WOODSTOCK, N.Y. — The owner of the Bearsville Theater complex said this week that she was aware of critical health code violations at The Little Bear, a Chinese restaurant on the Route 212 property, and plans to thoroughly clean the premises after it is vacated.
Marlee Koo, the owner of The Little Bear, said any violations cited by the Ulster County Department of Health at the restaurant in the hamlet of Bearsville were addressed immediately. “The Health Department and I, we work as a team,” she said by phone Wednesday.
Lizzie Vann, owner of the Bearsville complex, said she declined in May to renew the lease for the restaurant and plans to bring another restaurant to the space. Thursday was to be The Little Bear’s last day of operation at the site after a 42-year-run, and Vann said Koo will need a few weeks to empty the space.
Vann said Koo was not “forced out,” as Koo said earlier this month in a Facebook post, and that raising the restaurant’s rent was never discussed.
Koo said she plans to relocate the restaurant, hopefully in Woodstock.
In a statement provided to the Freeman and posted on Facebook, Vann said: “The Little Bear building had not been properly cared for, maintained or deep cleaned on a regular basis for many, many years.”
On Tuesday, Vann said that not long after she bought the property in 2019, she became aware of Department of Health violations at The Little Bear.
“When I came here two years ago, on Labor Day weekend 2019, Marlee was the first person I met, and I said I’d like her to stay, and we eventually agreed to a lease that ran until May [2021],” Vann said.
“I was beginning to be aware of [code violations], yes,” she added. “My concern was that the building was in poor shape and it would help enormously were the building in better shape.
“During that time, I spent $3,000 of my own personal money to do a deep clean in the kitchen and the basement,” Vann said. “And I said to Marlee afterwards, I said, ‘OK, we’ve done everything we can do. … Now it’s up to you. … You’ve got to keep it clean, and we’re going to work with you over the next few months and make sure that that’s the case.’ And it just deteriorated again.”
Vann said she spent more than $100,000 on new floors, “a new bathroom, a new kitchen … and plumbing and electrical work, and work in the basement” of the restaurant.
A review of Department of Health records from inspections of the restaurant between 2019 and 2021 shows numerous violations, some illustrated by photos. One photo, of what appears to be an egg roll, was described in the health department document as “food [left] out all night on a pine cutting board.” Other photos show what the department described as a “cluttered” kitchen and overnight storage of unrefrigerated food.
Asked about the moldy food, Koo said, “Moldy food is not [being served] to the customer. Believe me, I eat there myself, too. The moldy food probably [belongs to] one of my staff, their own personal things. You know I have people work over there, too. … I eat over there myself, and, even me, I got a little surprised by the moldy food.”
Also cited by the health department, but noted as “explained and corrected,” was the finding of multiple dented bamboo shoot cans stored on a basement stairwell, along with the “toxic hazard” of Windex and Clorox spray cleaner stored with Domino sugar and Splenda in the kitchen.
Also on Feb. 12, a health inspector noted that a case of “raw shell” eggs in the basement that had been stored unrefrigerated on a floor for three days and were “reluctantly discarded” by a cook. The inspector further noted that stacks of raw unrefrigerated eggs were found in various locations where they had been stored overnight. There also reportedly were frozen ducks in 45-degree standing water in the restaurant’s basement.
Koo said Wednesday that she was busy preparing for her last day of business in the Bearsville location.
Of the violations, she responded: “I don’t say anything. Keep quiet and move on, you know. Whatever the violation is, go ahead, because, you know, it’s taken care of. And the other thing is, if I had a violation [that wasn’t corrected], then the health department would shut me down. … If you don’t take care of them (the problems), they’re going to come to you and they shut you down. But they never shut me down, right? … They tell me I do something wrong, and I fix it. That’s it.”
The county health department’s most recent inspection, on Feb. 26, found eight “non-critical” violations, including “metal food cans reused in the kitchen,” reused egg flats, and dirtiness on a food-preparation table, meat slicer, knife strip, flooring, vent hoods and basement walls.
Earlier inspections, in 2020 and 2019, found no critical violations.
Vann said she believes her next step will be another “thorough re-clean” of the premises before settling on a new restaurant for the space. She said she is “looking at different groups of people” interested in running such an establishment.
Koo said she had not found a new location as of Wednesday and planned to “give myself a little break.”
“Friday, I’ve got to start to clean and move all of my stuff,” she said.
Wherever she eventually moves, Koo said, she is confident her customers will follow her.
“If I did something wrong,” she said, “I don’t think all of the community [would have been] supporting me, right?”
