Brooklyn Chicken Spot Shuttered Twice In 2 Weeks By Health Dept.

BOERUM HILL, BROOKLYN — A chicken restaurant on Livingston Street has been shut down by the health department for the second time in just two weeks, records show.

The Wingstop outpost at 289 Livingston St., on the Boerum Hill-Downtown Brooklyn border, was closed by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene after an Oct. 3 inspection, where it earned 43 violation points, records show.

The eatery — which is one of several Brooklyn locations of the Texas-based chicken chain — had also been closed down two weeks earlier, when it earned 34 violation points during a Sep. 19 inspection, records show. Any score above 28 points requires inspectors to close a restaurant.

Both times, it seems issues with the outpost's sewage systems might have been to blame.

During the Oct. 3 visit, inspectors found sewage-associated filth flies in the restaurant and that the facility was not vermin-proof. They also discovered that food was not protected from potential sources of contamination and that a non-food contact surface was not properly constructed, records show.

The eatery had similar problems during its September inspection.

Inspectors gave the restaurant violation points for sewage-associated filth flies and not vermin-proofing its facility in that inspection, too. They also noted in the September inspection that cold food was not held at the proper temperature, that the supervisor did not have a Food Protection Certificate and that there were problems with the cloths used to wipe things down, records show.

Wingstop is a chain that started in Texas and now has more than 1,000 locations. The Livingston Street spot is one of six locations in Brooklyn.

The company did not respond to a request for comment about the health inspections.

Wingstop isn't the first chicken chain to run into trouble with health inspectors in Brooklyn.

Crown Fried Chicken, a chain that has more than 100 restaurants, also had its Franklin Avenue and President Street location shut down twice in two weeks over this summer. The health department — first on July 18 and again on July 30 — gave the eatery 60 or more health code violations, Health Department records show.

In that restaurant, inspectors found roaches, filth flies, personal cleanliness problems among the staff and open bait stations packed with pesticides when they first shut down the fried chicken place on a 60-point violation write-up.