Brooklyn Food Hall Reopen After 10-Day Forced Health Dep. Closure

DUMBO, BROOKLYN — A Brooklyn food hall that was closed for more than a week for health department violations is back up and running.

Time Out Market, which was first shut down by health inspectors on July 10, reopened Saturday night after all 14 of its 21 restaurants that were initially closed down were cleared in a second inspection, according to records and a call to the food hall.

Each of the 14 restaurants are pending a new inspection grade, but all had either no or less than 10 violation points from the re-inspection. Any score below 13 violation points earns an A grade in restaurant inspections.

The food hall had initially closed its entire two-story marketplace after the 14 restaurants were given more than 28 violation points during the July 10 inspection due to an issue with its shared refrigerator.

The walk-in refrigerator was found to be at 58 degrees, about 17 degrees higher than the Food and Drug Administration standards. Those temperatures are potentially hazardous given that certain food, like meat or fish, that is not kept at or below the required 41 degrees can grow bacteria and cause food-borne illnesses, health officials said.

Time Out had also failed to show the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene a full refrigeration log, meaning that the market had either not been keeping proper logs or that they didn't know the appropriate temperature for food storage, the department said.

A representative for Time Out did not immediately respond to Patch's questions about what was done to remedy the refrigeration issues.

The refrigerator problem had caused some of the restaurants to receive more than three times the 28-point score, which is the threshold for requiring the department shut a restaurant down. The biggest offender had been BKLYN Wild, a vegan restaurant that racked up 102 violation points.

The other eateries that were closed included Alta Calidad, Avacaderia, Besos, Bread Bagelry, Breads Bakery, Cookie Do, Felice, Fish Cheeks, Jacob's Pickles, Little Ada, Mr. Taka and Nur.