By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — More than 3,700 restaurants in Manhattan are apparently destined to get the coveted "A" grade in the city's new restaurant cleanliness rating system that took effect this week.
But figuring out where and when those A grades will be given out to Manhattan eateries is no easy task — for diners and restaurateurs alike.
DNAinfo has confirmed that one of the restaurants with an A grade is the 5-star Park Avenue Summer, at East 63rd Street and Park Avenue. A blue sign representing the grade was prominently displayed in the restaurant's window Thursday afternoon.
Manhattanites looking to make weekend dining plans, though, could have a hard time finding other restaurants with a near-spotless record.
The Health Department's website doesn't allow users to search by grade, only by a corresponding numerical score.
Scores 0-13 are coded blue, and indicate that the restaurant will eventually receive an “A” grade. Green coded restaurants scored 14-27 and indicate a “B” status, and a score below 28 is a “C.” Anything lower than that is highlighted in red, meaning that the restaurant will be shut down until it improves.
The number of points issued for violations, which translates later into a letter grade, depends on how much of a health risk the restaurant’s food poses to the public.
A public health hazard, such as food that isn’t maintained at the proper temperature and could potentially carry harmful bacteria, automatically gets 7 points.
Critical violations, such as the presence of rodents, get 5 points, and general violations, such as unclean utensils, get 2 points or more.
The Heath Department has 180 inspectors conducting visits to New York’s 24,000 restaurants — about 9,500 of which are in Manhattan — using wireless hand-held computers that calculate scores with special software. After the grades are calculated, it takes 24-72 hours for them to post onto the site, in a piecemeal fashion, a Health Department spokeswoman said.
Grades for all Manhattan restaurants won't be fully distributed and input into the database for at least another 10 months, the spokeswoman said.
Workers at some restaurants apparently slated to receive A grades are finding the system confusing.
Joseph Larubbio, the food service director of Café 111, on 111 Wall St., said that the restaurant had no violations at its last inspection, in March. But whether that translates into an A now is unclear to him.
“If I’m not mistaken, the grading system just began,” Larubbio said. “We might have to get re-inspected? I don’t know. I’m not sure when we’ll get our grade. Or what it will be.”
Sisco Neboba, manager of the Upper West Side Italian restaurant Puttanesca, said that he took a required course from the Department of Health on the new grading system, but is still unsure about his restaurant’s fate.
“I hope, I think we’re going to get an ‘A,’” Neboba said. “We are pretty clean. We try our best, and we didn’t fail anything.”
Puttanesca received 10 points when they got their last inspection in November 2009 — a score in the lower part of the “A” spectrum. He’s also not sure if the restaurant will be re-inspected before the grade is given.
The inspection process has not changed with the new grading system, according to a statement on the Health Department website.
“Every restaurant is scheduled for an unannounced inspection at least once a year,” the statement said. The difference is that officials hope the new grading system will be more transparent for the diner.
“Consumer awareness creates a powerful new incentive for restaurants to maintain the highest food safety standards,” according to the statement.
Back at Park Avenue Summer, managers at the lunch and dinner hot spot, which features “rustic American” meats and seafood, say they worked hard to earn their A. Preparations included frequent drills for waiters to practice food handling.
A full explanation of the scoring system can be found at the New York City Department of Health new restaurant inspection website.
