He’s not a restaurant critic, but Mayor Bloomberg is giving a thumbs-down review to more than 4,500 of the city’s eateries.
Hizzoner told a meeting of medical researchers that anyone dining at restaurants that post anything less than an A grade from inspectors is taking a chance with their health.
“So, those [restaurant owners] that don’t want to clean up their kitchen, I know why they’re bitching — but I would suggest [you] don’t eat in a restaurant unless they have an A,” Bloomberg told the Galien Foundation, a group that honors achievements in health sciences.
Without naming names, Bloomberg suggested a wholesale boycott of New York’s 2,548 grade-B, 447 grade-C and 1,593 “grade-pending” restaurants.
Hungry New Yorkers still have plenty of A choices — 18,841 of them, to be exact, according to Health Department’s records.
The best Big Apple restaurants have nothing to fear. The top 10 on Zagat’s list all boast A grades.
But not every big-name eatery has dodged the mayor’s latest decree.
The famed ‘21’ Club in Midtown has a B, thanks to a handful of kitchen flaws.
An Aug. 13 inspection turned up “cold food items held above 41 degrees,” raw “cross-contaminated” food and instances of “food contact surface not properly washed,” records show.
Those are fairly typical violations.
Managers of the famed restaurant said they went before an administrative law judge on Wednesday and had their A restored — although it was still listed as a B on the city’s Web site Thursday.
“As this just happened yesterday, the new rating is in the process of being updated on the Department of Health Web site — but to reiterate, the B that ‘21’ was given this summer was inaccurate and the restaurant retains its A rating,” a club spokeswoman said.
Only those who follow the grading system closely would realize that ‘21’ came within a point of getting an A in August.
The restaurant received 14 violation points. If it had received 13, it would have earned the top grade.
Bloomberg’s tough talk was a shift from his more-forgiving stance in the early days of the rating system.
Back in 2010, Bloomberg said he might drop into a B-rated joint.
“It depends on the food,” he said then.