Sad Margon news from Lunch’er Ed today:

My coworker and I wanted some oxtail on Thursday from Margon. I had just been there the week before and got my fried chicken morsels on. So this past Thursday, we go there braving the rain (non-Irene related) and they had a sign on the door that said they were closed because of a power outage. What was weird to me was that they had newspapers covering all the windows as if they were renovating the inside. We thought no worries, we’ll just try again tomorrow. We settled for El Rey Del Sabor on 43rd. We go back Friday, and again it is closed. Not Happy. This time we settled on Sophie’s on 45th which was a decent substitute. So figuring, they are bleeding money, they HAVE to be open Monday.

We go back and it’s closed again. Only this time, we spot the Health Department Order tucked away on a side window. Looks like they racked up 60 points on the inspection last Wednesday. Hopefully, they come back soon. Can you find out when they plan to reopen and get their reinspection? Because frankly, all restaurants deal with these issues and I just need my oxtail.

They were hoping to reopen today, but it looks like that didn’t happen. Maybe tomorrow? (Keeping our fingers crossed.)

Photos courtesy of Nick L.

The oft beleaguered generic deli, Pranzo (on 50th btw. 6+7th) has been in a perpetual state of flux for as long as the DOH started serious cracking down on sanitation standards. Last year, we noted that they had been temporarily shut down by the DOH, and I walked by this week and noticed that they’ve been shut down for good after racking up 90 violation points.

We generally don’t like to celebrate failure on Midtown lunch, but here’s to hoping that a more interesting (and cleaner) lunch spot takes their place. And for anyone in the market for some heat lamps, hotel pans and other restaurant supply goodies, it looks like they’re auctioning off the final remnants of the restaurant this Thursday.

I happened to walk past the generic salad bar/deli, Tomato (52nd St between Lexington & 3rd Ave.), and noticed they’ve been shuttered by the DOH with a whopping 93 violation points. Although we’ve never tried to food here, our condolences go out to the lunchers who relied on this place for their sushi, sandwich, and salad needs as well as the people that risked food poisoning by actually eating here.

Thanks to Mr. Wilson for sending in this tip about Zocalo in Grand Central: “Shut down by the health department yesterday for at least 2 days due to ‘refrigeration issues’. Will be hosting a customer appreciation night this coming monday. A sign posted yesterday invited everyone to ‘come by monday for a margarita on the house’.” Nice! Now that’s how you handle a Department of Health closure properly.

Well, this is a crappy way to end the week! Lunch’er Dan sends over this photo of Pranzo, the generic deli on 50th btw. 6+7th.  In far sadder news, though, @ambitiousdelish just let us know that the DOH hit Gahm Mi Oak as well!  Hopefully it will all be sorted out by Monday…

Related:
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Got some sad news from Midtown north on Friday… the Menchanko Tei on 55th btw. 5+6th has been closed by the DOH.  We don’t know for sure why they were closed, or when they will reopen- but they did have an inspection about a month ago and the results aren’t pretty. If you don’t want to read the specifics, and we don’t really blame you if you don’t, we’ll just tell you that they got a 61 (28 and below is passing.)   Then again, roaches didn’t stop us from going to the 45th street location, so this probably won’t keep us away from the 55th Street location.

Ouch.  Nothing like ending your biggest PR week of all time with a little Department of Health action.  Lunch’er Alvin spotted this in the window of the new 2 Bros Pizza location on 38th and 8th.  It’s too soon for the inspection to be posted on the DOH website, so we have no idea why they were closed- but with a new place like this it’s probably something stupid, like not having the proper sink installed.  No word on when they will reopen…

UPDATE: The owner just checked in with an explanation… and surprise! It is something stupid.

We have to build a door between us and our neighbor so we can access the basement bathroom without leaving the store. The door is being put up today (you can send someone to check that this is 100% accurate info). They wanted to open us today but no inspectors were available and they are closed on the weekend so we have to wait till Monday. It was our initial inspection and the inspector thought lack of this door was grounds for closing. We have a reopening inspection Monday at 9pm so we should be open 10am Monday.

Our restaurant is squeaky clean and we had no sanitary/cleanliness issues on the report. It is a construction issue that is being repaired as we speak.

Got to agree with Marc Murphy on this one… there is no reason a restaurant should be closed for an issue that has nothing to do with food safety. Forget about letter grades… is it just me or is this completely idiotic?

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