Dillinger's In Bushwick Closes After City Finds Hazardous Food Storage Conditions

BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN — Dillinger’s Cafe was shut down after health inspectors reported hazardous food storage conditions and unclean utensils in the cafe last month, city records show.

The beloved Dillinger's cafe on Evergreen Avenue near Jefferson Street was forced to close after the Department of Health reported four major health code violations on Sept. 18.

Inspectors reported evidence of contaminated food, insufficiently refrigerated food storage units, poor plumbing and the absence of facilities to wash dirty utensils, city records show.

Restaurants are graded on a violation point system that determines their letter grades — scores between zero and 13 constitute an A, scores between 14 and 27 constitute a B, and scores above 28 earn eateries a C and close monitoring from the city’s health department.

During its September inspection, the Bushwick coffee shop earned 73 points — 20 points more than its last inspection score in July.

Dillinger’s has been a staple of the Bushwick cafe scene since owners Mary Kaushansky and Ksyenya Roz opened the Russian cafe and bar in 2013, Bushwick Daily reported. The restaurant commonly serves Russian barbecues, cocktail hour and brunch specials.

The restaurant did not immediately reply to a request for comment, but blamed the closure on #unscrupulousbushwicklandlordproblems in an Instagram post with a photo of Michael Jordan crying.

To our beloved Dillingers family, we are temp closed today due to a building permit related issue but we are working on resolving the problem so that we can be back up and running ASAP! Thank you for being understanding, we'll see you guys soon...#unscrupulousbushwicklandlordproblems
A post shared by Dillinger's (@dillingersnyc) on Sep 19, 2017 at 8:24am PDT

“We are temp closed today due to a building permit related issue,” Dillinger’s wrote on Sept. 19, one day after the health inspection. “We are working on resolving the problem so that we can be back up and running ASAP.”

Department of Buildings records show the building was cited twice for the illegal occupation of the building’s cellar on Sept. 20 and Aug. 24.

Photo courtesy of Google Maps/Oct. 2014