A big week for rodents and moldy ice machines on the list of restaurants that failed inspection in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
We do not choose who is inspected. We don’t do the inspections. Both are done by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. If you have a cleanliness problem with a restaurant, please tell that department. Do not email us.
The ‘Sick and Shut Down list’ simply reports the inspection without passion or prejudice, but with humor and perhaps a little judgement.
In alphabetic order:
Azumare, 26 Diplomat Hwy., Hallandale Beach: Routine inspection, ten violations in total, three high priority violations.
First offense, first restaurant and we get our old friend: “Buildup of black/green mold-like substance in the inside of the ice cream machine.”
There was no soap in the kitchen, so an “employee used water to wash hands but did not apply soap.” .
The fifteen live cockroaches scurrying around the kitchen were on the floor next to boxes of oil (six), on a wall next to a wok (three), on a cooler with a flip-up lid (three), and under the handwashing sink that didn’t. have soap (three).
Azumare was fine after the next day’s re-inspection.
Billy Joe’s The Conch Queen, 3936 Pembroke Rd., Pembroke Park: Routine inspection, six inspections total, one high priority violation.
This ode to Billy Joe’s is not about the water under the Tallahatchie Bridge, but about the water in the sinks of this restaurant.
“Total lack of water at the only designated food service handwash sink in the establishment.”
“No running water at the mop sink.”
There is no water and there is also no hot water, so you can end up in hot water.
“Employee washed hands with cold water. An employee was observed washing hands at a three-compartment sink with water that only reached 83 degrees.
“No hot running water at three-compartment sink.” That’s a problem with the triple sink where you wash, rinse and disinfect cookware.
The hand wash water in the bathroom also did not get hot enough.
“No hand wash basin for employees.”
Billy Joe got out of trouble by getting hot water the next day and passed the inspection.
Cayo Esquivel Seafood Restaurant & Market, 11890 NW 87th Ct., Hialeah Gardens: Routine inspection, 45 total violations, six high priority violations.
Rodents, rodent poop, standing water, stop sales… this is the biggest mess in Hialeah Gardens, without Gilda Oliveros (as far as we know).
You knew there would be all those violations: “Buildup of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.” One of the ice machines had “mold-like residue on the ice chute.”
More than 100 rodent droppings were strewn across the dry storage area, “under shelves and pallets where canned goods, dry goods, utensils and equipment are stored.”
Two of the mouse poop producers were found dead in a glue trap under a shelf in the dry storage area. Also in the room was a chest freezer of seafood.
Numerous food storage violations led the inspector to spray the restaurant with Stop Sales.
There are the vacuum sealed 10 packs of raw tuna and 10 packs of kingfish that were supposed to be kept frozen and were thawing, in direct contradiction to the directions on the package. Stop the sale for everyone.
Victims of “temperature abuse” from not being kept cold enough included yellow rice, Marsala sauce, sweet potatoes, tomato sauce, coleslaw, snapper and calamari. Stop sales across the board.
“Stop Sale issued for food from an unapproved source” for three boxes of unlabeled oysters.
The can opener and mixer in the preparation area were described as “dirty”.
“Equipment and utensils not properly air dried” were instead “wet nesting.”
“Floor surface(s) covered with standing water.”
The “bucket used to transport the fish was stored under the sink for hand washing and exposed to splashes.” Maybe you should wait to order the fish. Oh, wait, it’s a seafood restaurant.
The “wall was contaminated with accumulated grease, food debris and/or dust. Observed by the entire establishment.”
The wall in a walk-in cooler was “heavily contaminated with mold-like residue.”
“Ceiling fans throughout the establishment dirty.”
“Ceiling in disrepair in the seating area.”
A dead cockroach “floated on the water in the kitchen steam table.”
The next day the inspector came back and gave the place a “Follow-up Inspection Required” but allowed them to reopen.
The Hen and The Hog, 3003 N. Federal Hwy., Pompano Beach: Complaint inspection, 13 violations total, eight high priority violations.
The chicken and the pig… and the mice?
First, the well-known opening verse: “Buildup of mold-like substance in the interior of the ice cream maker.”
Now let’s move on to the rodents, who used counter shelves with clean cups and bowls as a toilet for 35 pieces of rodent feces. Another five were spotted “on and under toilet paper on the bottom shelf” of a dry storage rack. The inspector counted fifteen drops of manure under a built-in cooler and a hand sink opposite a cooking line. Add the 15 found near the boiler in dry storage and that’s 70 rodent droppings for the restaurant.
With all this rodent stuff, you just hope the dishes get washed and disinfected… uh, oh. “chlorine disinfectant for dishwashers, zero parts per million.”
“Ceiling dirty with accumulated food debris, grease, dust or mold-like substance in the storage area.”
Stop Sales for temperature abuse crashed on cooked pork, turkey and corned beef.
What’s worse? The possibility of salmonella or boogers?
“Employee cracked two raw eggs into the shell and then grabbed bread without washing hands.”
“Employee rubbed his nose with a gloved hand and then picked up bread without washing his hands.”
This site was inspected again the next day.
Kam Wow, 12895 SW 42nd St., West Miami-Dade: Complaint inspection, twelve violations total, four high priority violations.
There was a dead cockroach under the three compartment sink. Another was on the floor of the men’s room. Perhaps there is only so much that even cockroaches can tolerate.
Seven live cockroaches moved across the floor beneath a three-compartment sink. Three cockroaches rolled under the dishwasher. One was working under a cookline cooler. One live cockroach was living its best life, “resting on the bottom shelf next to a bowl of noodles in the two-door slide-in cooler….”
The prep cooler for the sushi area failed to do its job and masago, cream cheese and raw tuna were all too hot to be served safely. Stop Sales took them from the cooler to the trash.
A kitchen cooler had “gaskets that were contaminated with a black substance.”
“Non-food grade paper towel in direct contact with spring rolls.”
That problem was not resolved during the next day’s re-inspection. The cockroach that “crawled on a menu at the counter” also put an end to the re-inspection.
A second reinspection went better for the restaurant and it reopened.
Pizza Palace, 1962 Lake Worth Rd., Lake Worth Beach: Routine inspection, 27 violations total, 14 high priority violations.
That’s not spilled sausage or spices, but “15 rodent droppings next to a table with clean dishes near the pizza dough machine and the pizza oven.” Or maybe it’s “three rodent droppings under the three-compartment sink near the pizza dough machine.” Another six were in a cooler next to a prep table. Three were behind a pop-up cooler and two were between a pop-up cooler and a prep table.
“Rodent tracks present in the roof where there are holes in the ceiling above the pizza dough machine.”
“Non-food grade bags were used to store multiple food items in the freezer and freezer.”
The inspector unloaded a bucket of Stop Sales on foods that had not been safely refrigerated because they were bacteria boats: turkey on the stove; cut the tomato in a slide-in cooler; a flip-top cooler with shredded mozzarella and Swiss cheese; cooked turkey, cooked pork, cooked chicken, cooked goat, raw bacon, cooked chorizo, vegetable garlic sauce, raw fish, raw shell, raw beef, raw chicken, mozzarella cheese, butter, ricotta, feta cheese, sour cream, coleslaw and house pizza sauce in the walk-in cooler.
About 23 flies flew around, with 10 “landing on clean plates next to the soda machine,” three “landing on oranges” on a table and another five “landing on sliced tomatoes stored under the prep table.”
No soap or paper towels at the front hand sink
No soap available at the hand wash basin at the counter.
No paper towels in the men’s room and the hand sinks in the kitchen. No soap or paper towels at the front hand sink.
The handwash sink in the kitchen was closed off by a grate.
At the next inspection, the palace was reopened, but “follow-up inspection required.”
Saveur Tropical Restaurant, 515 NE 24th St., Pompano Beach: Routine inspection, twenty violations in total, four high priority violations.
Among the violations when repeat offender Saveur made this list in November: employees washing their hands by dipping them in a bucket of bleach and water and then returning to preparing food.
This time the inspector observed “three dead rodents on a glue board trap under the shelves in the walk-in cooler that had been converted to dry storage.”
“Approximately ten rodent droppings were observed on the floor surrounding the dry storage and preparation area. Employees actively mop and sweep during the inspection.” Maybe they should have done that before the inspection.
There is no soap, paper towels, or mechanical hand drying device provided at a hand wash sink in the kitchen.
Stop Sales amounted to boiled lalo, boiled chicken, chicken gravy, and boiled goat stored in the apparently worthless-as-wet-Kleenex refrigerator.
“Single use forks stored on the floor in boxes near the counter. Styrofoam food containers stored on the floor in a dry storage area.”
“Thaw frozen raw shrimp in standing water on the cook line.” Maybe the reach-in cooler can handle that.
“Standing water in the broken tile in front of the triple sink in the laundry room.”
On the floor were packaged cornmeal, plastic jugs of vinegar and plastic jugs of oil. Not very smart of Saveur, even though it was rodent-free.
At last inspection, Saveur was reopened, but a “follow-up inspection is still required.”
