A Checkers with flies in the hamburger freezer and a bakery with rodents fail inspection
As the summer comes, so do the flies. Just ask the restaurants who made our Sick and Shut Down List partially on flies.
What follows comes from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation restaurant inspections. If you see a problem with a restaurant, don’t email us. Go to the DBPR website and file a complaint. We don’t decide who gets inspected or how strictly. We report without passion or prejudice, but with a value meal of humor.
To the failures:
Above the Rest Restaurant & Bakery, 4080, NW 12th St, Lauderhill: We’ll start with the rhyme, there was a Stop Sale on the too-warm oxtail.
No Stop Sale got dropped on the fresh veggies on the prep table in the kitchen, even though the inspector saw 20 flies landing on them. That’s in addition to the 10 flies landing on the cut onions, cutting board and tongs on the prep table and the 10 flies landing on the cleaned and sanitized utensils. And the 35 other flies zipping around the house.
“Approximately 20 rodent droppings under steamtable in service area.” And, as normal for places with rodents, they also seem to always store food directly on the floor, such as “bottled juice stored on floor in walk-in freezer.”
“White cutting board on top of Beverage Air reach-in cooler in kitchen area soiled.”
Empty buckets preventing one handwashing sink from being used and another had no way to dry your hands.
Checkers, 5606 SW 137th Ave., South Miami-Dade: This week’s Amityville Horror restaurant winner had “approximately 70 flying insects in kitchen, food preparation and storage area....and two dead flies in Hamburger freezer chest.”
Boy, that makes it seem pointless that they also had an “Insect control device installed over seasonings condiments and next to hamburger freezer chest.”
Leaking water seemed to be a problem both from a three-compartment sink and a “ceiling light fixture between the handwashing sink and the prep table.”
On the first comeback Tuesday, there were no flies, but “three live roaches crawling on the ceiling tiles above the food preparation areas.”
Checkers got the green flag on the second re-inspection Tuesday.
