Rodents in the Popeye’s chicken breading and other South Florida restaurant issues
One restaurant failed a record five inspections, one place stored rice and beans in a truck and even rodents love Popeye’s chicken breading.
That’s on this week’s Sick and Shut Down List, the only such local list that goes from the 305 to the 561.
THE BOILER PLATE STUFF YOU SHOULD READ: What follows comes from Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation restaurant inspections in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties. A restaurant that fails state inspection remains closed until passing re-inspection.
If you see a problem and want a place inspected, contact the DBPR. Do not call us. Do not email us. We don’t control who gets inspected nor how strictly the inspector inspects. Let us say that again — we do not control who gets inspected.
We don’t include all violations, just the most moving, whether internally or literally moving (because it’s alive or once was alive). Some violations get corrected after the inspector points them out. But, you have to ask, why do the violations exist in the first place? And how long would they have remained if not for the inspection?
We report without passion or prejudice but with a family size order of humor.
In alphabetical order...
Almani’s Kosher Catering Bakery, 2836 Stirling Rd., Hollywood: Routine inspection, six total violations, two High Priority violations.
The 23 pieces of rodent poop were on the storage area floor and on storage area shelves with clean, wrapped catering service utensils and boxed single service glassware.
“Packaged food not labeled as specified by law.” Even if made on site, you can’t sell tuna salad, spicy pepper sauce, tuna salad or other sauces without a label with the ingredients or manufacturer.
Almani’s passed inspection the next day.
Indian Harvest, 500 Via De Palmas, Boca Raton: Routine inspection, six total violations, three High Priority violations.
With this being the Harvest’s third Sick and Shut Down List appearance of 2021 and fourth of the last two calendar years, we can only say, “Welcome back...”
These folks think we give away Frequent Filth points?
The inspector spotted “10 live roaches on floor at the handwasing sink across from cookline,” then watched someone kill four of the 10 roaches before cleaning and sanitizing the area.
Stop Sales crashed down on butter, onion sauce, tomato sauce, lentils and potato sauce, all in a cookline cooler that didn’t do its job well enough.
If you washed your hands at the bar handwashing sink, you needed to flap to dry them.
The Harvest passed re-inspection the next day.
Nori, 217 Palmetto Park Rd., Boca Raton: Routine inspection, 14 total violations, 10 High Priority violations.
Ten of 14 violations being High Priority? Give Nori credit for not wasting the inspector’s time with minor screwups. To be fair, a few of these counted as more than one violation.
A cook handled fried wanton strips with his bar hands.
Rice made the previous day and sitting in the reach-in cooler remained warm enough to foster bacteria. And the sushi rice at the front counter had been there longer than four hours. Each got hit with a Stop Sale.
As for the roaches, there were two live ones in the grease trap, one live one on a dirty dishes cart, one in a clean bowl above the cookline and 10 on the floor at the reach-in freezer door. Was there a little velvet rope? Were they waiting to see if they were on the list?
Nori waited four days, then passed re-inspection on Friday.
Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen, 2580 U.S. 441, Hollywood: Complaint inspection, five total violations, two High Priority violations.
You don’t care about the “wall soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust above the chicken breading station.”
You don’t care about the chicken tenders that had been in the hot holding unit for a half hour, so long they were too cool to eat after school.
You wanted to see “three bags of chicken breading flour with evidence of rodent gnawing.” All three bags got bit, er, hit with a Stop Sale.
Also, as the rodents hung around the beloved breading, “two rodent droppings on top of a bag of chicken breading flour in the dry storage area of the restaurant and two on top of another bag of chicken breading flour in the same rack...over 10 rodent droppings on the floor under the storage rack with chicken breading flour in the dry storage area of the restaurant.”
Oh, and “five rodent droppings under a shelf in the dry storage area holding single service beverage containers and dry fry batter for chicken sandwiches.”
Other places in Popeye’s that the rodents used as their toilet include the floor under a shelf holding dry chicken batter (five droppings); clean food storage containers on a shelf (two droppings); a shelf with paper goods (one dropping); a shelf with single service paper goods (10 droppings); the floor outside the walk-in cooler and walk-in freezer (one each)
When the inspector returned two days later, the little friends left 13 pieces of poo on top of a hallway cabinet outside the men’s room, which is clearly a middle finger as they could’ve made it into the john; and one on a floor between a cooler and a freezer.
Popeye’s came correct on the re-re-inspection later that day. Did all the rodents head for a Chick-Fil-A?
Venus Restaurant, 13785 NW Seventh Ave., North Miami: Routine inspection, nine total violations, three High Priority violations.
The inspector saw “approximately 15 droppings behind the reach-in freezer at the front counter.”
And the inspector didn’t have to be Inspector Gadget or Inspector Luger to figure out who was responsible. “One live rodent on a glue trap by the reach-in freezer at the front counter.”
Then the inspection took a Firestone/Sanford & Son Salvage turn.
“Food stored in a room/shed that is not fully enclosed. Observed plastic containers with rice and beans inside a truck in the backyard.”
“Old restaurant equipment, old vehicles and old vehicles’ parts in the backyard of the establishment, interfering with the maintenance/cleaning of the establishment.”
“Unnecessary items/unused equipment on the premises. Observed old reach-in coolers, tires, automobile parts, old reach in freezer.”
Tires? Rice and beans inside a truck in the back yard? How many businesses/jobs does Venus have going on here?
Venus passed re-inspection the next day.
Way Beyond Bagels, 16580 Jog Rd., Delray Beach: Complaint inspection, five total violations, three High Priority violations.
This week’s Coyote (Eatibus Anythingus) Award sponsored by Sisyphus goes to Way Beyond, which went Well Below the standard of clean in failing five inspections.
Improperly stored food and new rodent poop perpetuated problems.
Inspection No. 1, on Nov. 5: Container with toppings, flour and salt got cited as “Food-contact surfaces soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime.”
A fusillade of Stop Sales struck down “tuna salad, chicken salad, veggie tuna salad, boiled eggs, Brussels sprouts, salmon salad, nova cream cheese, plain cream cheese and roast beef” for temperature abuse (all too warm to prevent bacteria growth).
The rodents left 39 markings on the flour and salt lids, 20 under dry storage shelves, 10 under the grill, 25 under the dishwashing sink, five in the speed racks and 30 under the front deli case.
Inspection No. 2: Two rodent droppings were under a dry storage shelf.
More food, lots of food, got tossed for being kept too warm. Into the trash went low fat chicken; salmon salad; eggs; tofu salad; Brussels sprouts; plain chicken; veggie cream cheese; scallion cream cheese; smoked salmon; Waldorf chicken; boiled eggs; plain tuna; veggie tuna; and chunk chicken from the apparently worthless walk-in cooler and chicken salad; tofu salad 51; broccoli salad; tuna salad; and veggie tuna from the front line display case .
Inspection No. 3: The inspector didn’t need to see approximately 10 rodent droppings below the muffin case at the front line” after spotting “dead rodent present...underneath the reach-in cooler at the front line.”
The grilled chicken salad in the deli case was garbage for being at 50 degrees (it needs to be under 41) after four hours.
Also, “objectionable odors in the establishment.”
Inspection No. 4: Later the same day as Inspection No. 3, so it’s really no surprise they hadn’t won the turf war with the furry, four-legged vermin. There were 47 rodent droppings counted.
“Operator starting to use shop vac to clean up and sanitize areas.”
Inspection No. 5: The rodent gang left two pieces of dung in the women’s restroom, three under the deli case, 20 in a hot water heater pan; 10 next to the water heater and seven behind a reach-in cooler.
Way Beyond finally passed the next re-inspection, on the same day as Inspection No. 5. How did they get rid of the rodents in such a short time? What kind of deal did they strike? Did they have to pay extortion money or cheese to get the rodents to leave?
This story was originally published November 17, 2021 at 10:02 AM.
