Popeye’s chicken batter, Keys rodents, a Pollo Tropical: restaurant inspection fails
For the second consecutive week, burrowing rodents make an appearance on the Sick and Shut Down List of South Florida restaurants that failed state inspection. And there’s a rare appearance by spiders.
But do rodents creating their own affordable housing in South Florida concern you as much as whether or not that’s your Pollo Tropical that made this week’s list or exactly what violation involved chicken batter at Popeye’s, home of the lusted-after chicken sandwich?
What follows comes from Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation restaurant inspections. If you see a problem at a restaurant, don’t email us, click here and file a complaint. We don’t control who gets inspected or how strictly. We report without passion or prejudice, but with a heaping teaspoon of humor.
And we go in alphabetical order:
Brandon Asian Cuisine, 6417 Stirling Rd., Davie: Among the eight live roaches seen Thursday, you’ve got to respect the one on the outside of the toaster oven, a much hotter promenade than the prep table on which another roach walked.
As for those roaches no longer with us, the inspector counted 26 plus “accumulated dead in track...where cases of beer are stored.” But, cycle of life, the inspector also saw a roach egg sac on a shelf under the three-compartment sink.
No soap at the handwash sink off the cookline, where people are, you know, handling food.
“Open bag of mortar mix spilling on floor near back hallway.”
When the inspector came back Friday for the first re-inspection (spoiler alert: that’s a hint), he counted 16 live roaches, one of which was on a slicer table, and 12 dead roaches.
The inspector returned for a second Friday re-inspection (told you), but still saw nine live roaches and eight dead ones. Four of the live ones were hanging out behind the wok station.
After Saturday’s re-re-re-spect, er, re-re-re-inspection, Brandon’s finally got reopen.
Camille’s, 1202 Simonton St., Key West: “Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found” is the boiler plate inspection setup to 10 pieces of Pixie and Dixie poo behind a cookline oven and 12 on top of the kitchen dishwashing machine.
Other evidence was in the Basic violation of “dead rodent trapped in a snap trap on the kitchen floor under the prep table located in the kitchen.”
“Accumulation of encrusted food debris on/around mixer head.” “Accumulation of food debris/grease on food-contact surface. Bread bin in the kitchen.”
“Food debris/dust/grease/soil residue on exterior of oven.” “Food debris/dust/grease/soil residue on exterior of reach-in. cooler/refrigerator. “Cook line stove trays soiled with old food.” “Walk-in cooler gaskets soiled with slimy/mold-like build-up.”
And, finally, “accumulation of food debris/soil residue on (kitchen) handwash sink,” a violation that begs the question, how often does this sink get used for washing hands?
El Donkey Mexican Grill, 10043 SW 72nd St., Kendall: The Donk’s problems came not from behind, but above.
“Observed a heavy drip of water leaking from the ceiling from a pipe in the ceiling into kitchen area: the water is heavily leaking from the ceiling on to the floor and into the three-compartment dish wash sink, splashing walls and shelves.”
A water-logged ceiling tile fell into the three-compartment sink. As they don’t have a dishwashing machine, The Donk was “unable to properly wash, rinse and sanitize dishware and utensils, due to the water dripping/contamination from the ceiling. Also, the drain pipe of the kitchen hand wash sink is leaking onto the floor.”
Of course, there was standing water all around the kitchen.
There was no soap at two handwash sinks and no way to dry your hands at one of those. So, workers run them under water and then flap arms like KoKo B. Ware?
The Donk passed re-inspection Wednesday.
Inti Sandwich, 2800 N. Military Trail, West Palm Beach: Of the 42 rodent droppings spotted, perhaps the most disconcerting were the four on top of a covered container of rice.
Because these are some hardy rodents. “Observed gnaw marks on gel ice pack underneath cook line reach in cooler.”
We don’t want to know many rodents, certainly not any who get into a gel ice pack and without vomiting. This counted as the “burrow or nesting materials” violation.
“Rodent rub marks on pipe between the flip top unit and the wall in the cook line.”
And what don’t you want to see when you’ve got furry friends running around? “Food stored on floor. A bucket of potatoes stored on the floor in walk in cooler.”
Oh, and there were “25 dead flies above flip top cooler in front counter.”
The inspector rained Stop Sales on homemade Aji Amarillo sauce for being made at home, then, improperly cooled huacatay sauce( fresh garlic), sweet potato and cooked vegetables.
In addition to “accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine” there was “accumulation of food debris/grease on food-contact. Grease and green residues inside the oven next to the fryer cook line.”
Inti passed Thursday’s re-inspection.
Mama Tofu & More, 6467 Stirling Rd., Davie: We don’t get arachnids often around here. “Four spiders observed below to-go container storage area.”
Yo’ Mama had plenty of common creepy crawlies, too. The 48 live roaches included 30 on takeout container boxes. Six flies buzzed the dishwasher.
“Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine.”
“Tongs sat in standing water cool and/or yucky enough that the manager tossed the water.”
Like the other inspection failure in the neighborhood, Brandon’s, Mama Tofu failed two re-inspections on Friday. On the first, the dead roaches outnumbered the live ones, 19 to eight. The live ones took the second half of the doubleheader, 2-0.
Mama got back open after Saturday’s fourth inspection.
Pollo Tropical, 2611 Okeechobee Rd., West Palm Beach: Doesn’t Pollo Tropical mean long drive-thru waits for styrofoam-stored chicken, rice, beans and plantains?
“In the single-serve article storage area, 100-plus small live flies, landing on shelving and boxes of take out items.”
Eight flies flitted about elsewhere. The roach death march ended under the ice machine for 17 of them, but in the drive-thru for two.
The reach in cooler drawers at front line holding cut greens had “gaskets with slimy/mold-like build-up.”
“Hot water not provided/shut off at employee handwash sink.”
Popeye’s, 2825 N. Military Trail, West Palm Beach: A roach crawled across the inspector’s foot at the front counter.
And the roach count reached 10 live ones “crawling on the floor under the storage shelves area, near soda boxes, three-compartment sink and behind the ice machine.”
The inspector also saw, “Two dozen live ants in kitchen at dry storage...four dozen live ants in dining room along wall near windows” as well as seven flies in the prep area, landing on prep tables and elsewhere.
That’s an awful lot of bugginess to go with “Several buckets of chicken batter stored on the floor in walk in cooler.”
The inspector kept coming back on Wednesday and so did the roaches. Two at the drive-thru shelf the first time, four on the floor by the soda syrup rack, the second time, one live and three dead in the restaurant the third time.
Popeye’s finally was back passing out chicken sandwiches Thursday.
