Grading restaurants
This is a photo of a restaurant called Pho in a seedy strip mall in Silverlake. It's the kind of place you might be hesitant to go into if it were in Baltimore and you didn't know anything about it.
There's no sign with its name on it outside, or any indication that it might be any good except that it's crowded.
But one thing you do know, because this is California, is that the health department has given it an A grade. All grades have to be posted in a prominent place on the front of the restaurant.
It's a system I wish Maryland had.
Comments
I have to disagree. There should only be one grade and that is an A. Anything less and the restaurant should be closed.
Posted by: Alan | August 27, 2007 1:35 PM
I moved to Baltimore from Texas a few years ago and this was one of the things that shocked me about this city. In Dallas, every restaurant / bar has to have their health rating posted. I for one, would like to know if the place that I am about to eat at barely passed its inspection.
Posted by: e | August 28, 2007 11:34 AM
In response to Alan above - that's California and culturally some don't care about the grades as much as others. I have friends from there who will still go to a restaurant that gets a B or a C. That's called a hole in the wall and they usually, at least in my experience, serve better food. However, I still like the grading scale on the windows. They should start doing that in Maryland.
Posted by: Eric | August 28, 2007 11:36 AM
There is excellent research by Ginger Jin and Phillip Leslie which shows that the introduction of these publicly displayed rats had led to improving hygiene in California restaurants. They also steer patrons towards cleaner restaurants.
As an economics professor and foodie in Baltimore, I recently blogged about it at:
http://marginalfoodie.blogspot.com/2007/08/economics-of-restaurant-hygiene.html
Thanks for highlighting the importance of this effective policy tool.
Posted by: Marginal Foodie | August 29, 2007 4:12 PM