They can close him down, but they can’t shut him up.
A fiery Staten Island restaurateur who has been waging an angry battle with the Health Department says the agency’s inspectors have bugged him for the last time.
Charles Hermansen is closing down his Italian eatery for good just so he doesn’t have to deal with the inspectors he says have made his life hell for speaking out against unfair practices — but he’s not going quietly.
“I truly believe that this is a vendetta because I opened my mouth and I’m trying to fight City Hall,” said Hermansen, proprietor of Cucina di Napoli, in Tottenville.
Hermansen says he’s been a marked man since a restaurant owners’ meeting where he charged that department inspectors were harassing Staten Island restaurant owners with petty infractions to extract hefty fines for the city’s treasury.
It was after that that inspectors went on Thanksgiving weekend and shut down his restaurant.
The two inspectors showed up at his 110-seat eatery while it was teeming with customers on a Saturday night, and one inspector allegedly admitted they chose to show up then “to see him at his worst.”
The inspectors tallied 56 health-code violation points for various infractions — nearly twice the 30 needed for a failing grade — and that led to his being closed down immediately.
Hermansen said his bid to reopen was delayed because of his indignant refusal to write a requested letter of apology for being “rude” to inspectors.
“I said, ‘Shut me down! I’ll never write an apology letter,’ ” he said.
As a result, he has had to lay off 13 employees and cancel at least half a dozen holiday parties.
“I lost a fortune in parties and Christmas cheer. I would say anywhere between $20,000 and $30,000 in income,” he said.
Health officials have denied asking him for an apology and say they shut down his restaurant for serious health-code violations.
Hermansen says he’ll challenge the violations at a Jan. 19 hearing but out of principle only.
He has put the building and the business up for sale.