Shun Lee West ‘Closed Until Further Notice’ After Health Department Issues

Fine dining Chinese restaurant closed for mice and roaches

The Health Department shuttered seminal Chinese restaurant Shun Lee’s Upper West Side location last week, and now the violations have been posted online. The 36-year-old fine dining spot’s most recent inspection resulted in 33 points for violations such as evidence of mice and roaches. It received a separate violation for not properly displaying its Department of Health notice, according to public records. As of Monday, the restaurant’s voicemail said it was still closed until further notice “due to unforeseen circumstances.” Shun Lee’s other location in Midtown West also had some violations recently, and its grade is now listed as “pending.” A DOH inspection last week found that that outpost was not properly holding cold food and not protecting food from potential contamination.

Two upcoming restaurants

Lost chef Wayne Nish (Mason Dixon, Spitzer’s Corner) is resurfacing with a burger joint in Soho. BL Burger Bar will live above Black Lodge with the same owner. Customers can choose a patty type (beef, chicken, fish, lamb) and toppings. In other news, Gansevoort Market Peruvian stall Mission Ceviche is expanding into the Canal Street Market and will reportedly also add outposts in Times Square and the Financial District next.

Chronicling the rise of Asian-American cuisine

The Times’ Ligaya Mishan has a lengthy story out exploring the creation and rise of what she is hesitantly labeling Asian-American cuisine. It’s an incredibly nuanced look at what the genre is and who is cooking it, and it’s worth a full, close read. She concludes: “For Asian-American chefs, this is the conundrum, and the opportunity. The foods of their childhoods were once mocked and rejected by their non-Asian peers (and by their ashamed or rebellious younger selves); then accepted in dilute, placating form; and now are able to command audiences who clamor for their sensations and aggressive flavors, and who might be unnerved if they knew exactly what they were putting in their mouths.”

Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Ear Inn turns 200

As of this past Saturday, November 11, Ear Inn is 200 years young. The West Village pub threw a rocking party with live music, food, and drink that spilled out onto the street and ran late into the evening. Actor and regular Dean Winters was also in attendance. Proceeds from the party went toward food delivery nonprofit God’s Love We Deliver.

Club Cumming is one nonstop party

It’s been a constant party at Club Cumming, the East Village performance venue and inclusive bar from actor Alan Cumming. The actor has reportedly been there most nights for what is a very eclectic set list. “The talent is, like Cumming, a scrumptious blend of highbrow and lowbrow. One moment the guitarist of the Babes is handing out anatomically shaped lollipops. Then, a half-hour later, Lili Taylor is crooning a gorgeous rendition of Stevie Nicks’ ‘Dreams,’” the Post reports.

Brace for a Guy Fieri bar crawl

Manhattan will be overtaken by Guy Fieri fans on Saturday, November 18. That’s when second annual FieriCon will take place for a bar crawl ended at Guy’s American Kitchen. To ready for the crawl, here are 10 crucial facts about the celebrity chef: