[UPDATE BELOW] On Monday, the very same day that Fatty 'Cue won the Best New Brooklyn Restaurant award from readers of Time Out NY, the Williamsburg hotspot was shut down by the NYC Department of Health over a whopping 115 violation points. The restaurant, which smokes basically everything, has yet to reopen, but owner Zak Pelaccio and his Fatty crew say there's a simple explanation for all this: "We just couldn't think of a better way to celebrate winning Best New Brooklyn Restaurant." Below, the top ten list of Fatty violations:
1) Food from unapproved or unknown source or home canned. Reduced oxygen packaged (ROP) fish not frozen before processing; or ROP foods prepared on premises transported to another site.
2) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.
3) Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment.
4) Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility's food and/or non-food areas.
5) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility's food and/or non-food areas.
6) Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided.
7) Refrigeration used to implement HACCP plan not equipped with an electronic system that continuously monitors time and temperature.
8) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
9) Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.
10) Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to attracting vermin to the premises and/or allowing vermin to exist.
We can accept the rats and mice—it comes with the restaurant territory in New York (also, this is Williamsburg. Under the bridge. Down by the river.). But not protecting food from contamination sounds troubling, and come on—not providing hand washing soap in the food prep area is disgusting. On the other hand, as Grub Street's Daniel Maurer puts it, "Truth is, we’d worry about a barbecue joint that got the health department’s seal of approval."
[UPDATE: Fatty Cue's publicist tells us the restaurant will reopen for dinner service tonight.]
Last year we put together a video showing Fatty 'Cue's laborious whole pig smoking process, which occurs inside two Ole Hickory smokers, which can smoke approximately 400 pounds of meat at a time! Check it out:
Video by Gregory Stefano.
