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Hold onto your sausage and gravy biscuits — the flagship Jacob’s Pickles, one of the premier restaurant scenes on the Upper West Side, located at 509 Amsterdam Avenue between West 84th and 85th Streets, was shut down by the Health Department on Tuesday, June 4. A sign on the front door says they expect to be open by the weekend.
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We first found out about the shutdown from this TikTok video, before a reader texted us the news.
On Friday, the day after we first published this story, the New York City Health Department published the results of Jacob’s Pickles’ latest inspection, which took place on Wednesday. The restaurant was slapped with 76 points, the same score given to Bagel Talk when it was shut down late last year. To put this in perspective, scores between 0 and 13 receive an “A,” while scores from 14 to 27 earn a “B,” and scores of 28 or above receive a “C.” While the inspection uncovered some serious violations, a letter in the window of the restaurant states that the building’s age and condition is “one of the many reasons we’re preparing to move to our new home on Columbus Avenue in the coming months!”
Here’s the list of violations from the recent inspection:
- Hot TCS food item not held at or above 140 °F.
- Evidence of rats or live rats in establishment’s food or non-food areas.
- Live roaches in facility’s food or non-food area.
- Sewage disposal system is not provided, improper, inadequate or unapproved.
- Food, supplies, or equipment not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display, service or from customer’s refillable, reusable container. Condiments not in single-service containers or dispensed directly by the vendor.
- Establishment is not free of harborage or conditions conducive to rodents, insects or other pests.
- Anti-siphonage or back-flow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly. Condensation or liquid waste improperly disposed of.
Opened in 2011, Jacob’s Pickles has been a popular hotspot for locals and foodies on a mission to find quality comfort food. Our classic order is the sausage gravy–smothered buttermilk fried chicken with cheese grits. When a dear friend outed me during a birthday dinner there a couple of years ago, they gave me complimentary fried Oreos for dessert.
Since Jacob’s opened outposts in Moynihan Train Hall on 8th Avenue, Time Out Market in DUMBO, and South Norwalk, Connecticut, it used to be a place we’d take visitors to check out. But like Levain Bakery’s expansion, it’s lost some of that rare local luster.
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The restaurant has plans to move to a larger space at 688 Columbus Avenue, between 93rd and 94th Streets, in the near future.
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Sounds like they went to the same school as Barzini’s
I knew there was a reason I don’t eat there. Yuk
We should be grateful to the Health Dept. for uncovering these violations in order to keep the public safe, and to ILUWS for publishing this.
It is unfortunate that the letter posted to the public by the owners, distorts the truth and makes it seem as though it was only a matter of an old building in need of upgrades. The details revealed in your article point out serious safety issues which could adversely affect the public. Thank you for an important article.
GAGiferously Gross… CORPSE FLIES, SEWER FLIES, BLOW FLIES and rotting food.
Why are they allowed to re-open? To try again??
They should have been shut down for serving horrible food!
And nobody noticed the rats and roaches until the inspection? This over-rated, hugely popular place will probably do just as well in their new location because, well, it’s an “in place.” Food is so subpar.
Sounds like trash food even if it’s clean.
Flies are gross what’s grosser is the dog pile of celebrstory comments about this situation. I know these people. They are good people and they will make it right. I’m in no way denying that there seems to be a problem at this restaurant. But what exactly is your problem that you take pleasure from someone else’s potential downfall? It isn’t the first time this has happened in the city, and it hasn’t killed every business it’s happened to. Ooenly mocking people who are already down- that’s what I call trash behavior.
Good people don’t let their restaurant accumulate 76(!!!) DOH inspection points.
Good people don’t get cited for not posting their DOH rating.
Good people don’t like and try to blame their problems on an old building.
These are not good people.
…and all these problems are going to be corrected in 2 TWO days??? Nope, thank you.