NYC restaurants must now show patrons their report cards, letter grades and all

NYC restaurants must now show their report cards

NEW YORK — New York City’s 24,000 restaurants — from its internationally known eateries on down to its most modest pizza counters — will have to display large letter grades near their entrances indicating how clean they are under a system approved Tuesday.

The best will get an A, according to the system approved by the city Board of Health.

Officials say the system is designed to give instant information to potential customers.

“The grade in the window will give you a sense of how clean the kitchen is, and it will give every restaurant operator an incentive to maintain safe, sanitary conditions,” Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said in a statement.

Some other cities use similar rating systems or are considering them. A bill was introduced last year in Washington D.C. to require them in restaurants, and Los Angeles has been posting public grades in eateries for years.

Los Angeles grades its restaurants with A for scores of 90 to 100 percent, B for 80 to 89 percent and C for 70 to 79 percent. A restaurant that scores under 70 percent twice in a year is subject to closure.

Some restaurant owners and industry officials have called the system gimmicky and unfair.

“They’re doing a disservice to the public,” said Marc Murphy, a vice president of the New York State Restaurant Association and the owner and chef at the Manhattan restaurants Landmarc and Ditch Plains.

He said the letter grading system will only serve to embarrass restaurateurs without giving the public a true picture of the establishment’s cleanliness.

Critics charge that grades could change from week to week, depending on a city inspector’s whims, and that even a grade of B could be fatal to some fine dining establishments.

“Two flies can get you cited for a rodent violation,” Murphy said. He predicted that the new system “will hurt our reputation as the restaurant capital of the world.”

But celebrity chef Tom Colicchio, owner of Craft and other restaurants, said the system was a good idea.

“I think anything that is going to encourage people to clean up their act and protect the public is a good thing overall,” he said.

Marianela Rogel, who owns the far lower profile El Rinconcito De Tito in Jackson Heights, Queens, agreed.

“People will be a lot more relaxed,” she said at her tidy, five-table eatery, not far from a mop sitting by the front door. “When people come into a restaurant the first thing they notice is whether it’s clean.”

Dario Franco, owner of the nearby Colombian-style restaurant Cositas Ricas, said he thought his place would get an A.

“It would be great for us. That would give us a higher profile in the community,” Franco said. Cleanliness is essential,” he added.

New York officials say that after Los Angeles began its letter grading system for restaurants, the proportion of restaurants that met the highest standards rose from 40 percent to more than 80 percent.

The details of New York’s system are still being finalized, but the proposal called for grades A through C, based on demerit points accumulated by violations.

“I think you’re going to find that most restaurants will get to the A status, which is the idea,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

About a quarter of the city’s restaurants have “significant lapses in food-safety practices,” according to the health department. Officials say that about 30 percent would qualify for an A, 40 percent a B and 26 percent a C.

New York City’s restaurant inspection reports are already posted online, but officials said posting the information in restaurant doors and windows prevents diners from having to search for it.

The plan approved Tuesday gives restaurants that receive grades lower than an A time to improve their sanitary conditions before they have to post anything.

For those eateries, the health department will return within a month to conduct a second inspection, and the second grade will be posted unless the restaurant operator contests it. Restaurants appealing their grades will be allowed to post a “grade pending” sign.

The health board vote was 6-2. One of the two board members who voted against it was Bruce Vladeck, an expert on health care policy and financing.

He called the system “misguided” and “intellectually incoherent,” and said restaurants should be graded on a pass-fail basis. Vladeck said he couldn’t see the value of saddling a restaurant with a passing grade with the black mark of a “C” ranking, if a different inspection on a different day might have earned them an “A.”

The new regulations do not cover the city’s mobile food carts.

Associated Press writers David B. Caruso, Cristian Salazar and Adam Goldman contributed to this report.