Although I’ve written about numerous culinary creations from Dominque Ansel Bakery, I’ve still never actually consumed anything from the place — and right now, maybe that’s not such a bad thing: allegedly, NYC's Dominique Ansel Bakery has been shut down due to health violations. You want specifics? Well... apparently If You Give a Mouse a Cookie isn’t just a picture book anymore, if you catch my drift.
On April 3, Gothamist posted a short item about a tip they had received from one of their readers. Cody Pickrodt spotted a mouse running around the floor of the bakery, and what’s more, he managed to capture a video of it on his phone. “I pointed it out to a couple waiting in line behind me,” he told Gothamist. “They didn’t believe it until I showed them the video. Then they had to leave.” Pickrodt continued, “I didn’t mention it to employees. It appeared they were all aware of it. This was the tail end of the little guy’s adventure. He ran all over the place in plain view for a good 20 seconds before I got my phone out.”
The bakery didn’t comment at the time; it appears, though, that the Department of Health got wind of the situation shortly after the video went live and shut the place down for an inspection. A rep for the bakery told Gothamist today via email, “The DOH did not find a single mouse or any rodent here at all. So much of what they cited as ‘evidence of infestation’ were just cracks and holes on the walls that they saw as structural risks.” A spokesperson for the Health Department, however, noted that they didn’t just find structural risks; “What made the infestation so severe,” they said, “was that the health inspector found several hundred mouse droppings.” In order for a re-opening inspection to take place, the bakery will need to submit a pest control plan; this apparently hasn't happened yet, so the shop remains closed.
A shame, no? The big question, though, isn’t whether Dominique Ansel Bakery is going to reopen again; it’s whether the love of the cronut will keep the crowds flocking to it in the overwhelming numbers it’s been enjoying since the pastry’s debut. In the meantime, I’ll be in my own, pest-free kitchen, making some of those chocolate chip cookie shot glasses all by myself, thank you very much.
Image: Dominique Ansel Bakery
