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Bagel Factory Closed??? — Brooklynian

Bagel Factory Closed???

staceyk
staceyk
edited November -1 in Greenwood Heights and Sunset Park
What happened??

Comments

  • simian_sam
    simian_sam
    There's a sign up on the front door from the Dept of Health & Mental Hygiene saying it has been closed for violations. :c(

    Hopefully they'll clean up & reopen. I will miss it for sure.
  • lemur11215
    lemur11215
    I am really not suprised at all. As I said in another post, I stopped eating there months ago because the place was so dirty. The final straw was watching the workers go from handling the money to making the food with no handwashing, no gloves, no consideration of how dirty money is.

    Living in New York, I know you have to have a pretty high tolerance for those things, but the Bagel Factory really grossed me out.
  • staceyk
    staceyk
    That's really unfortunate...the owner is very nice and so are the workers. And not bad bagels either. I guess I was oblivious to what was going on behind the counter...but the food was pretty good. I hope they correct it and open up again soon.
  • username: *
    username: *

    Subject: Close Bagel Shop Cramps My Style

    lemur11215 wrote: I am really not suprised at all. As I said in another post, I stopped eating there months ago because the place was so dirty. ...
    I don't know from nothin', and it never occurred to me to look in the window, but I stopped one of the counter guys unloading supplies on the sidewalk a few days ago and he said the place had been sold and the new owner closed up to make certain changes. Which, if the health violation gossip above is accurate, is probably just what he was told to say. ...Of course, my little buddy also said the place would be open Tuesday, which it was not.

    I know money is dirty, but that's small potatoes compared to a really good flyborne pathogen. As for me, I'll still buy bagels there, if it ever opens. The food was too good and cheap and close to pass up.

    For what it's worth, the health department's Web site does not (at the time of this post) list the Bagel Factory among the 264 :!: violaters in the 11215 ZIP code.
  • username: *
    username: *

    Subject: Re: Close Bagel Shop Cramps My Style

    Username: * wrote: ...the health department's Web site does not (at the time of this post) list the Bagel Factory among the 264 :!: violaters in the 11215 ZIP code.
    Uh, check that. :oops: It does. But. The most recent information is for an inspection that was on Oct. 17, which showed 13 violation points. (That's average for the city, as it turns out, and counts as passing. Anything under 28 does. This apparently was a followup inspection to a 27-pointer and a 36-pointer in September.)

    So, I guess, the Web site is not up to date (though there are results listed for inspections that happened in late February). I'd walk up and check out the violations myself, but it's ass-cold outside. Maybe in the morning.
  • simian_sam
    simian_sam

    Subject: Re: Close Bagel Shop Cramps My Style

    Username: * wrote: he said the place had been sold and the new owner closed up to make certain changes. Which, if the health violation gossip above is accurate, is probably just what he was told to say.
    Yeah, it's no gossip. Next time you go past, stand on one of the benches out front and look at the front door. It looks like they tried to hide the Health Board notice by leaving the gate slightly raised in order to block the view. It's there, sadly. I too would likely return if they reopened.
  • staceyk
    staceyk
    can you get food poisoning from a toasted bagel with cream cheese? I swear to god like about 3 weeks ago I ate a bagel from there on a Monday morning..the only thing I ate on Monday... and had severe food poisoning monday late at night and all day Tuesday. I did have chinese food on Sunday night but not sure if it was the chinese food or the bagel. my friend says you can't get sick from a toasted bagel...and food poisoning can set in 2 days later so most likely it was the chinese food. can food poisoning really set in 2 days later?? As I mentioned in the last post I really like the bagel factory...but haven't gotten a bagel there since...only sandwiches. I'm not saying anything...just thought I should mention it.
  • filmlover44
    filmlover44
    Stacey, yes, you can. Cheese being the most likely culprit if it hasn't been refrigerated properly. It's just not safe to eat any more!

    The Uncle Mo's near my office in Chelsea got shut down for a couple of days too. I just hope that they are more careful now!
  • staceyk
    staceyk
    I never had food posioning before...I thought I was in a very cold hell...I would have rather had the flu.
    I think I'll lay off the bagels and chinese for awhile.

    Interesting fact: Did you know that one bagel is the equivalent of 9 slices of bread?

    Anyway, I think NYC should just go to a grading system like CA where the establishments have to post their score in the window. It would make owners take it a little bit more seriously. When I lived in CA, it made me think twice before going into a restaurant that didn't score an "A."
  • filmlover44
    filmlover44
    Grading would be a great idea. Food poisoning is awful. When I was in Jamaica, I was given that medicine people take for motion sickness and it really helped! Who knew?

    Bagels are a rare treat for me. The bagel place near my office has "mini bagels", which are about half the size of a regular bagel, therefore half the calories.
  • username: *
    username: *

    Subject: Re: Close Bagel Shop Cramps My Style

    Username: * wrote: ...Next time you go past, stand on one of the benches out front and look at the front door. It looks like they tried to hide the Health Board notice by leaving the gate slightly raised in order to block the view. ...
    I did, and it is, and they sure are trying to hide it. Which is just stupid, although probably not as stupid as getting shut down in the first place, especially after being busted last fall. ...This has been a major crisis for me as there is not a suitable replacement so close. It appears that I will have to, in the meantime, make my own coffee (shock!) and switch to, perhaps, english muffins (alarm!).

    I'm a warrior, though. I'll endure.
  • staceyk
    staceyk
    damn i'm bored today...

    there's better coffee down the street at Cafe Sutra bet. 18th an 19th...just walk past Has Beans and it's stuck in between a latino travel agency and a tax agency. they have bagels but they're not baked on premises.
  • username: *
    username: *

    Subject: Sorry, but I Like a Bagel in the Morning

    Forgive me if I seem fixated on this subject, but... That stupid bagel shop is still not open. On Monday, I saw them working on the back wall, replacing the window and bars. But. The past two days, there has been no activity (or so I am reporting; I walk past at least twice a day during daylight hours), though the trap door in the sidewalk has been open both days.

    Bagels-wise, I would give a mild endorsement, to replacement bagel-seekers, to Bagels on Third, which is basically a straight-up clone of Bagel Factory on the corner of Third Avenue and 20th Street. You'll feel at home with the ennui pervading the counter help, and Bagels on Third adds a hot steam table of breakfast items (which is not necessarily an improvement). The bagels are very similar, large-sized and bready, and they often have those abrupt trims on opposite ends, telltale signs of having baked into one another. But they are made on site, it appears, and any visitor who arrives before 10 or 11 is likely to get a bagel that is still warm from the oven. The coffee is not offensive and there is a large case of pastries, of which the cheese danish is actually good. So an irritated thumbs up from me on that. :D ...Previous posters' (coffee-only) endorsements for Cafe Sutra were dead-on; that place is a little frou-frou, but the joe is pretty good. Has Beans is pretty good, too, if only because the lady that runs it seems like a good egg.

    PS. According to the latest information from the city's Web site, Bagels on Third passed its latest health inspection... but only by a whisker. You can read the gory details here: http://167.153.150.32/RI/web/detail.do?method=detail&restaurantId=41090243&inspectionDate=20070110
  • username: *
    username: *

    Subject: My Obsession (Burp!) Continues

    staceyk wrote: What happened??
    Here is the poop (see below; sorry, no pun intended) on Bagel Factory's latest health inspection, which took place on March 2 and in which they scored a 45, which obviously is a failing score. By 18 points.

    1.)Non-food contact surface improperly constructed. Unacceptable material used. Non-food contact surface or equipment improperly maintained.
    2.)Food contact surface not properly maintained.
    3.)Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to vermin exist.
    4.)Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility's food and/or non-food areas.
    5.)Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.


    No. 5 seems like the biggy, especially for a place that had problems before. See for yourself at http://167.153.150.32/RI/web/detail.do?method=detail&restaurantId=41118956&inspectionDate=20070302

    This is the third time in the past year and a half they have failed a health inspection, which may cause me to amend my previously stated policy of resuming my role as a loyal customer when (uh, or if) Bagel Factory reopens. And 45 points is rare air when it comes to health inspections. Of the 272 places the city visits in the 11215 ZIP code, only 7 did as bad or worse in their last inspection. And one of those was the American Legion Post on Ninth Street, which doesn't seem like it should count.
  • azul
    azul
    Does Bages on Third have tofu creamcheese? For better or for worse, tofu creem cheese is what endered me to the Bagel Factory.
  • staceyk
    staceyk
    i totally forgot about Bagels on 3rd...they do have good bagels...very clean shop...but that's a bit of a hike for a bagel from where i am....esp. the brutal uphill bet. 3rd and 5th. they probably deliver though
  • username: *
    username: *

    Subject: Re: Sorry, but I Like a Bagel in the Morning

    Username: * wrote: Forgive me if I seem fixated on this subject, but...
    Bagel Factory is open again, as of this morning.

    I went in and it's the same crew (which is interesting because on Wednesday there were signs in the window that said it would re-open Thursday "under new management"), with the exception of a tallish, brooding newcomer who was very territorial about the cash register. Which leads me to believe that the city's big concern was letting things get all higgle-dee-piggle-dee behind the counter, with everybody changing money and making sandwiches. That's not to say that the mouse and rat problem was not substantial; my dog can attest to that.

    I ordered a large coffee and bought a pastry and am (so far) living to tell the tale.

    This is all very irritating to me, for reasons I have stated before, with the added nigglers that 1) I never had any gastro-intestinal distress from eating there and 2) I have a friendly repeat-customer familiarity with the workers there. On one hand, I say to myself that they got busted and now they are open and they probably cleaned up their act. And on the other hand, I say to myself they got busted, but they got busted before and they will probably get busted again.

    So, with that, I am going to see if this, too, shall pass. (Sorry, that time the pun was intended.)
  • filmlover44
    filmlover44
    Well, it's the closest bagel place to me, so i may get brave and venture over there again!
  • smitty
    smitty
    Regarding the food poisoning issue, I doubt it was the bagel. Food poisoning usually sets in a day or more after eating the offending bacteria.

    http://www.pdrhealth.com/patient_education/BHG01GA29.shtml
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