Health Concerns

DOH in Dumbo: ReBar Gets Closed While Bubby’s Reopens

It can strike at any moment.
It can strike at any moment.

The Health Department has allowed Bubby’s in Dumbo to reopen after a follow-up inspection returned no critical violations. The presence of fruit flies during an inspection Friday in part caused the closure; the owner of Bubby’s asserted the flies had emerged suddenly from a storm drain. The presence of “hundreds of fruit flies” caused the final shutdown of Mars Bar on Monday, and now it seems those darned drosophila have hit Dumbo once more: ReBar has been closed by the DOH with a 55-point inspection, stemming from food-holding temperatures and presence or evidence of vermin. Exasperated owner Jason Stevens tells Gothamist, “Fruit flies show up seemingly spontaneously out of thin air!” Citing the foundering economy, Stevens adds that “inspectors are writing huge violations to raise revenue.” That may be the case, but it seems there are perhaps more sinister forces at work here. Are fruit flies the new secret agents of real-estate developers? [Gothamist]

DOH in Dumbo: ReBar Gets Closed While Bubby’s Reopens