CBSN New YorkWatch Now
Filed Under:Bleecker Street, Carol D'Auria, Closed, Magnolia Bakery, Mice, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, West Village
Cupcakes on display at the Magnolia Bakery February 19, 2010 at Rockefeller Center in New York. The cupcake, a small, round cake that fits in the cup of a hand, has replaced bed-and-breakfasts and restaurants as the eldorado for entrepreneurs, with some of the boldest eyeing conquests abroad. A traditional dessert in America, the cupcake is nothing new, but in recent years it has morphed into a must-have gourmet treat, popularized in part when a heroine on the trend-setting television series "Sex and the City" ate one in a 2000 episode. AFP PHOTO/Stan HONDA (Photo credit should read STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)Cupcakes on display at the Magnolia Bakery. (Photo/Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Mice don’t just eat cheese – they apparently eat cupcakes too.

As 1010 WINS’ Carol D’Auria reported, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene inspected the Magnolia Bakery, at 401 Bleecker St. in the West Village, and reported five critical violations.

READ MORE: COVID On Long Island: Oyster Bay Offers Saliva-Based COVID Testing As Town Continues On Road To Reopening

The department said it found mouse holes and mouse feces, and reported finding evidence of live rats, mice and flies. The department also found contaminated food, and food that was not protected from a source of contamination.

As a result, the department shut the Magnolia Bakery down from Thursday until early Saturday evening, when it passed a re-inspection. The bakery re-opened at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday with a limited menu.

The bakery gained fame when it was named in the TV show “Sex and the City.”

The bakery was also featured in the movie “Prime,” which features a character hurling Magnolia Bakery pies at his ex-girlfriends, as well as the movie “The Devil Wears Prada,” and the 2005 “Saturday Night Live” digital short “Lazy Sunday.”

READ MORE: On Day Of Beloved Father's Funeral, Long Island Family Says They Learned Someone Else Was Buried In His Plot

Magnolia Bakery was credited with starting the cupcake craze that began in the late 1990s.

On Saturday morning, workers were in the bakery, and manager Bobbie Lloyd said they were using a lot of elbow grease.

“We’re doing everything we can in our power to get this store reopened, and hope to get an inspection today, and we’ll be baking fresh,” Lloyd said.

She said the mice got in during Superstorm Sandy to escape flooding.

MORE NEWS: Police: Protesters Throw Red Paint On Central Park Statues, Deface Property In Midtown

Are you disappointed by the temporary closure of Magnolia Bakery? Leave your comments below…