In the wake of the deadly shooting, Cynthia Jones has been inconsolable at the loss of her youngest child. "Me and her talked about everything," he said. "You done destroyed my family," said Tysha's dad, Kevin Wilson, 49, of Flatbush, outside the girl's home on Lexington Avenue, near 130th Street, as tears streamed down her mother's face. Crown Heights, Prospect Heights & Prospect-Lefferts Gardens.Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens & Red Hook.“It’s very difficult to realize that it’s the end.”īut even after the closure, Ramati said, items from Yaffa Café’s menu, including its salads, burgers and Mediterranean plate - which includes hummus, baba ganoush and tahini - will live on at Simone Martini Bar on First Avenue, which is owned by a relative, Ramati said. We felt really bad about closing,” he said. Ramati said he was sad to see Yaffa Café closed. The more violations an eatery gets, the longer it takes an inspector to write up a report and explain each violation to the owners. “I’ve never seen ever the health department being there for nine hours and being so vicious and rude,” he said, explaining that the inspector spoke "very brutally" to the kitchen and wouldn't let staff serve meals to customers.Ī spokeswoman for the department did not address the inspector’s behavior, but said the amount of time an inspector spends at an establishment depends on the number of violations it receives. Ramati also complained that the inspector also spent nine hours at a restaurant, a move he found unusual, he said. He declined to say how much the city charged Yaffa Café in fines.
“The fines and the problem with the garden was way too much for us,” he said.
The inspection came on the same day that Department of the Health and Mental Hygiene inspectors stopped by and found evidence of mice, live roaches, filth flies and other health violations, leading to a total of 100 violation points, according to the agency’s website. Ramati said the restaurant tried to work with DOB to make the backyard legal, but the agency refused, saying it was impossible. The DOB did not say why it took three decades to enforce the residential rule, but they said they were summoned to the site following a complaint. “Due to the significant public safety hazards associated with the establishment’s conditions, including the lack of egress in the event of a fire or other emergency, the partial vacate order was issued requiring the owners to conform with the use of the certificate of occupancy,” which does not allow for seating in the backyard, said DOB spokesman Alexander Schnell in a statement. It also violated the building's zoning - the interior of the restaurant is zoned for commercial use, but the back patio is zoned for residential use, according to DOB records. 5 that the 100-seat backyard patio was an "illegal" structure and issued an immediate partial vacate order on a backyard patio, according to DOB records.Ĭity officials said the backyard patio lacked a proper fire exit. The Department of Buildings ruled on Sept. “Without the garden, there was no way for us to keep on working," said Ramati, who shuttered the eatery permanently on Oct. Ramati said the combination of the fines and the ban on using the 100-seat backyard space, leaving only 75 seats inside, meant the longtime restaurant could no longer stay in business. “Suddenly, after 31 years, it’s illegal?” Ramati said. Ron Ramati, 50, the restaurant's manager, said he was puzzled by the timing of a recent health inspection, as well as a partial vacate order the city slapped on his backyard dining area, since the patio had been in use for decades and advertised publicly by the restaurant.
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