Aug. 28, 2015 By Jackie Strawbridge
One of the newest arrivals to 30th Avenue was briefly closed by the Department of Health until Friday afternoon.
Gossip Coffee, which opened at 37-04 30th Ave. last month, was closed following its first DOH inspection on Thursday.
“Gossip Coffee was closed due to public health hazards that could not be corrected at the time of the inspection,” DOH spokesperson Levi Fishman said.
Fishman could not clarify what these hazards were, but they were evidently resolved by Friday afternoon, when the café was reopened with “Grade Pending” status.
The Gossip Coffee team said that violations involved a missing three-compartment sink that they did not realize was required. By Friday, one of these sinks was installed in the café’s basement space.
Fishman called Gossip Coffee’s “Grade Pending” status “a unique situation.”
Typically, he said, if a restaurant does not manage to earn an A on its initial inspection, the DOH leaves the inspection ungraded and comes back later for a second chance.
However, because Gossip Coffee’s first inspection led to a closure, their status moved from “Not Yet Graded” to “Grade Pending.”
“In the near future, they’ll have a graded inspection,” Fishman added.
