place was a mess,” Stoughton told the board. “It has a horrible history.”
Restaurant representatives David Schreiber and Marko Hareu attended a hearing with the department and said that they would work to improve conditions, officials said.
Monsey Barbeque will be reinspected.
To check out any restaurant in Rockland click here
This is beyond disgusting! I eat there, my kids eat there…where are the mashgichim/owners! How dare they serve tainted poisonous food to us?? And at the prices they charge, which are a ripoff to begin with, how dare they not make sure it is sanitary in those and all restaurants??I knew there was a reason I got sick the last time I bought shwarma…I will never go there again, no joke….
We need MORE of these inspections, more often.
the health department is over done most of the time
There is a website that a local legislator here in Rockland helped get this very kind of information out to the public go to Rocklandrestaurantcheck.com and you can find out any violation about any restaurant! There is no excuse for these workers/owners keeping their places of business especially restaurants unclean. Disgusting! Makes you think twice about going out for dinner!
Nothing new here. Heimishe kitchens are disgusting. And it doesn’t stop with the restaurants. Supermarkets that prepare food on premises are just as bad, if not worse. dirty machines, dirty floor, dirty counters, ….uuch! You have the choice to eat there or to eat at home. Unless the food is prepare in the public eye, I’ll eat at home thank you.
At least one good thing the goverment does!!
I think I will eat home tonight.
Is there a website to see what places are cited and what for?
“chamirah sakanta m’isura” kashrus mashgichim should have said something.
I just went to the website provided and checked a few eateries I have been to and I found one of the following:
1) There were previous violations, and they were ALL corrected in subsequent reinspection and all inspections henceforth were completely clean.
2) NO violations whatsoever with many of the ones I checked and I looked at probably 8 places between Spring Valley and Monsey.
What we see here in this article is hurrendous. But for heaven’s sakes Yidden, don’t imply that *all* places are then suspect.
I work as a mashgiach in a restaraunt and I am constantly cautioned by a chef about a host of precautions or methods I should be sensitive to in the course of food production. That’s part of his job to make sure the kitchen is up to code. I am happy to have any point made to make sure I am doing my part to take care of the customers that trust me in this important job.
don’t blame the kashres mashgichim its the owners to blame here they are stingy to hire more staff to keep the place clean
so here comes the health dept. and the owners will scream raceist and the will call press conference like they always do in monsey
I’m surprised nobody called the health department reshoim for caring and doing their jobs.
The bottom line is that many restaurants prepare like pigs. I also have e seen many times Korns bakery leaving their bread outside to cool off and birds pecking away and also make bird droppings on the challah. How do they get away with this?
I find it interesting that everyone is ok with more and more inspections but when it comes to the kosher and nono kosher slaughter house like the one in iowa everyone screams the union! the conservatives! the competitors! the anti semites ! When it hurts you directly then you scream but otherwise you scream anti semites
hmmm. funny – i passed by tonight and the bbq place was booming – doesnt any one care — maybe thats why it tastes so good. Hey in Israel – scwarma houses are completly filthy with no gloves, flies, and god knows what else..
I am an avid customer of Monsey BBQ. I have inspected the front and back myself numerous times because I knew they had violations in the past (I like to check out kitchen/toilet at eateries before I dine). I have never found anything that would match the above description, on the contrary it was always clean and organized.
When I asked the owner about the accusations he replied that he doesn’t get along with the inspector well…
I later found out the true story. The inspector pops by once in a while, drops a few violations to fill his quota and leaves. These two stores decided to take maters in their own hand and started to give the inspectors a rough time (wise guys).
Never fight city hall!
ASKAN, are you by any chance the owner of Monsey BBQ? Or just his friend/relative…
I live 40 minutes away from Cholov Yisroel food, naturally, I dont go out to eat very often what with baby sitters, and the cost of gas,,,
I must say I always bake my own challah, and seldom eat out,, so I know that if there is shmutz, its because I put it there. Ahh the peace of mind,,,
Here is my philosophy: Most store-owners know just around when the inspectors come, and if they know when their coming and STILL cannot at least fake a clean store for a day or two, then you know what, I think that they deserve it. If they are so dirty that they can’t even put up a show for the inspectors, then your probably sure that their are not clean on a daily basis either.
plain common sense, no?
In the article it mentions that one of the places was cited for “hundreds of mouse droppings” I wonder if the inspector actually got down on his knees and counted them.
To ASKAN: If it was so clean, then how come my husband got food poising right after eating there.
If you keep a clean kitchen, you will have no problems with the health department. I speak from personal expierence from being in the food business for almost 20 years.
So think before you talk.
You mean that wasn’t cream cheese on my bagel???!!!
Anonymous Says:
In the article it mentions that one of the places was cited for “hundreds of mouse droppings” I wonder if the inspector actually got down on his knees and counted them.
07-24-2008 – 4:01 AM
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would you be ok if you found 1 bird dropping on your bagel. stop blabbering and smell the coffee. This is not a molestation story that you feel should push under the carpet . This is about food poisining and about bird droppings going into your mouth.
It is for exactly this reason that I laugh when the kashrus gurus decide we cant eat romaine lettuce and strawberries due to microscopic bugs we can wash away. mice droppings are fine though. I wash my romaine and my strawberries, i peel my musrooms and pre soak my brocolli – I am vrey careful.
I am not the owner nor do I know the owner other than frequenting his store and saying hello.
I would consider myself a Schwarmaholic and every place I go I need to check out their schwarma places.
I’ve been to many places in brooklyn, some of them are way better in taste and in service, but their kitchen conditions are way worse then Monsey BBQ.
Schwarma is a heavy/fatty meat combined with a lafa, hummus, pickles, fried eggplant and what not, it could be upsetting to a stomach that’s not used to it.
Again, I have no interest in sticking up for Monsey BBQ other then justifying my own eating habits.
They always find voilations even in the most fancy places,a couple are no problem, but when you have 20-30 or more something is wrong.
And last but not least the reason they lashed out at the Kosher spots is, because after they shut down these places six months ago, a meeting was arranged between the HD and the kosher stores and a self proclaimed “Rabbi” spoke and yelled at them that they are Anti Semites…
Now the chickens have come home to roost.
What about gloves? People serving food must change their gloves before touching money and touching the food again!
Well, in Monsey anything goes… you can pull the wool over their eyes, even feed them un-kasherd chickens… Kol haeda kulom kedoshim…
Purple Pear and Bubba’s don’t any have violations in the last couple years
Not true, Purple pear has had seven violations in the past two and a half years. no violations at bubba’s, thank G-d.
Mamesh anti-semites. How dare they inspect a kosher place and tell us that it is unclean. It was just an anti semite inspector.
What’s amazing is that while these establishments all have hechsheirim, cleanliness plays no role in what might be kosher. How ridiculous.
Mamesh anti-semites. How dare they inspect a kosher place and tell us that it is unclean. It was just an anti semite inspector
I agree with you 😉
The violations the article is referring to happened on 1/22/08. The article is exaggerated and has errors in there which we will discuss with our attorney. However, we immediatly took action to renovate our kitchen entirely including redoing all walls with stainless steel which is easy to clean. Eli’s Bagel had a reinspection within 24 hours on 1/23/08 which we passed and reopened. Another reinspection was done on 2/25/08 with 3 minor violations and another reinspection 5/14/08 with 3 minor violations and another reinspection on 7/14/08 with 2 minor violations. Please understand an example of one of these minor violations. Example 2/25/08 = Kitchen hand wash sink is obstructed with a pan. O.K. so the pan was there for a moment before it was washed. This in no way jeopardizes the health and well being of the food we serve our custormers. Please keep in mind Hevey Don Es Kol Odom L’Kaf Zechus!
there gos the flaver
If a person eats mouse droppings in error, is he over a lav?
I can send my cat over to take care of your mouse problem for free!
Oh comon Eli, We know that no store is perfect and that the Health Dept exagerates, but you know deep down that your store is filthy. I’m not syaing that everything is the way the papers say it, but most of monsey knows that your shop is probably the dirtiest food store in Monsey. I just feel bad that it came to all this.
I visited once Monsey BBQ on my way up to the Catskills.
The food was delicious and everything looked to be clean and fresh.
The food that I was served was in front on that turning schawarma thing. that’s why i like many schawarma joints because non of the food is rewarmed fridge/freezer garbage.
If food is prepared in the back I would go into to check out how it is prepared.
at least Moshe Finkel was never cited for unsanitary conditions or spoiled meat
Monsey take out was cited for only 3 minor violations since january 2006 and none in the last 9 months. That’s reassuring considering I ate there yesterday.
they are jews…let them make a parnahsah…patronize them for the communitees sake.