Open--and Making the Grade

The Los Angeles County Health Services Department shut down more than 280 restaurants and cafeterias in December. Now the department has begun issuing grades--A, B, C or, if lower than C, a numerical grade--that restaurants must post in their front windows. The department’s new policies include zero tolerance for bugs, poor sanitation and unsafe food temperatures, and some restaurant owners complain that inspectors are shutting down restaurants for any offense they can find. Others, such as Justin Finizza of the Under Wraps Cafe in Encino, which received an A, said the tough inspections will help keep “everybody on their toes.” Story, A1.