UES Wine Bar Shuttered By Health Department, Records Show

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — City officials have ordered a wine bar on East 78th Street to close for racking up 77 violation points during a health inspection, records published Wednesday show.

The bar, Heidi's House By The Side Of The Road, on East 78th St. near Second Avenue, was ordered to close after inspectors reported evidence of mice, improper food-temperature controls, and multiple food-safety hazards, according to publicly available city records.

Heidi's House, which opened in 2011, is a snug neighborhood bar known for its wine selection and affordable dinner menu. Next door, the business also has another bar known as Ed's Elbow Room.

Heidi's House's co-owner, Beth Hazan, told Patch that the business is working on correcting violations now, and getting an inspector to take another look. The business is hoping to reopen as soon as Thursday or Friday, if all goes well, Hazan said.

"We need to be open," Hazan, who purchased the bar with her husband, from their good friends Heidi and Ed as a passion project, said. "We're not going to be able to pay our rent. It's a small margins business, and this closure is killing us."

Hazan said her team will need to do construction to connect both Heidi's House and Ed's Elbow Room through the back, in order to meet a city requirement.

"The city is making us do construction to connect the spaces, so we're having the construction done tomorrow," Hazan said. "This is turning into a really big nightmare for us. Hopefully we'll get it done in one day."

While speaking with Patch, Hazan said she questioned some of the violations that were issued.

In particular, Hazan said the inspector walked in and out of the fridge so many times that "there was no way for us to maintain the temperature while she was there," which led to a violation.

The bar is at least the second Upper East Side business ordered to close by the Health Department this month. The first was Tramway Diner, which racked up 91 health code violations.

The bar will need to correct the violations before it can reopen.

Here's the full list of Heidi's House's violations from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene:

• Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan.
• Establishment is not free of harborage or conditions conducive to rodents, insects or other pests.
• Evidence of mice or live mice in establishment's food or non-food areas.
• Cold TCS food item held above 41 °F; smoked or processed fish held above 38 °F; intact raw eggs held above 45 °F; or reduced oxygen packaged (ROP) TCS foods held above required temperatures except during active necessary preparation.
• Insufficient or no hot holding, cold storage or cold holding equipment provided to maintain Time/Temperature Control for Safety Foods (TCS) at required temperatures

The article has been updated with an interview from the owner of the bar.

Know of a business opening or closing in Manhattan? Email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.