Have you eaten at The Restaurant?

[daysee8]

You see thats the thing. This is not exactly a town that only has Crappy Italian food.

I can only think that the only reason that Rocco got this was because Mario Batali was busy.

There are also much better burgers to be found in NYC, but the Hard Rock Cafe still does well. THere are places you go for good food, and there are places you go for the novelty of having been there.

[John]

THere are places you go for good food, and there are places you go for the novelty of having been there.

The novelty of eating at Rocco's is meeting "superstah Rocco". But if he's never there, then it's pretty much a wasted effort. I can understand the frustration of those I see on camera asking repeatedly "where's Rocco?"

[waypast40]

In the first show I NEVER saw Mama or Rocco using sanitary gloves when they were making the meatballs!!EWWW

[daysee8]

In the first show I NEVER saw Mama or Rocco using sanitary gloves when they were making the meatballs!!EWWW

THEY DON'T HAVE TO!!!!! You are supposed to use gloves when you handle food that either is not cooked, or after it is cooked. If you are handling food BEFORE it is cooked, such as the meatballs, you ARE NOT required to wear gloves. And in truth, in most every restaurant, food that is not cooked or has been cooked is often handled without gloves.

[waypast40]

Whenever we made chopped sirloin or burgers,anything with chopped meat,we are required to wear gloves(it gets under your finger nails)..but that may not be required in the U.S. We were also required to wear hair nets up until a few years ago .
Butchers here are also required to use gloves to handle raw meat.
She also had the nasty cold whileshe was making them...I would not have shown that on TV!!!

[John]

I almost hate getting into this, but...

The U.S. Food Code consists of model requirements for safeguarding public health and ensuring that food is unadulterated and honestly presented when offered to the consumer. According to the U.S. Food Code, foodservice workers should use one set of gloves when working with ready-to-eat food and discard those gloves if they become damaged or soiled. Workers must use a new pair of gloves to handle another type of food, such as raw animal food--and yet another pair of gloves if changing species of animal, such as from handling raw beef to raw chicken.

Unlike the recommendations from the U.S. Food Code, individual state food codes can carry the weight of law. For example, regarding glove use, the state of New York amended its food code in 1991, forbidding servers and other foodhandlers from touching ready-to-eat foods with their bare hands.

http://articles.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3188/is_9_84/ai_66103408

[senrik]

THEY DON'T HAVE TO!!!!! You are supposed to use gloves when you handle food that either is not cooked, or after it is cooked. If you are handling food BEFORE it is cooked, such as the meatballs, you ARE NOT required to wear gloves. And in truth, in most every restaurant, food that is not cooked or has been cooked is often handled without gloves.

When working with meat, particularly, ground meat, there are a whole gaggle of food borne illnesses that are nasty things when you start with cross-contamination. (working with bare hands is the ideal way to create cross-contamination)

is it pork? Trychinosis
is it Beef? e-Coli
Poultry? Salmonella...

Pick your meat and you pick your poison.

The NYC Health code is not so backwards that they do not recognise this. That is why it is required that you wash hands after EVERY contact with fresh meat.

[waypast40]

Thanks John..I did not want an argument ,I just wanted to say EWWWW! LOL

[daysee8]

For the record, what John posted totally backs up what I said. Ready to eat food means it's going from where it is to your mouth. The meatballs when they are being rolled by mama, are not ready to eat food. They are raw food. There is a different set of rules for non-ready-to-eat food because the heat will kill off the food borne illnesses that Senrik outlined.

[Maveno]

She also had the nasty cold while she was making them...I would not have shown that on TV!!!

I agree with everything you're saying!!! Whether it's law or not....I'd RATHER eat at a restaurant where they USE gloves as to opposed to not.
It's just simply gross to handle food like that.