DOH Consultants for Hire, Hudson Yards Snatches McDonald's, and More Intel

— Restaurateurs who want to ace their DOH inspections can hire independent consultants like Letter Grade to help them through the process. The Times notes that this company employs former DOH inspectors who randomly show-up to restaurants and start checking the kitchen, just like the real city agents. The members of Letter Grade will also help restaurateurs navigate the city's administrative tribunal, if they want to try and get a violation dismissed. Rada Tarnovsky, one of the founders of the company, explains: "We knew there was a market to be created...Restaurants were not thrilled about letter grades, but consumers liked it, the transparency of it. We figured if we helped restaurateurs learn to comply, it was to the good."

— Real estate giant Related has finally purchased the space on the corner of 10th Avenue and 34th Street that currently houses a location of McDonald's. Curbed NY notes that this is "the final piece of the Hudson Yards puzzle." Soon, this corner will become part of 50 Hudson Yards, a 62-story-high structure. McDonald's will lay-off its employees at this location by the end of the year.

— A veteran named Yvette Coley is suing Tavern on the Green because the restaurant would not allow her to bring her service dog into the dining room last month. Coley has the fully-trained dog with her at all times to cope with stress and service-related disabilities. The staff allegedly claimed that seeing eye dogs were the only animals allowed in the space. Coley and her dog had no problem getting a table at Le Bernardin after that.

— The owners of The Good Fork are gearing up to open Insa, a new Korean BBQ/karaoke parlor in Gowanus. This week Ben Schneider and Sohui Kim sent out one more request for donations to their Kickstarter campaign — right now, they're about $4.5K short of their goal. Here's a look at the space:

— An apparel company called Yandy has created an $89 "Sexy Pizza Rat" costume for Halloween.

— Hillary Clinton, Lorne Michaels, Steven Spielberg, and Seth Rogen hung out at Rosa Mexicano Union Square after the SNL season premiere on Saturday.

— For a few decades, Times Square had a hot dog and drink stand called Elpinre, which was run by a Spanish-speaking Sephardic family. Jeremiah's Vanishing New York digs up the history of this long-gone establishment today in a post that includes some gorgeous photos of old Times Square.

— Here's what Midtown's new Chick-fil-A looked like during lunchtime yesterday:

These dummies are waiting 40m for fast food pic.twitter.com/8ByrEBfiEq

— Dan Rubenstein (@DanRubenstein) October 5, 2015

— From the Eater tipline: "Signage is up for Calexico UES at the big space on the southwest corner of 78th and 2nd. Looks like opening is imminent, within a couple of weeks. " Indeed, the team from Calexio applied for a liquor license at 1491 Second Avenue. No word yet on an opening date.

— A Venezuelan restaurant called Arepa Factory is slated to open in part of the old Cafe Pick Me Up space on Avenue A in the next week or so.

— And finally, here's how to make Ice Cream like Sam Mason: