Sushi Dojo and its Spinoff Closed by the Health Department

Currently, both of David Bouhadana's sushi restaurants are closed because of issues related to recent health inspections. A tipster spotted the yellow DOH sign in the window of Sushi Dojo in the East Village yesterday, and nobody was picking up the phone at the restaurant last night. The original restaurant received two critical violations during an inspection on Wednesday: one for having cold food held above 41 degrees, and another for not using the "proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment."

[Sushi Dojo's results from Eater's restaurant health grade tool.]

The next day, Sushi Dojo Express in Gansevoort Market also received a handful of critical violations. Some of them were related to food handling and temperature, while others were for evidence of mice and improperly cleaned facilities:

[Sushi Dojo Express results from Eater's restaurant health grade tool.]

Sushi Dojo got 21 violation points, while its spinoff got 75. The official New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene homepage currently lists them both as "closed by the Health Department."

Earlier this year, the city introduced new regulations that require restaurants to freeze many types of fish for 15 hours before serving to kill off bacteria. When asked about how this would affect operations at Sushi Dojo, Bouhadana noted: "We already have freezers, but no one has that many freezers to all of a sudden start freezing their entire inventory. They expect me to go out and buy four to six more freezers and find space in my already packed 200 square foot basement?" The chef also remarked that this was "another rule that will be hard to enforce."

As of noon on Sunday, nobody was picking up the phone at Sushi Dojo or its affiliated restaurant. Eater has reached out to Bouhadana. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.