City Inspections Reveal New A-List for Restaurants

No reservations are necessary at the Troy Turkish Grill on Ninth Avenue in Manhattan. And in a trifecta of wholesomeness, the two restaurants directly to its north have also proudly posted their new A’s — the Tagine Dining Gallery and the Troy Turkish Grill.

Indeed, under the department’s six-month-old restaurant grading system, nearly 60 percent of some 24,000 restaurants in the city have inspection scores that rate an A, from a liberal sprinkling in Chinatown to a true sanito-palooza of nine blue A placards in the food court at Grand Central Terminal.

Meanwhile, some of the city’s most highly regarded restaurants have struggled to get on the A list. In December an inspector disturbed the hushed precincts of Corton, which The New York Times gave three stars, to dispense 48 points for a possible C grade. Similarly, restaurant Daniel, the winner of four stars, received an initial B score of 19 in November. Even the haute Bernardin, another four-star winner, received a B score of 22 in August. Each endured derision from food bloggers for a few weeks before earning A grades on later inspections.

Two other three-star restaurants — Le Cirque, with a score of 30, and Gramercy Tavern, with a score of 35 — were assessed enough violation points to earn C grades. On Dec. 7, Esca, another three-star restaurant, received 25 points on its first inspection and 18 points on a reinspection three weeks later. (The scores would earn the restaurant a B.)

Under the new rules, a restaurant that is assessed fewer than 14 points earns the blue A. The green B designates a score of 14 to 27 points, and the orange C means the restaurant had 28 points or more. Restaurants that don’t earn an A can wait for a reinspection, without posting any sign, as is the case with Le Cirque, and can appeal an unsatisfactory ruling after reinspection if they, like Esca, post a black-and-white “grade pending” sign.

If there is an apparent preponderance of A’s, it is not because the city is trying to be generous, said Daniel Kass, a deputy health commissioner. “There are more A’s at this point,” he said, “because the A’s get issued immediately.”

Still, might the A-rated mom-and-pops have any advice for their struggling fine-dining brethren?

“Steaks have to be well done,” said Hector Gonzalez, 26, the counterman at Garden City Cafe. “That’s how our customers like them,” especially the house signature, the Original Philly Cheese Steak ($6.95).

If fine-dining chefs who worship rare porterhouse shudder at this recommendation, consider their reaction to guidance from Tony Araujo, an owner of Sparks Deli in Long Island City, Queens, which on July 28 was the first restaurant to receive an A grade.

“Salads should be frigid, below 41 degrees,” Mr. Araujo said.

And if fine-dining destinations try to tweak their offerings, Conrad Strohl, the owner and manager of the A-rated Café Edison at 228 West 47th Street, can help.

“My counsel to fancy restaurants is that they have to serve pastrami the correct way,” Mr. Strohl said. “Tell them to come to me for advice.”

However welcome such advice might be, owners of high-end establishments complain that the system does not take their size or complexity into account.

“There is a one-size-fits-all mentality here that really doesn’t correspond to reality,” said Drew Nieporent, an owner of Corton, Nobu and other top restaurants.

Andrew Rigie, the director of operations of the New York City Chapters of the New York State Restaurant Association, said that “if you have 50 people working in the kitchen and 49 of them are fine, but one is walking back from break and has forgotten to put on their hair net — then they’re going to get a violation.”