Roaches, dangerously thawed fish and rodents gnawing and pooping highlight the seven South Florida restaurants that failed inspection last week.
The seven restaurants on the Sick and Shut Down List were allowed to reopen after passing re-inspection.
We don’t choose which restaurants get inspected nor do we do the inspecting. Both are done by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation. If you want to complain about a restaurant, complain to the agency.
In alphabetical order:
Chef Dees, 3919 N. Federal Hwy., Pompano Beach
Routine inspection, 19 total violations, seven High Priority violations
A live roach ran under a kitchen reach-in cooler while three ran under the three-compartment sink where they ran into 14 dead roaches. Four roaches were on the move under the dishwasher. Five dead ones lay under the kitchen prep table.
“Soiled dry wiping cloth in use.” An in-use wiping cloth should still be wet and somewhat clean from being in a sanitizing solution when at rest.
One cutting board had “cut marks and is no longer cleanable” while clean cutting boards sat on the floor — the same floor the roaches scurried about — next to a kitchen ice machine.
“Ceiling tiles and vents were soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or mold-like substance in the kitchen and prep area.”
A kitchen wall was “soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust.”
The inspector saw an employee take “two raw pork chops from a freezer with gloved hands, then handle clean food utensils at the kitchen flip top cooler without hand washing.”
A cook “dried gloved hands with a soiled wiping towel then handled clean food utensils without changing gloves or washing hands.”
That gets a “No, chef!” as does the cook who ate “a piece of food from sauce pan with gloved hands, before taking the pan to the triple sink, and then returned to cookline and handled clean food utensils without handwashing.”
Chef Dees reopened the next day.
The inspector stopped by again Tuesday.
Complaint inspection, 14 total violations, two High Priority violations
Still, the “ceiling tiles and vents were soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or mold-like substance in the kitchen and prep areas.” A clean cutting board still sat on the floor next to a prep area reach-in cooler. And there was a “soiled, dry wiping cloth in use,” this time on the cookline.
As for the roaches, the inspector counted eight dead and nine among the living. Three of the moving ones were on the side of a kitchen prep table. One of the dead expired on a “clean utensil storage rack to plates.”
“No soap, paper towels or mechanical hand drying device” at the kitchen handwash sink.
Chez Gaston, 4835 Collins Ave., Miami Beach
Routine inspection, 13 total violations, four High Priority violations
Commercially processed reduced-oxygen packaged fish carries a label telling consumers to keep it frozen ready for use. And the fish shouldn’t be thawed in the packaging to prevent bacteria buildup.
Chez Gaston thawed eight fish filets and one salmon filet in the reduced-oxygen packaging. Stop Sales across the board on the fish.
Three live roaches hid behind the ice machine.
The prep area handwash sink had been removed. The dessert station handwash sink remained, but lacked soap. No sanitizer was in the dishwasher.
“Employee wasn’t wearing a hair restraint while engaging in food preparation.”
“In-use tongs were stored on an equipment door handle between uses.”
“Observed one employee take a dirty towel from the floor and place it on the top of the prep table. Another one picked up a personal item from the floor and continued working with clean containers.”
Fort Lauderdale Beach Dining inside the Hotel Maren Fort Lauderdale Beach, 525 S. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
Complaint inspection, 15 total violations, four High Priority violations.
The soda gun at the side of the downstairs bar facing the ocean had an “accumulation of slime.”
The inside of the salad station’s flip top cooler lid was “soiled with black, mold-like substance.”
About 10 flies clogged the air at the downstairs bar.
Reduced-oxygen packaged fish (raw tuna) with a label “indicating removal upon thawing” had been thawed in the packaging overnight. The raw tuna got smacked with a Stop Sale.
Fritanga Nicaraguense, 3007 NW Seventh St., Miami
Routine inspection, 22 total violations, four High Priority violations
An inspector saw “a dead lizard stuck on handle of the oven located next to the mop sink.”
Of the six moving roaches spotted, two were seen “coming out of the mop sink drain in the kitchen.”
The inspector saw someone wearing single-use gloves “clean a container, then proceed to cook eggs without washing and changing gloves.” That’s two uses.
A salt shaker, food slicer on a shelf and a fryer stored on a rack in the kitchen were described as “soiled.” The same was said of the inside and outside of an oven.
No paper towels at the three-compartment sink handwash sink.
The “cutting board has cut marks and is no longer cleanable.”
Throughout the kitchen area, the floor and walls had an “accumulation of grease”
The reach-in cooler interior/shelves and gaskets have an “accumulation of soil residues.”
Ocean 5 Cafe, aka Ocean Enoteca e Forno, 444 Ocean Dr., Miami Beach
Routine inspection, 15 total violations, three High Priority violations.
We told you earlier this week about this summer’s failed inspection at the restaurant on the first floor and porch of South Beach’s Ocean 5 Hotel.
Raja, 12794 Forest Hill Blvd., Wellington
Routine inspection, four total violations, three High Priority violations.
Somebody walked into the kitchen carrying “soiled customer dishes” then, without washing hands, handled clean plates of customers’ food.
Three flies darted around near the back door.
Holes marred the walls in the kitchen under the dish machine, dry storage and dish storage rooms.
Five pieces of rodent poop in the dining room under tables. Six rodent droppings under the dishwasher. Four pieces of rodent poop on the floor in front of a reach-in cooler and tandoor oven. Under the storage racks with clean dishes and mango chutney, there were 27 rodent droppings. The kitchen dry storage rack with seasonings and lemon juice was dotted with 21 droppings.
When the inspector returned for re-inspection, Raja came up short by 20 rodent droppings between the tandoor oven and the walk-in cooler. One of the poopers might’ve been the “one dead rat/mouse in the kitchen between the tandoor oven and walk-in cooler.”
Wendy’s, 701 W. Boynton Beach Blvd., Boynton Beach
Complaint inspection, three total violations, three High Priority violations
Affordable housing is tough to find, so who can blame the rodents for building “what looks like a nest” with more than 20 rodent droppings comingled with 15 empty saltine wrappers?
Saltine crackers, mayonnaise, ranch dressing and hamburger buns got hit with Stop Sales when the inspector saw “visible gnaw marks, chewed through plastic and half-eaten buns.”
Unsurpringly, 50 pieces of rodent regularity dotted the floor of the dry storage shed and three rodent droppings under the Frosty machine.
By DAVID J. NEAL/Miami Herald
Since 1989, David J. Neal’s domain at the Miami Herald has expanded to include writing about Panthers (NHL and FIU), Dolphins, old school animation, food safety, fraud, naughty lawyers, bad doctors and all manner of breaking news. He drinks coladas whole. He does not work Indianapolis 500 Race Day.
