By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
INWOOD — No matter how many times customers tugged at the door, there was no pan relleno — meat stuffed bread — to be bought at Kenny's Bakery on Dyckman Street over the weekend after the Department of Health shuttered it Friday after a recent inspection.
Kenny's Bakery, at 126A Dyckman Street, received 52 violation points during an April 8 inspection for problems including improperly contained raw, cooked and prepared food, evidence of live mice, food not protected from "potential source of contamination," and improper plumbing, according to the DOH website.
Bakery management toiled through the weekend to clean the establishment and make necessary repairs as shoppers furrowed their brows upon seeing the doors closed and yellow signs from the DOH announcing the closure.
"I come here from New Jersey every weekend, I can’t believe they aren't open," Carmen Lopez said, shaking her head.
Upon seeing the doors shuttered at Kenny's, Inwood writer Claudio Cabrera lamented the loss on Twitter.
"R.I.P. to Kenny Bakery," he tweeted. "A Dyckman institution."
But owner Hipolito Minaya said he hoped the restaurant would reopen early this week after he requests a reinspection on Monday.
Minaya said was surprised by the poor inspection, considering his restaurant got an A rating from the DOH during its last inspection in November 2010.
The bakery, however, received that rating after appealing another failing inspection where it received 70 points in October 2010.
Minaya said in Spanish that the inspections are too subjective in manner and put an unfair burden on owners who lose out on income while trying to appeal the DOH’s decision.
"We lost money this weekend and will keep losing money," said Minaya, who has owned Kenny's for 26 years. "Even if they change the inspection results, who is going to pay us back for the money lost?"
Under the restaurant grading system the city introduced last summer, establishments with 28 or more violation points receive a C grade and are reinspected monthly. The Health Department immediately shuts down any restaurant with extremely serious violations.
