Rodents gnawed into sugar and tortilla bags in Broward and Palm Beach restaurants
Rodents got around Broward County this week in restaurants that failed inspection.
The Sick and Shut Down List covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties. A reminder that we don’t do the inspecting nor do we choose the restaurants inspected. That’s done by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation, to which you can complain about a restaurant.
Unless stated otherwise, each of these places re-opened after passing re-inspection the next day.
In alphabetical order:
Aki E Restaurant Bar, 1840 Harrison St., Hollywood: Routine inspection, 12 total violations, four High Priority violations.
The inspector “observed a large buildup of roach droppings inside of not-in-use white reach-in freezer.”
Well, three live roaches found inside were using it. Another 23 scattered roaches scurried about the place, including three “inside a corner of a two-tiered shelf holding clean wares in the prep room.”
A prep room flip-top cooler would be the death site for over 10 roaches. Two died on a cookline dry storage shelf.
The front counter, kitchen, prep area and ware washing area “handwash sinks” didn’t have soap or paper towels.
During the callback inspection, the inspector spotted nine live roaches, six dead roaches and roach poop in the same place.
The roaches must have headed for the casino because Aki passed a same-day, re-re-inspection.
READ MORE: Miami stone crab seller doesn’t control pathogenic bacteria growth, inspection says
Boston Johnny’s, 2120 N. Dixie Hwy., Hollywood: Routine inspection, seven total violations, two High Priority violations.
The walking dead tuna salad, which should have been tossed if not eaten or sold in seven days, had sat in the reach-in cooler for 10 days.
Three dead roaches came to final rest on a kitchen reach-in cooler/freezer, one did so on top of a slow cooker in the kitchen.
As for their surviving relatives, 10 were inside the reach-in cooler/freezer’s gasket and another three strutted inside a kitchen cabinet with dry storage items. Five were inside cookline cooler gaskets and six were in cooler wheels.
China Ichiban Buffet, 800 S. Federal Hwy., Deerfield Beach: Complaint inspection, 12 total violations, three High Priority violations.
Six rodent droppings under a sushi prep area counter, 16 pieces of poop in the dry storage area near the water heater and behind the washer and dryer, and two rodent droppings under the warewashing drain board show there’s more than just Pixie and Dixie running around the place.
Oysters in the walk-in freezer got hit with Stop Sales for not being marked with the final date to be served.
Between clean-up jobs, wet wiping cloths should rest in sanitizing solution. These were sitting on a food prep table, on the cookline and at a hibachi station prep table.
READ MORE: Equipment that couldn’t be washed or sanitized got a Hialeah food distributor shut down
Jalisco, 700 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale: Complaint inspection, nine total violations, two High Priority violations.
Jalisco managed to be both underwater and, in one area, covered in stink.
“Objectionable odors in area where the triple sink is located” and the space had an “accumulation of water and debris...”
“Floor areas covered with standing water.” Where? “By the water heater next to the employee restroom” and “under and around the dish machine.”
No surprise with all that water, when the cardboard “used on the floor as an anti-slip measure” wasn’t replaced, Jalisco had “soiled cardboard in the employee restroom, soiled cardboard in the back storage room open to the kitchen and soiled cardboard in front of the walk-in cooler.”
In that “storage room open to the kitchen” sat two plastic bags of corn tortillas “with gnaw marks through the plastic.”
Stop Sales came down on those bags of tortillas. Meanwhile, workers had to clean four rodent duds off bulk containers of flour and five out of the case of tortillas.
Bag-in-box syrups shared a cabinet with 10 roach corpses. Two roaches died in a kitchen storage cove where bottle drinks sat. Two more went to their reward under the dishwasher. Two other roaches didn’t survive the employee restroom.
“Food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime.” Where? “The magnetic knife rack with clean knives was visibly soiled.”
Taqueira Tacontodo, 1100 N. Main St., Belle Glade, food truck: Routine inspection, nine total violations, three High Priority violations.
“Establishment operating with no potable running water,” which means “no hot running water at three-compartment sink” and “water with a temperature of least 85 degrees not provided at the employee handwash sink.”
Next to those water violations, all other problems count as watercress. Water remained an issue when the inspector returned the next day.
The food truck got out of hot water by getting hot water before the third inspection.
Wilton Wings, 1428 NE Fourth Ave., Fort Lauderdale: Complaint inspection, 24 total violations, nine High Priority violations.
The picture on the Broward County Property Appraiser’s site from July 18, weeks after rodents put Wilton Wings on this list, shows a banner over the place braying, “UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP SAME GREAT FOOD.”
So were these new or the same rodents that gnawed into sugar packets in the dry storage room? They left “rodent materials” in the air conditioning vent by the restrooms and left “rodent rub marks” along the dry storage room wall above a freezer and in a corner.
Stop Sales on the sugar packets.
The roach count reached five among the dead, four among the living, one of which was in a storage container with dry pasta. Eight flies made their presence known, four of which were on a dining room wall.
Ladies, want to go to the restroom? Sit in the dark. The light wasn’t working.
“A cook came in from outside, put on gloves and began to fry chicken wings without first his washing hands.” Yes, you wash your hands even before putting on the plastic gloves.
Food prepared at the restaurant wasn’t being properly time tracked.
