Kulushkat Closed By Health Department, Records Show

PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS, BROOKLYN — Health inspectors shut down a New York Times-reviewed falafel restaurant after they found mice, filth flies and contaminated food, city records show.

Kulushkat, the celebrated middle-eastern eatery at 1137 Washington Ave., was shut down on Thursday by inspectors who found eight critical health code violations, city records show.

Health inspectors gave Kulushkat 98 points — well above the 28-point minimum for a C health code grade — for violations that included mice, flies, hot foods being held at unsafe temperatures, contaminated counters and problematic plumbing, records show.

Inspectors also noted that the supervisor had no Food Protection Certificate and employees didn’t have adequate facilities to wash their equipment.

Kulushkat, which launched in 2011 and has two locations in Park Slope and Prospect Lefferts Gardens, has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Chowhound, and the Village Voice, who noted the falafel joint served, “some damn fine balls.”

The restaurant’s name, 'Kulushkat,' means 'shut up and eat’ and the eatery’s philosophy is, “We work hard to make our cuisine authentic, keep it interesting, and serve it fresh.”

An employee who picked up the phone at Kulushkat said the restaurant would be open for business as usual on Monday.

Photo courtesy of GoogleMaps/Sept. 2017