Rodents. Sewage water. Unwashed hands touching food. Miami metro area restaurant problems
Rodents, dirty hands handling food and a sewage backup workers couldn’t avoid lowlight this week’s “Sick and Shut Down List” of South Florida restaurants.
Let’s get right to the list of restaurant inspections in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach:
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In alphabetical order:
Bogart’s American Kitchen, 2721 N. Hiatus Rd., Cooper City: Routine inspection, 19 total violations, six High Priority violations.
Cooper City is not Casablanca or Key Largo, but this inspection could be described as The Harder They Fall. And, we’re not talking about all the dead flies in the bug zapper.
The inspector dinged Bogie’s for that and that the zapper was “installed in the wait station above clean cups and take out containers.”
A bag of flour sat on the dry storage floor. “Cases with various food items” sat on the walk-in cooler and freezer floors. A container of cooked potatoes sat uncovered in the walk-in cooler
Food uncovered. Food on the floor. Seems like an invitation for furry fiends that leave ...”four rodent droppings under a food preparation table at the wait station,” about 16 droppings on top of or under the dishwasher and five more behind cookline coolers.
But, at least with the rodents dropping and running around the dishwasher, you’d want to make sure everything washed got properly sanitized. Dishwashing machine solution: zero parts per million.
Also at the wait station, about 20 flies filled the air. Another 10 were landing on a bar soda nozzle and cutting board.
“Observed accumulation of black mold-like substance buildup on a can opener blade. *
A Stop Sale dropped on roast beef in the walk-in cooler overnight, but remained at 48 to 52 degrees when it needed to be at or under 41 degrees. Then again, Bogie’s didn’t have a probe thermometer to measure food temperature.
The place reopened on July 24 after a re-inspection, but didn’t get “Met inspection standards” until Tuesday.
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China Lane, 6619 Boynton Beach Blvd., unincorporated Palm Beach County: Routine inspection, nine total violations, five High Priority violations.
If the green beans here possessed an inky taste, well, “Printed menus were used to line a pan of green beans,” which was non-food grade paper lining a food container.
Four dead roaches. Eight roaches roamed an unused cooler. One roach walked on the prep table holding rice warmings and another got on the side of a rice warmer. One roach walked on the “underside of shelving above cookline flip top” coolers.
The Lane was back open after the next day’s callback inspection.
Gabriel’s Cafe & Grille, 12793 Forest Hill Blvd., Wellington: Routine inspection, four total violations, four High Priority violations.
Gabriel’s made this list previously with a combination of rodents and poor storage creating bacteria food boats.
And, wash, rinse, repeat rodents leaving 20 pieces of regularity under a dry storage shelf, three on a dry storage shelf “where a container or nuts are stored in dry and two under a table beside a dishwasher.
The pico de gallo was too warm by a few degrees and got hit with a Stop Sale. The whipped butter too warm by over 42 degrees, the chocolate milk, whole milk and cheese all too warm, but were allowed to be put in refrigeration for a “quick chill.”
And something new has been added to violations: “Observed dishwasher handle dirty dishes then handled clean dishes from dishwasher” without changing his gloves.
Tuesday’s re-inspection went better.
Golden Wok, 7100 Fairway Dr., Palm Beach Gardens: Routine inspection, 17 total violations, nine High Priority violations.
Roaches, dead and alive, numbered five (four less bells to answer in a trap, one more egg to fry on the cookline).
At a dry storage shelf across from the cookline, rodents left “approximately 15 rodent droppings on a floor near a container of sugar, flour and rice.” Another 10 rodent droppings were under other “dry storage shelves with food.” Two pieces of poo were in a cabinet under plastic to-go bags.
“Large pans and pots stored on the floor under the cookline.”
At the front counter, an “employee began work and handled single service containers and food without washing hands.”
Cookine employees “touched their faces then proceeded to prepare food for an order.”
The Wok was golden after the next day’s re-inspection.
Lutong Pinoy 2, 9131 Pembroke Rd., Pembroke Pines: Routine inspection, 12 total violations, two High Priority violations.
The inspector spotted nothing living other than the staff that was “stepping and walking through sewage water” that backed up from all the kitchen floor drains.
An “accumulation of black, mold-like substance buildup” colored the kitchen air conditioning vents and ceiling tiles.
The can opener blade possessed its own black, mold-like substance buildup.
“Observed operator wash and rinse food containers and utensils without sanitizing.”
The handwash sink next to the walk-in cooler lacked soap, paper towels or any way to dry your hands other than flapping.
Inspection was passed the next day.
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Mangia e Bevi Pizzeria Napoletana, 2378 Weston Rd., Weston: Routine inspection, 14 total violations, eight High Priority violations.
Six live roaches ran on a dishwasher storage rack.
The dishwasher’s sanitizer measured zero point zero.
“Employee handled soiled dishes then proceeded to cut cheese without washing hands.”
Packages of cheese thawed at room temperature in the three-compartment sink.
A flip top cooler’s cutting board also was a “food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime.”
Stop sales hit ham, sausage, tomato sauce, grilled peppers and Brussels sprouts that measured way too warm. All got tossed.
Two roaches, one on the pizza boxes sitting on top of a reach-in cooler and one sliding under the triple sink, ruined the first re-inspection.
Mangia passed the re-re-inspection the next day.
Ocean 5 Cafe aka Ocean Enoteca e Forno, 444 Ocean Dr., Miami Beach: Routine inspection, 20 violations, one High Priority violation.
A Monday Miami Herald story listed the main violations, including in-use knives being stored in crevices between equipment, that caused this eatery to be closed for a day.
Ocean Enoteca passed re-inspection the next day.
Paluva Cafe, 4120 10th Ave. N., unincorporated Palm Beach County: Routine inspection, eight total violations, three High Priority violations.
The inspector saw one live roach on a “woven soup bowl holder basket in a service window for delivery to a guest in the dining room.” When the employee killed the roach, and moved the baskets, the inspector saw “25-plus under woven baskets on a shelf over a cooking stove ... roaches scattered all over after removing the baskets.”
“Frozen boiled potatoes stored in a white trash bag.” Those bags aren’t food grade..
The employee restroom lacked, “tight-fitting, self-closing doors.”
Paluva passed the callback inspection the next day.
Sam Kitchen Detente Bar & Restaurant, 6043 Miramar Pkwy., Miramar: Routine inspection, five total violations, two High Priority violations.
Well, at least they didn’t have rodents pooping hither and yon as happened before the inspector dropped by in January.
This time, three roaches wandered in an unused walk-in cooler, two went under a kitchen refrigerator and two were under a kitchen chest freezer.
“Food-contact surface soiled with food debris” as in “fryers soiled.”
The re-inspection got ruined by two live roaches on the kitchen floor.
Sam’s passed re-inspection the next day.
Sea Level, 3030 Holiday Dr., Fort Lauderdale: Complaint inspection, 15 total violations, seven High Priority violations.
“Employee rubbed hands together for less than 10-15 seconds while washing hands” but he wasn’t really washing his hands, he was just getting them wet — no soap in use.
The inspector saw an “employee dispense cut tomatoes and cut onions to a sandwich bun with bare hands” and someone else “touch raw chicken and then touch a clean plate without changing gloves and washing hands.”
An “accumulation of black, mold like substance” marred the dishwashing area walls.
Three flies landed on those walls. One roach crawled on those walls. Another two climbed the wall over a prep sink with a pal under the prep sink. One moved under a cookline food prep table.
“Clean food containers stored on dry storage floor.”
Sea Level rose to the next day’s re-inspection.
