Ocean Ave Bagels: Read-y for a Followup?

When I saw on EveryBlock that Ocean Avenue Bagels got 35 violation points on their inspection, I was a bit surprised. The shop near Ave Z, which is listed as Bagel Boy on Merchant Circle and Ocean Avenue Bagelette on Google Maps, looked so clean since it opened not so long ago. The whole place was airy, and well-lit — but that didn’t seem to help them on December 1, 2008 when the inspector showed up.

I had spoken to one of the owners some time last summer and she told me all about the food choices and catering services they offer. The food looked appealing in the glass enclosed display cases, but I was just looking for a cup of coffee — so I didn’t try anything.

In July, they got six points. In November, they got 23 points. In December, it was up to 35 points. This increase in points means that they will be expecting the inspector to come knocking very soon.

There was “evidence of flying insects or live flying insects present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas” listed as one of the violations. It must not be too easy in the winter weather to have a problem with flies.

Since Ocean Avenue Bagels is one of the only places left in Sheepshead Bay to get a Chock Full o’Nuts cup of coffee (sorry, Starbucks), I have a real interest in making sure they pass their next inspection.

With that said, I’d like to delicately suggest to the shop’s owners to check out this Ezine article entitled “House Flies – Unwanted Winter Guests”.

If all of Vernon Stent’s suggestions about how to get rid of those unwanted restaurant patrons don’t work, then next on the reading list is “Air Curtains & Air Doors” from the September 2008 edition of Foodservice Equipment & Supplies magazine.

Ocean Avenue Bagels, get ready and start reading!