Roaches on clean dishes and other restaurant inspection issues from Miami to Palm Beach
The Sick and Shut Down list returns with nine restaurants in Miami, Broward and Palm Beach — each of which has its own flavor of vermin problems.
A reminder: This list is reactive. We don’t choose who gets inspected and we don’t do the inspecting. We merely tell you who stunk up their inspection badly enough to be closed.
We list these without passion or prejudice, but with dash of humor and a soupçon of judgment.
In alphabetical order...
Au Bon Gout Take Out, 5273 N. Dixie Hwy., Deerfield Beach: Routine inspection, 15 total violations, three High Priority violations.
On the supposedly-clean dishes, you had “two live roaches on bowls and plates on a cleaned utensil storage rack in the prep area” and seven live roaches moving on the rack itself.
Also, the bowls and plates weren’t placed in an inverted manner, so they were “filled with water.”
“Employee preparing food dried hands with soiled towel and continued cooking in kitchen.” However, there wasn’t any soap at the kitchen handwash sink, so drowning his hands in hot water would’ve been as close to washing as he could’ve gotten.
The tostones on a walk-in cooler shelf weren’t covered.
In other poor food storage, bagged onions on the floor by a back door, another bag of onions and a box of salt were under a kitchen table and “several buckets of raw chicken and beef” sat on the floor of the walk-in cooler.
The bottom of a beverage display case, walk-in cooler shelves and the kitchen handwash sink handles were “soiled with grease, food debris, dirt, slime or dust.”
A live roach and a dead roach on the callback inspection necessitated a second callback inspection. Au Bon Gout passed that.
Carnitas De Nicaragua Fritanga Tortilleria Mini Market, 1885 W. Flagler, Miami: Routine inspection, 44 total violations, 11 High Priority violations.
On Monday, we told you about this Little Havana restaurant that had 44 problems and roaches were one. Like someone crunching a roach, the owner put his foot down swiftly and with furious anger.
READ MORE: Roaches got a Miami restaurant shut down and, the owner said, an exterminator fired
Carnitas passed a re-inspection the next day.
Dairy Queen, 1113 Royal Palm Blvd., Royal Palm Beach: Routine inspection, four total violations, two High Priority violations.
One dead roach. Three flies on the wall. And pieces of rodent dump “under shelves with single service cups.”
You had to wait the next day to get your ice cream, Blizzard or burger.
Drawbridge Torry Island, 3300 W. Canal St. N, Belle Glade: Routine inspection, 11 total violations, seven High Priority violations.
A crate of onions and potatoes sat on the floor near the walk-in cooler. The mesh in the back door was “in disrepair.”
You know what’s coming next... ”rodent droppings and flies were present in the establishment.”
Six flies played in the kitchen. As for the rodent dung, 10 pieces were beside and behind a deep freezer and 16 were on a floor “leading to the entrance of the walk-in cooler.”
The dishwasher sanitizer measured zero and the inspector was told the dishwasher wasn’t being used. The inspector noted, “However, during the inspection a tray loaded with utensils was observed in dishwasher.”
The manager also blamed a power outage from the previous night for cooked potatoes, cooked rice, raw steak, raw chicken and raw swai being too warm after a night in the walk-in cooler. The inspector fired Stop Sales at all the listed food.
After flies ruined the first re-inspection the next day, the Drawbridge came down after a second re-inspection that day.
El Sabrocito Corporation, 11640 Quail Roost Dr., South Miami-Dade: Routine inspection, 12 total violations, five High Priority violations.
Regular readers knew it was about time for “accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin” in the prep area.
Of the 12 dead roaches, six were “floating in water in a tray under the three-compartment sink at the cookline.” Another four were on the floor by the kitchen entrance.
Of the four live roaches, three were on the kitchen floor and one was crawling from the wall to under the steam table at front service counter.
No way to dry your hands at the cookline handwash sink.
The inside of the reach-in cooler was “soiled.”
During the first re-inspection, the inspector saw three live roaches and seven dead roaches. El Sabrocito was bueno after the second re-inspection.
READ MORE: Inspectors found filthy equipment at a Hialeah bakery and a Cao Bakery near Kendall
India Grill and Bar, 650 Royal Palm Beach Blvd., Royal Palm Beach: Complaint inspection, 11 total violations, six High Priority violations.
In the server station soda machine’s ice well, there was a dead roach. The inspector slapped all that ice with a Stop Sale just like the Stop Sale put on the roach’s life.
If you’re going to have roach motels, you have to dump them when there’s no more vacancy. Four roach traps had 40 roaches in a prep area room across from the cookline. That’s about how packed the roach trap near the mop sink was with 10 roaches.
Other than the 40 in the trap, that little room also contained 25 roach corpses. Another 20 sat in dry storage. About 10 roach legs up dotted a front counter storage area. Another storage cabinet had eight. One dead roach and one roach egg casing sat on a prep counter.
As for the live roaches, a manager killed eight in front of the inspector.
The inspector had to discern between dead roaches and rodent droppings, of which there were 10, eight of them inside a cabinet under the soda machine.
Five flies landed on the actual bar.
Can’t say the roaches live long around here. The inspector counted 46 dead roaches on first callback inspection and five on the second. The third callback inspection (fourth one overall) was the charm and India was back in business.
Let’s Dish Caribbean, 5083 Okeechobee Blvd., Unincorporated Palm Beach County: Rouine inspection, 15 total violations, eight High Priority violations.
About 50 dead roach bodies were sprinkled around the kitchen, “on storage shelves, the prep table, floors and under all equipment.”
An “employee washing pots, stopped to prepare or package food without washing hands first.”
In the reach-in freezer, raw fish was “completely unpackaged, with no container and no covering.”
These kitchen roaches got bold. One “crawled on the cutting board on the prep table.” Another five were “crawling on shelves over the prep table.” One came out of the handwash sink soap dispenser.”
The cutting boards needed cleaning anyway, being “visibly soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime.“
No paper towels at a handwash sink near the steam table.
As for other handwash sinks, they had removed three and an employee bathroom without submitting the plans for improvement to the state. That’s a no-no.
Stop Sales crashed down on rice and peas, curry chicken, brown stew chicken and raw eggs, all at least 13 degrees too warm after being in the walk-in cooler overnight.
Roaches ruined two re-inspections before Let’s Dish could resume dishing again.
Luxury Kosher, 5005 Collins Ave., Miami Beach: Routine inspection, 21 total violations, four High Priority violations.
You can find their inspections under “Poon & Lee.”
The inspector found 35 dead roaches and 11 live ones. In the latter category, four were “crawling on the kitchen floor behind the reach-in cooler” and another four were on the dry food storage area floor.
“Ceiling tiles with water damage throughout the kitchen.”
“Standing water on the floor around the reach-in cooler
Cooking oil sat on the cookline floor. Raw chicken and beef were planted on the walk-in freezer floor.
The ice scoop sat directly on the top of the ice machine, where, surely there’s no dust or grime.
“Tracking powder pesticide used... throughout the establishment.”
The outsides of various equipment were “soiled with old food debris.”
They were back in action after re-inspection the next day.
Toojay’s Deli, 2880-4, N. University Dr., Coral Springs: Complaint inspection, four total violations, one High Priority violation.
Four dead roaches were on the kitchen floor. One live roach hung out on a stall wall in the women’s restroom. Another two were in metal trim around a wall cut out for air flow behind a flip top cooler.
The dining room ceiling/ceiling tiles/vents were “soiled with accumulated dust.”
Toojay’s was okay after re-inspection the following day.
