A roach in rice and problems at Ale House. Here’s the filth in South Florida restaurants
Flies on cooked beef remind us of flies landing on outdoor cat food, neither of which should be consumed by humans, which leads us to this week’s Sick and Shut Down List.
Let’s get to the only restaurant list that covers all of South Florida.
THE RULES OF THIS ROAD: 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. We don’t control who gets inspected nor how strictly the inspector inspects.
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 humor stirred in for texture.
In alphabetical order:
Cafeteria Bodega La Cubana, 4550 W. 12th Ave., Hialeah: Complaint inspection, 20 total violations, three High Priority violations.
No soap at the kitchen handwash sink. No paper towels, either. That’s asking a lot of the water, except “establishment operating with no potable running water throughout the establishment.”
Near the front counter the “ceiling/ceiling tiles/vents soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or mold-like substance.” But that’s not a food contact surface, such as, say, the can operator blade that was “soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime.”
The only way diners could get to the bathroom was “through a food preparation, ware washing, or food storage area.”
Vanilla pudding in cold storage measured 10 or 11 degrees too warm. The manager tossed it before the inspection could whip out a Stop Sale.
There’s no online record of a re-inspection, passed or otherwise.
Einstein Bros. Bagel, 19 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale: Complaint inspection, seven total violations, two High Priority violations.
Of the 57 flies the inspector counted, none landed on food or food contact surfaces. But there was a dead fly on the side of a lid on grab-and-go cream cheese.
After washing your hands in the men’s restroom handwash sink or the prep area handwash sink, you might as well wave your hands in the air like you just don’t care because there was no paper towels or blower there to dry your hands.
No paper towels or mechanical hand-drying device provided at handwash sink. Men’s restroom.
Paper towel dispenser at handwash sink not working/unable to dispense paper towels. Prep hand sink
This place came correct for the next day’s re-inspection.
El Rinconcito Latino, 10481 SW 40th St., West Miami-Dade: Routine inspection, 39 total violations, nine High Priority violations.
Flies landing on cooked ground beef and a live roach walking in a storage area rice container — welcome to Stop Sale Land — were just the start of the problems.
Want ice in your drink? “Observed containers of ice stored under paper towel dispenser at server station, exposed to splash from hand washing.” Single service containers were on the floor in front of the handwash sink so you can imagine how many drops made it down there.
Upon entering the walk-in cooler, the inspector saw a bucket of plantains, potatoes and raw chicken stored on floor in walk-in cooler. At least that was covered, unlike the cooked pork, raw chicken, raw fish, sliced ham and cheese. Also, in the storage area, rice wasn’t covered.
Suggestion: Food-grade containers with tops so the local vermin don’t play on the food. Also, that might have helped the black beans cool to an acceptable temperature instead of being 13 degrees too warm.
Then there were “containers of raw pork, oxtail and pork stored in containers outside in back of building.”
An “accumulation of mold-like substance in three-compartment sink” says it isn’t used too often, a hypothesis backed up by “sink compartments of three-compartment sink too small to accommodate utensils or equipment.”
The warewashing machine had an “accumulation of debris.” That’s a violation.
The inspector could have rung up El Riconcito for more than 40 violations, but consolidated all these into one.
“Observed interior of ice machine soiled. Observed cutting board soiled. Observed interior of hot boxes in kitchen heavily soiled with accumulated old food debris. Observed can opener blade soiled. Observed interior of microwave soiled.”
El Rinconcito passed inspection the next day.
Miller’s Ale House, 1200 Yamato Rd., Boca Raton: Routine inspection, six total violations, six High Priority.
We wouldn’t feel very good seeing duct tape on a prep area handwashing sink soap dispenser. The inspector didn’t feel any better after finding 11 live roaches under the duct tape to go with the four live roaches counted on the wall next to the sink.
Meatloaf and loaded dip couldn’t get it right when it came to cooling, and both got hit by Stop Sales and were trashed.
Miller’s Ale House passed re-inspection the next day.
Tacocraft Taquiera and Tequila Bar, 301 N. University Dr., Plantation: Complaint inspection, 18 total violations, four High Priority violations.
Of the 26 to 30 flies counted, 10 to 12 were in the kitchen warewashing area landing on dirty (no problem) and clean (problem) dishes. Another six or seven darted around spices, seasonings and canned goods. The operator tried to kill as many as he could, an act which never seems to alleviate the damage already done in the inspector’s eyes.
So many food particles were in the mop sink, “sewage/wastewater in mop sink not properly draining.”
The bar dishwasher tested for sanitizer twice. Both times, the result was zero point zero parts per million.
Over the shelf holding soda syrups, a bug killing device hung.
“No paper towels provided at hand wash sink next to cook line in kitchen.”
The taco place passed inspection the next day.
