When you’ve successfully expanded your plant-based Mexican restaurant concept to six cities across two states, a health closure at one location lands differently than it does for your average corner spot. Jajaja Mexicana — the cult-favorite vegan Mexican chain with locations spanning Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and now Miami — has had its West Village outpost at 63 Carmine Street ordered closed by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The closure follows three failed inspections in seven days, an escalating violation count, and a citation that indicates the restaurant didn’t address problems fast enough between visits.
Three Inspections, Three Failures, One Week
The record at the NYC DOHMH’s ABCEats restaurant inspection database tells a fairly grim story when you read it in sequence.
On March 19, inspectors visited and issued 46 points in violations: mice evidence, live roaches, food not protected from contamination, food contact surfaces not properly washed and sanitized, and harborage conditions. In New York’s inspection scoring system — where lower is better and anything above 27 earns a “C” — 46 points is a failing grade by a comfortable margin.
The March 23 reinspection was worse. The score jumped to 53 points and the violation list grew to include adulterated or contaminated food, mice, live roaches, filth flies and drain flies in food and non-food areas, an inaccessible hand washing facility, food contact surfaces still not sanitized, and harborage conditions still unresolved. Critically, it also added a citation that doesn’t appear on most inspection records: failure to comply with an order of the Board of Health, Commissioner, or Department. That notation means the city had already issued a corrective order after the March 19 visit — and four days later, conditions had not been sufficiently addressed…