Past issues
RSS feeds
Print edition (PDF)
The Paper in print
Twitter
Facebook
Email newsletter Twitter Facebook RSS Feeds
Better measure some handcuffs for Dr. Claw.
The Department of Health has stuffed the notorious seafood sandwich peddler, threatening to put him in jail if he continued to serve lobster rolls out of his Greenpoint kitchen.
“Shut me down — booo,” Claw said via text on Tuesday afternoon, hours after he’d returned to his Greenpoint apartment to find a notice pasted to his door from the Department of Health ordering “Dr. Claw dba The Lostah Pushah” to “immediately close and cease and desist from operating any food service establishment at these premises.”
The city accused Claw of violating health codes by operating a food establishment and delivering sandwiches to customers — and if the Health Department moves ahead with charges, Claw could face fines and imprisonment.
Dressed in a black-and-red hooded sweatshirt with a Boston Bruins hat and a blinged-out lobster claw chain, Claw had been making and selling delicious Maine lobster sandwiches for a hungry and demanding clientele for several months.
Customers could only get his fruits of the sea by friending Claw through Facebook, and if they passed a security check, they would be permitted to place an order for his lobster rolls. Claw would then roll up in a black SUV and drop off the order at a predetermined location or simply bring the sandwiches out to a customer parked around the corner.
The news has distressed his many fans, including Connecticut-based filmmaker Nick Verbitsky, who hoped to develop a television series based on underground chefs.
“I’d love to speak with him as soon as possible to document what he’s going through,” said Verbitsky. “It’s a disgrace. People are going to great lengths to get this food. There’s got to be a way around this. Doesn’t the city have anything better to do?”
Claw has only sent us that one text, but in an e-mail to his customers, he vowed to continue boiling, de-shelling and mayonnaising crustaceans in some form or another.
“[Imprisonment] seems a little harsh for lobster rolls,” said Claw. “But the Doctor thanks you for all the support and for taking part in the operation for as long as it lasted. Dr. Claw will be conducting business as best he can from his jail cell until further notice.”
©2010 Community Newspaper Group
By submitting this comment, you agree to the following terms:
You agree that you, and not BrooklynPaper.com or its affiliates, are fully responsible for the content that you post. You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening or sexually-oriented material or any material that may violate applicable law; doing so may lead to the removal of your post and to your being permanently banned from posting to the site. You grant to BrooklynPaper.com the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content in whole or in part world-wide and to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed.
Print this story
Digg
Del.icio.us