By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
EAST VILLAGE — Dingy dive bars have trendy cocktail lounges beat when it comes to cleanliness in the East Village.
The Health Department’s recently released directory of inspection scores, which ranks the city’s bars and restaurants using a new point system that will soon translate to a letter grades, found that the East Village’s no-frills pubs were nearly spotless compared to their upscale neighbors.
McSorley’s, the venerable East Seventh Street saloon dating back to 1854, earned a near-perfect score of 2 from an inspection in September of last year.
But the popular new speakeasy-style rum bar Cienfuegos on Avenue A ranked toward the bottom of the barrel in the 10009 zip code, getting slapped with a 61 by the Health Department.
Among the citations issued to Cienfuegos during its July inspection were evidence of flying insects and live rats on the premises, and inadequate personal hygiene of staff.
Any score above a 27 will earn the establishment a failing “C” grade, the lowest letter grade given before a restaurant is shut down. The new system will eventually award all businesses letter grades based on the points received that must be posted in open view of customers.
Cienfugeos’ sister wine/cocktail bar, the Bourgeois Pig on East Seventh Street, received a 42 score during a June inspection, which included infractions for evidence of insects and rats, food not protected from potential contamination, and a lack of garbage receptacles.
Just a few blocks away, the unkempt confines of the longtime dive bar Sophie’s on East Fifth Street didn’t faze health inspectors, who served up a 2 score for the neighborhood tavern during a November 2009 visit.
“Sophie’s is about the cleanest dive bar you can get,” said co-owner Kirk Marcoe, who said his staff painstakingly scrubs the bar, and that the place has only incurred minor infractions during its last half-dozen-or-so inspections.
“Just because it’s old and reminiscent of the neighborhood of the past doesn’t mean it’s a craphole.”
A block south from Sophie’s on East Fourth Street, the award-winning restaurant/wine bar In Vino received a 54 score during a June inspection, with citations stemming from evidence of vermin and insects, inadequate personal hygiene, unsanitary food-contact surfaces, expired or undated milk, and improper bare-hand contact of food by staff.
“It was a number of smaller infractions, and a lot of them sort of were duplicative,” said In Vino owner David Hitchner, expressing confidence his establishment would receive an “A” grade after its next inspection.
“But we’re doing what we can. Each year they look at different things, and this year they found a lot to look at.”
In defense of the establishments with failing grades, Marcoe noted that inspectors can show up at any given time, making it more difficult for popular places to get up to snuff with patrons are packed inside.
“For the most part, [the inspectors] are professional enough,” he said. “I think they get yelled at enough, so they come in and they’re ready to fight you. If you let them do their job, they’re not out to screw you.”
However, Marcoe said that some inspectors have given out poor marks for questionable infractions — including the time his bar was cited for a fly coming in through an open door during a visit.
“It got a little ridiculous,” he said.
