Roaches, flies on donuts, a Dunkin’ (again): Inspection fails at Miami area restaurants
Flies landing everywhere and roaches coming out of things on walls jumped out among violations in this week’s Sick and Shut Down List of South Florida restaurant inspection failures.
WE BEG OF YOU, READ THIS OR HAVE SOMEONE READ IT TO YOU: 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 do the inspections, 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 immediately after the inspector points them out. But in those situations, ask yourself, why did 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 soup bowl of humor (and, possibly, indignation).
In alphabetical order...
Dunkin’ Donuts, 6190 Miramar Pkwy., Miramar: Complaint inspection, six total violations, four High Priority violations.
Only moldy ice machines appear on The Sick and Shut Down List more than Dunkin’ locations.
“Employee tied apron and proceeded to handle cooked hash browns for an order without removing gloves nor washing hands.” That’s a no-no.
As for the flies at this joint, 10 were around a mop sink and an empty rack away from the kitchen, but six were “around the doughnut rack in the kitchen and four landed on trays of chocolate donuts.”
So, Stop Sales on those donuts, the aforementioned hash browns, but this flunkin’ Dunkin’ was done for the day anyway.
Or, done until it somehow passed a same-day re-inspection.
Eathai, 1832 S. Federal Hwy., Delray Beach: Routine inspection, 11 total violations, seven High Priority violations.
Either the restaurateurs in this part of Delray operate a little too laissez-faire or the inspector was in a mood (see The Original Pancake House below).
Maybe both.
The dishwasher’s chlorine sanitizer strength measured “none.” The paper towel dispenser at three handwash sinks in the kitchen area couldn’t dispense paper towels.
Know what was coming out of the paper towel dispenser in the dishwasher area? About 10 live roaches who were also “crawling on a shelf with clean utensils in the dishwasher area.”
About 10 dead roaches lay on top of a server station table “next to cups and to go boxes and inside the cabinet below” and another four roach bodies befouled the interior of a small refrigerator with sealed bags of dry vegetables.
Other refrigerators didn’t do their job of cooling food under 41 degrees, resulting in the inspector going Zeus and hurling Stop Sale lightning at fish balls (70 degrees, almost room temperature), cooked garlic, raw salmon, curry beef and chicken, egg rolls, cooked chicken and cooked pork.
Eathai passed re-inspection the next day.
Magdalena’s Mexican Food, 14440 Pierson Rd., Wellington: Routine inspection, one total violation, one High Priority violation.
A food truck with food truck problems — no way to stop the flies who want to come inside.
The inspector counted over 30 inside the truck, “landing on the floor, cutting boards, utensils of the steam table, flip top coolers, waste receptacles and employees;” five landing on hot sauce and paper towels at the order window; and more than 15 at tables under a tent, landing on cutting boards and shelving.
The Mag truck passed inspection the next day.
The Original Pancake House, 1840 S. Federal Hwy., Delray Beach: Routine inspection, two total violations, two High Priority violations.
You know it’s coming: “accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.”
The inspector saw “approximately five live roaches crawling out of an electrical box on the wall behind the potato mixer in the prep area.”
A container of gravy was dated Nov. 29. This was Dec. 7. That’s eight days, even by new math, one day longer than you should keep any leftovers. Welcome to Stop Sale.
In all fairness, this is sort of buyer beware, if you’re going to a place named “The Original Pancake House” and ordering something that needs gravy.
The house passed re-inspection the next day.
South China Restaurant, 5550 S. Flamingo Rd., Cooper City: Routine inspection, five total violations, three High Priority violations.
Bags of onions stored on the floor near the dishwasher.
Cooked pork measured 65 degrees, 24 degrees too warm, in a flip top not-very-cooler that also had eggs. The inspection didn’t note whether either got smacked with a Stop Sale.
“...approximately five live roaches on table shelves on cookline...approximately 5 live roaches on the floor, under the wok station on the cookline.”
South China got it going again after re-inspection.
Taco Masala, 5415 N. University Dr., Lauderhill: Complaint inspection, 30 total violations, nine High Priority violations.
“Ceiling/ceiling tiles/vents soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or mold-like substance.”
When this is the first thing you see on an inspection report, you know the inspector had, as they say in basketball country, a long night in the gym.
The inspector saw “cutting boards with heavy mold-like substance in kitchen area...can opener and blade with heavy mold-like substance buildup.”
A bad kitchen layout put a prep table with peeled onions next to the three-compartment sink, making the onions “exposed to splash from dirty wash sink area.”
There was a handwashing sink there, but no soap. No way to dry hands at the handwash sink in the kitchen area.
“Food-contact surfaces not sanitized after cleaning, before use...No sanitizing solution set up at any food preparation areas in kitchen area.”
Going the other way, the wiping cloth chlorine solution was above the 200 parts per million concentration, which “could result in the cross contamination of food, equipment, utensils, linens, single-service, or single-use articles.”
On fly sticky tape, the inspector counted “approximately 100 dead flies...over onions and gallons of oil stored in the dry storage area” and “approximately 50 dead flies attached to sticky rapid fly adhesive tape in the three-compartment sink area.”
A swarm of 20 to 30 “or more” live flies partied in the dry storage area on onions, paper goods, to-go silverware, sugar bags and opened foil paper. Another 10 to 15 landed on cans, canned sodas and open to-go containers in another dry storage area.
Masala was back in the cooking chariot after passing re-inspection.
This story was originally published December 16, 2022 at 4:30 AM.
