Back of the House

You’ve Got Vermin!

That man in the back of Moutarde? Actually a large mouse.Credit: Robert K. Chin
As you have almost certainly read, the Department of Health has suspended the inspector who passed the KFC–Taco Bell the day before it was exposed on television as being staffed and patronized exclusively by rats. (Or something along those lines. We were half-watching.) So does that mean, we wonder, that when the department actually flags a restaurant, the place must be overrun by vermin gangs snitching on each other? Either way, we thought it worth taking a look at the name restaurants that have been recently cited.

Moutarde
This Park Slope brasserie, a favorite of Merlot-sipping matrons, scored a whopping 96 on their score, three times the failure threshold. They were cited for mice and not being “vermin proof.”

The Rainbow Room
Nothing says Manhattan glamour like this storied restaurant on top of Rockefeller Center. But that doesn’t mean you won’t find “flying insects” in the kitchen. In case you’re keeping track: They scored a 31.

John’s Pizza, Lincoln Center branch
This, the fanciest of the John’s branches, is pleasing enough to the eye, but the Health Department laid 67 points on the place for mice and other unsanitary conditions.

You’ve Got Vermin!