Flies. Things with mold. The Sick and Shut Down List of Miami metro area restaurants
Not an especially busy week at The Sick and Shut Down List unless you happen to be a fly or fungus.
So, let’s get going
HOW THE LIST IS DONE: 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 salad plate of humor (and, possibly, indignation).
In alphabetical order...
Bagel Cove Deli and Bakery, 668 W. Hallandale Beach Blvd., Hallandale Beach: Complaint inspection, seven total violations, three High Priority violations.
The inspector saw the wall behind the three-compartment sink “soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust.”
Also, an employee cracked raw eggs, then grabbed a to-go plate without changing gloves or even washing hands. That’s just passing the possible salmonella.
But, really, this inspection fail was about the flies, especially the 11 in the bagel packaging area and the three on a bagel prep table and six on a wall over a prep table.
This place was slicing bagels the next day after passing re-inspection.
READ MORE: Moldy food, old food among inspection issues at Proper Sausages
Nirala Sweet, 8913 W. Oakland Park Blvd., Sunrise: Routine inspection, 40 total violations, 11 High Priority violations.
Nirala served the inspector a forty burger of violations. First on the menu, the fried chicken of violations.
“Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin located next to front dry storage area.”
Less common and more damaging to your chances of remaining open is “Objectionable odors in bathroom or other areas of the establishment.”
The inspector also saw “food contact surfaces not cleaned and sanitized between prep of raw beef and reheating of products. No sanitizing solution set up.”
That creates a foodborne illness highway.
As for the surfaces that don’t contact food, “floors throughout the establishment and behind equipment soiled with grease, food debris, dirt, slime and mold-like substance throughout the establishment.”
Standing water? Bad. Anything moldy? Worse. But Nirala combined them for “moldy standing water in the reach-in cooler located in kitchen area.”
These folks had beef and goat thawing in standing water (that’s what a refrigerator is for, Sparky) and yogurt and cooked chicken uncovered in a cooler (that’s what Saran Wrap or Tupperware are for, Junior).
“Water draining onto the floor...water draining from the PVC pipe under the handwashing sink located in the second kitchen next to rear back door.”
The can opener blade had a “mold-like substance.” The cutting boards had a “buildup of food.” All the shelves in the kitchen and dishware area wore a coat of grease.
And the inspector fired Stop Sales at the cooked beef; cooked goat; four pans of cooked chicken; white rice; and cooked rice, all of which were made the day before and none of which were cooled for proper food safety.
There were four to six roach encasings spotted. The flies landed on to-go containers, on the onions, and flew around the uncovered steam table and the dessert station, “landing on pastry fudge at the dessert buffet area in the dining room.”
Guess the inspector ran out of Stop Sales in his quiver when it came time to shoot the pasty fudge.
Inspector returned the same day and got Nirala reopened, but said a follow up inspection was still necessary. That was Dec. 22. There’s no online notation of that follow up inspection being made.
Wingstop, 4570 Lyons Rd., Coconut Creek: Routine inspection, two total violations, one High Priority violation.
Though the water at the employee handwashing sink didn’t get hot enough, credit the flies with another inspection fail, appropriate for a place that’s all about wings.
There were 10 flies on the walls above the cash register and the soda machine, 10 live flies on the dining room walls, another 10 on the wall behind a storage rack, seven on the walls near a kitchen door, five on a dry storage rack over a kitchen entrance.
The inspector came back to do a same-day follow up and counted 13 flies in the kitchen.
This Wingstop could go after passing the Dec. 28 re-inspection.
