A dead roach in ice, rodent poop in a slow cooker: South Florida restaurant filth
The restaurant inspectors got back to work and so did we at the Sick and Shut Down List to tell you what they found, like flies in the bread.
As usual, we’re kind of running a little 305 late, so let’s get to the officially reported yuck.
A REFRESHER ON HOW WE DO THIS: 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 inspection remains closed until passing an 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 side dish of humor.
In alphabetical order...
Brimstone, 14575 SW Fifth St., Pembroke Pines: Routine inspection, five total violations, one High Priority violation.
After this inspection, the Brimstone folks probably felt like sinners in the hands of an angry God (or inspector), dangled over fire and brimstone.
How the heck did they get anything administrative done with 10 flies zipping around the office? Four flies landing on the red onions at the prep station near the ice machine somehow didn’t draw the Stop Sale lightning. One fly was spotted flying over the marinara sauce and we’re sure he didn’t land.
The inspector counted 25 flies elsewhere, 20 of which were playing on boxes in the dry storage room.
The manager said they didn’t have any written procedures for using time in food safety, so, yeah, you can have that Bernaise and Hollandaise sauce that was being stored at room temperature.
Soiled wiping cloths under the cutting board and on the cutting board, both are no-nos.
Brimstone passed re-inspection the next day.
Chops Lobster Bar, 101 Plaza Real S., Boca Raton: Complaint inspection, 15 total violations, three High Priority violations.
You know why we often counsel to order drinks with no ice if you can’t see the ice?
“At crushed ice machine, one dead roach in ice.”
At the crushed ice machine and ice cube machine, “Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.”
Ask no more.
In addition to the roach on ice, another 10 of his pals lay dead in a cookline cabinet under the handwashing sink.
As for the flies, the 20 in the dirty glass racks of the dishwashing area, the five in cloth napkins wrapping pitchers and the five on the wall on the bread station all got outshined by the five inside a bread bag.
Stop sale on the bread, the ice with the roach and the snails not properly cooled.
The water at an employee handwash sink didn’t get hot enough.
Chops didn’t have it together for either of two re-inspections the next day as the inspector saw more flies, including in the dish area on utensils.
After a hat trick of misses to get our Gretzky Award, Chops passed inspection No. 4.
Discovery Take Out Restaurant, 501 W. Sunrise Blvd., Fort Lauderdale: Routine inspection, 14 total violations, four High Priority violations.
Time for this week’s edition of What’s Worse?
Six live roaches, lowlighted by three roaches in a cooking pot stored under a kitchen prep table?
Or, 12 rodent droppings, lowlighted by five inside an old slow cooker in the kitchen?
“Interior of oven/microwave has accumulation of black substance/grease/food debris.” So, nobody grabbed some Bounty and 409 in the last how long?
Clean cooking utensils were stored in a dirty container.
The light in a guest bathroom wasn’t working, but the inspector could see the bathroom wasn’t clean. Dark and dirty isn’t a winning quinella.
Discovery discovered how to get things done the next day.
Kussifay, 2652 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood: Routine inspection, seven total violations, three High Priority violations.
There were all kinds of problems around the dough mixer.
Behind the dough mixer? Nine rodent droppings. Another 10 were on the lower shelf of the prep table next to the dough mixer, where buckets of flour, sugar, milk and caramel sat. The exterior parts of the dough mixer were “soiled with food debris.”
The same was said of the shelf under the prep table.
Kussifay passed inspection the next day.
Mini Pita: 2555 E. Atlantic Blvd., Pompano Beach: Complaint inspection, 18 total violations, five High Priority violations.
About 25 to 30 live roaches partied on the wall and loose wall covering left of the kitchen ice machine. One live roach, clearly a loner, hung out at the at dry storage containers on a small kitchen reach-in freezer.
The inspector counted 12 dead roaches.
The cutting boards and prep table were food-contact surfaces “soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime.”
Tough to wash them properly when the dishmachine three times tested as having no sanitizer. Wiping cloth solution didn’t have any either.
That doesn’t totally explain the two microwaves “with large amount of soiled food residue,” but it doesn’t help.
Mini Pita passed inspection the next day.
New York Diner, 925 NE 62nd St., Fort Lauderdale: Routine inspection, seven total violations, three High Priority violations.
Neither the 10 flies at the wait station nor the 50 flies under the dishwasher actually touched food, although some in that larger group landed on clean dishes.
No soap at the handwash sink next to the wait station.
There’s no online record of a passed re-inspection.
This story was originally published January 14, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
