Miami roaches. Palm Beach rodents. Blown up hand sink. Restaurants failing inspection
Give it to South Florida for giving us the material to keep The Sick and Shut Down List fresh and new. We’ve seen plenty of handwashing sinks that worked and didn’t get used, some that didn’t work. We’ve never had one that didn’t work because it got blown up .
But, that’s what this week’s list brings us, so let’s to get to a list that’s short but thick with violations.
HOUSE RULES: What follows comes from Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation restaurant inspections of restaurants in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties. These are the restaurants that fail inspection. A restaurant that fails inspection remains closed until passing a re-inspection.
We don’t do the inspections. We don’t control who gets inspected. We don’t control how strictly the inspector inspects. If restaurants in your part of South Florida are not included, we have nothing to do with that. If you see a problem and want a place inspected, contact the DBPR.
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 ceviche plate of humor, indignation and exasperation.
In alphabetical order...
Blue Anchor, 804 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach: Routine inspection, three total violations, two High Priority violations.
The rodent’s didn’t drop anchor, but they dropped other things in showing they’d reached a stopping place.
One poop pellet was under a slicer table. Three others were under a dry storage shelf. Six were under cookline floor mats.
Perhaps the Anchor convinced the rodents to relieve themselves somewhere else before passing re-inspection the next day.
READ MORE: Mold on fruit. Old flour. A Fort Lauderdale grocery store’s issues
Crafty Crab, 9511 Westview Dr., Coral Springs: Routine inspection, 12 total violations, five High Priority violations.
This is a repeat of chain, not location. Different Crafty Crabs were more Crusty Crab previously on The Sick and Shut Down List.
In a two-compartment sink, a bag of raw shrimp and a bag of chicken wings were defrosting at room temperature. No room in a walk-in cooler or refrigerator to save the customers from potential foodborne bacteria?
Wash your hands at the handwash sink by the kitchen door entrance and you have to drip dry. No paper towels or blower.
Now, to the flies, who numbered 40 with 30 of them “landing on the wall, on single service items and prep counters.
Maybe make that 41 — a fly landed on cooked corn, bringing a Stop Sale with him.
The next day’s re-inspection got ruined by 10 flies landing on the wall and single service items and five flies landing on clean dishes.
The Crab passed a re-re-inspection.
El Palacio de los Jugos, 5721 W. Flagler St., Miami: Routine inspection, 18 total violations, six High Priority violations.
Earlier this week, we detailed the latest problems in this Palacio de los Jugos with a history of bugs in the food. But, where the roaches ran free would’ve been enough to fail inspection on their own, even in Miami-Dade, where restaurant inspectors tend to be a little more laissez-faire than their Broward and Palm Beach counterparts.
READ MORE: Inspectors saw roaches on a meat grinder and slicer at a Palacio de los Jugos
El Palacio herded or hid the roaches well enough to pass re-inspection the next day.
Nikos Greek Kouzina, 289 S. U.S. 1, Tequesta: Complaint inspection, 16 total violations, 7 High Priority violations.
Before we get to Nikos achieving the vermin hat trick of flies, roaches and rodents, let’s spend a few words on this sink.
No soap for washing or method of drying was spotted at the handwash sink by the dishwasher Not much use for them with the hot and cold water not running. Shutting that off actually probably was a good call, seeing as that the sink had no drain pipe and did have “black, burnt-like stains.”
The manager told the inspector, “Hot grease was poured last night and made the sink ‘explode.’”
Is that what made the rodents leave three signs of regularity under the three-compartment sink and three more under a nearby prep table? Two flies headed under the three-compartment sink.
Did the big bang have anything to do with the 135 dead roaches the inspector counted, 10 of which were under the aforementioned prep table? Another 25 were in the servers area and drink station. About 30 died at the cookline. Another 50 met their end under the three-compartment sink and dishwasher.
Surviving roaches were spotted on the cookline, in the manager’s office and in the dining room.
That’s an awful lot of signs of vermin on the floor to have a bucket of soup and another bucket of thawing fish and meat sitting on a second cookline floor. In a reach-in freezer, a sheet pan of broccoli wasn’t covered as if Frigidaire is the flavor that’ll cover up the smell of exploded sink and the roach running over your foot.
The wall at the three compartment sink and dishwasher had a “presence of heavily black, mold-like substance.”
There’s no online record of Nikos passing a re-inspection without follow-up inspections required.
This story was originally published July 27, 2023 at 4:24 PM.
