Brooklyn, NY — Fish Sauce, a Thai restaurant located at 247 Suydam Street in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, was closed by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) following an inspection conducted on April 7, 2026. The restaurant received a score of 42, placing it firmly in the failing range under the city's restaurant grading system.

The closure came after inspectors cited one critical violation during the visit. According to DOHMH, violations requiring immediate action were addressed at the time of the inspection, though the establishment remained closed pending further review.

What Inspectors Found

The single violation recorded during the April 7 inspection was classified as critical. Inspectors documented that the restaurant did not have a properly scaled and calibrated thermometer or thermocouple readily accessible in food preparation and hot/cold holding areas.

This violation — classified under Code 04J — relates to the ability of food service workers to accurately measure temperatures of temperature-controlled-for-safety (TCS) foods during cooking, cooling, reheating, and holding. TCS foods include items such as meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, cooked rice, and cut produce — categories that commonly appear in Thai cuisine.

Without accurate temperature measurement tools on hand, kitchen staff cannot confirm that foods are reaching or maintaining the temperatures required to prevent bacterial growth. DOHMH classifies this as a critical violation because the absence of functioning thermometers creates conditions under which foodborne pathogens can go undetected.

Food Safety Context

Temperature monitoring is a foundational requirement in commercial food service. Under NYC Health Code Article 81, food service establishments are required to maintain TCS foods at safe temperatures — generally below 41°F for cold holding and at or above 140°F for hot holding. The FDA Food Code, which New York City's health regulations closely mirror, similarly mandates that food workers have access to calibrated temperature-measuring devices to verify compliance throughout the food handling process.

The logic behind this requirement is straightforward: cooking destroys many harmful pathogens, but only if food reaches adequate internal temperatures. The same principle applies to cooling and holding. Without reliable thermometers, there is no practical way for kitchen staff to verify these conditions are being met.

A score of 42 reflects the cumulative point value assigned to violations identified during the inspection. Under the DOHMH grading system, each violation type carries a point value based on its severity, and those points are totaled to produce the final score. A single critical violation involving temperature control can carry a significant point value on its own.

DOHMH noted that violations requiring immediate action were addressed during the inspection visit. However, when an establishment is closed by order of the department, it must pass a re-inspection before resuming operations.

Inspection History

No prior inspection history is available in the public DOHMH dataset for Fish Sauce at this location. This may indicate the restaurant is a newer establishment, has recently changed ownership or registration, or that earlier records are not yet reflected in the publicly released data.

This inspection represents the first recorded entry for this location. The inspection was conducted on April 7, 2026, and the data was released by DOHMH on April 9, 2026.

Understanding NYC Restaurant Grades

New York City's letter-grade system is designed to give the public a quick at-a-glance summary of a restaurant's most recent inspection results. Grades are calculated based on the total point score assigned during an unannounced inspection:

  • A: Score of 0–13 points (satisfactory)
  • B: Score of 14–27 points (needs improvement)
  • C: Score of 28 or more points (poor)

A score of 42 falls well into the C range. When a restaurant is closed by DOHMH during or following an inspection, a grade may not be posted until a re-inspection confirms the establishment has corrected the cited violations and is operating safely.

In cases where a restaurant is closed, the department requires a re-inspection before the establishment can reopen to the public. That re-inspection determines whether remaining violations have been corrected and whether a letter grade can be issued or posted.

Restaurants in New York City are inspected at least once per year on an unannounced basis. Establishments that score in the B or C range during an initial inspection are typically re-inspected within a defined window, at which point they may receive a grade based on their improved score.

Members of the public can look up current and historical inspection data for any permitted food service establishment in New York City through the DOHMH's online Restaurant Inspection Results database, available at the NYC Open Data portal. The database is updated regularly as new inspection records are processed and released.

More About This Restaurant

View the full inspection history for Fish Sauce including all past inspections, violations, and grade changes.