Flies inside a bread bag. A roach on lettuce. A dirty dozen of Miami metro restaurants
A glaze of rodents, roaches and recidivist restaurants puts the flavor in this week’s Sick and Shut Down List of South Florida eateries that failed state inspection.
Before we get to this list of restaurants in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach (no Monroe this week), a couple of things:
We don’t choose the restaurants, we don’t do the inspections and all complaints should be directed to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
Also, we don’t list all violations. Some of these problems got corrected right then and there, but we might list them anyway because, well, if they’re corrected so quickly, why did it take an inspection for them to be corrected? Would they have been corrected without the inspection?
In alphabetical order...
Ben’s Kosher Deli, 9942 Clint Moore Rd., Unincorporated Palm Beach County: Routine inspection, 10 total violations, six High Priority violations.
We’ll start the list with this week’s Which is Worse? An overall count of 76 live flies in the restaurant, 50 of which were landing on boxes and dry storage shelves? The five flies landing on clean cookware in the ware washing area? Or, the two dead flies on a prep area cutting board in the kitchen?
Though somebody left the baked potatoes in the oven overnight, they didn’t leave the oven on, which is probably a good thing for the oven and the restaurant. The baked potatoes, on the other hand, measured 114 to 122 degrees. Being kept in warm storage, they needed to be kept at 135 degrees, so they got hit with a Stop Sale order.
“Food-contact surface soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime.” Ew, where? “Can opener blade soiled.”
Ben’s was back in action after passing the callback inspection the next day.
Cafe Maza, 1430 NE 163rd St., North Miami Beach: Routine inspection, 14 total violations, four High Priority violations.
The front counter displayed a roach problem with six live ones running around and two dead ones just lying there.
“Roach excrement and/or droppings present” as in more than 15 at the front counter and more than 10 at the electrical stove.
Maybe they came through one of the three holes in the wall under the three-compartment sink or the hole in the bathroom wall.
Those bags with “Thank You” usually containing your takeout order are meant to touch plastic bowls and Styrofoam containers. Not your actual food. So, it’s a problem when the inspector finds “frozen beef stored inside a Thank You bag.”
No way to dry hands at the kitchen handwash sink. And no probe thermometer in the restaurant to make sure your food is properly cooked through.
Cafe Maza passed re-inspection the next day.
Craft South Beach, 445 Espanola Way, Miami Beach: Routine inspection, 20 total violations, six High Priority violations.
Hot food in the restaurant, hot mess around the dishwasher.
Over the dishwasher? A hole in the wall. On and around the dishwasher? Six roaming roaches. Also, a utensil rack blocked usage of the handwash sink next to the dishwasher, and “the hot water handle...just spins, no water comes out.”
The dishwasher itself? Not doing its full job with sanitizing because there was no sanitizer. They had to calibrate the three-compartment sink sanitizing section and use that.
Oxygen-packed fish should remain frozen in the pack until it’s to be used. Two packs of salmon had been thawed. Stop Sale on both.
Craft passed the callback inspection the next day.
READ MORE: Miami meat maker recalls 5 products — 9,300 pounds of pork — after listeria is found
CY Chinese Restaurant, 1242 NE 163rd St., North Miami Beach: Routine inspection, 14 total violations, two High Priority violations.
The gold medalist on this week’s podium of Sick and Shut Down List Recidivists comes a three-time loser, the William Jennings Bryan of Miami-Dade restaurants.
This habitual house of filth can be found under Y & C Restaurant and, with this record, the owners should want inspection details hidden under a different name. CY got closed by inspection in July 2022, but provided a disgusting tour de force failure in December.
READ MORE: A Miami restaurant’s inspector found rodent droppings, a useless cat and bad odors
CY cleared the restaurant of noisome air and cats, but the other four-legged guests remained..
More than 35 rodent droppings were found in a back storage room and more than 25 were under a dishwasher. Six were under an electrical unit in a storage room.
Raw pork was being thawed at room temperature. Hope whoever eats that pork has a strong stomach or a dependable urgent care location.
The inspector saw someone wash and rinse a pan, then put it on the drying rack. They skipped that whole sanitizing thing restaurants are required to do.
The “can opener blade is soiled” and the cutting board “is no longer cleanable.”
The cookline has an “accumulation of grease” and the reach-in cooler gaskets were “soiled.”
“Standing water in the bottom of the reach-in-cooler by the three-compartment sink.”
When the inspector returned, the rodents had marked their spots under the cookline (four droppings), under the dishwasher (six droppings) and by the entrance to dry storage (two droppings).
A third inspection got CY open again. For now.
Dixie Fried Chicken, 133 SW Ave. E., Belle Glade: Complaint inspection, 12 total violations, five High Priority violations.
One dead roach on a broken soap dispenser, one live roach on a chemical storage shelf, 67 pieces of rodent poop all over the place. Most notably, 15 of them were in dry storage, “on the cover of a flour container, on shelves with single service containers, shelves with food items and the floor.” Another 12 were on “clean dry storage shelves under the prep table near the ice machine.”
As so often happens, where you find evidence of rodents, you find food stored directly on the floor, in this case “a container of raw shrimp and tilapia on the floor of the walk-in cooler.”
At that walk-in cooler, the ceiling was “heavily soiled with a mold-like substance.” Also, the vents were “soiled with dust throughout the kitchen.”
Two days later, the inspector returned and counted four rodent poop duds “under a table and behind the washer” and another nine in dry storage.
Because staff was “in the process of cleaning and santizing areas,” the inspector returned for a same-day callback inspection. Dixie rose again after that third inspection.
La Libertad Market Cafeteria, 701 W. Flagler St., Miami: Routine inspection, 21 total inspections, six High Priority violations.
It’s not a Sick and Shut Down List until we see “Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.”
“Employee washed hands without using soap. No soap available at the start of the inspection for employees to use.” Then, it’s not washing, is it?
Apparently, nobody thought to take advantage of the Brawny sales last week. No paper towels at the handwash sinks in the employee restroom, the front counter and next to the three-compartment sink..
“Soiled” described the slicer, the slicer blade and two cutting boards.
When the inspector returned the next day, the number of live roaches was down to 11 but the number of dead roaches was up to 20.
A third inspection got La Libertad reopened.
READ MORE: Publix and Aldi store brands among more meat pack recalls on salmonella concerns
Los Gauchitos, 1717 N. Bayshore Dr., Miami: Routine inspection, 16 total violations, six High Priority violations.
When a roach crawled onto lettuce in the deli case, the little bugger dragged a Stop Sale onto the lettuce with him.
That was one of 12 live roaches, six of which were in the bar area and another of which was under a prep table. The bar area had two of the five dead roaches spotted.
The bar area also had six of the 12 flies. The other six were in the deli area and “in the hall where liquor was stored leading to the bar area.”
Along with roaches and flies, the bar area also featured a “soiled” soda gun and holster.
Cutting boards on the cookline and deli area were “soiled/stained.” The slicer’s guard and blade were “soiled with an accumulation of dried food debris.”
“Floor heavily soiled under equipment and shelving throughout the kitchen, cookline, prep areas and bar area.”
If you’re thinking they don’t seem to wash anything in this joint, well...“Two employees ate, then touched clean utensils without washing their hands.”
To be fair, that’s hard to do when there’s no soap at the handwash sink in the deli area and the front service line. The paper towels at the deli station couldn’t be extracted from the dispenser.
All that not-washing, no-cleaning coincides with an inability to keep food at temperatures that prevent foodborne illnesses. The wet Kleenex of reach-in coolers held cream cheese, liquid eggs, American cheese, tuna salad and house made chicken salad.
Los Gauchitos passed inspection the following day.
Mr. Shuttle’s Pizza By the Sea, 239 Almond Ave., Fort Lauderdale: Routine inspection, 11 total violations, one High Priority violation.
“Observed operator not allowing customers to use the restroom.”
“Employee applied hand antiseptic in place of washing hands as required.”
“No dishwashing facilities of any kind provided.” Mr. Shuttle’s didn’t have a dishwasher or, at the three-compartment sink, running water.
Mr. Shuttle came back after a re-inspection.
The Original Pancake House, 4364 Northlake Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens: Routine inspection, 14 total violations, three High Priority violations.
A truly original pancake house would be one of the places in this chain not winding up on this list, as have previously locations in Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and this Palm Beach Gardens. A slow clap for this “pancakes house,” which made the list with greater efficiency — 11 fewer violations — than it did in December.
Actually, they would’ve failed this inspection on the no-hot-water violation alone. The hot water heater wasn’t working.
But, the inspector continued on, doing a more thorough job than anyone in the restaurant.
Think about what five flies look like when they’re in a small area. And, there were five flies on the cookline. Now, expand that thinking to “40 live flies under the dishwasher drain” and “20 live flies at the prep station behind the dishwasher area wall.”
In addition to the flies, the cookline had two live roaches, “coming out from under the equipment.”
A cookline cutting board had a “mold-like prescence,” a quality shared by the dishwasher area.
The soap dispenser at the dishwasher area wasn’t working, so it might as well have been empty.
“Floor sticky and greasy throughout the dining room.”
In all the reach-in coolers, the “interior and shelves have an accumulation of soil residues.”
When the inspector returned, six flies in the dishwasher area and a hallway kept the House from getting the green light on a restart.
A same day re-re-inspection did that.
Rigatti’s Cafe, 100 S. Miami Ave., Miami: Routine inspection, 10 total violations, three High Priority violations.
The daughter of the owner told the Miami Herald that Rigatti’s had the exterminator in the restaurant before the visit during which an inspector counted 28 pieces of rodent regularity.
READ MORE: Hand-washing issues and pooping rodents at Rigatti’s Cafe, inspector says
Rigatti’s passed re-inspection the next day.
Travelers Caribbean Restaurant, 211 SW Fifth St., Belle Glade: Routine inspection, nine total violations, five High Priority violations.
You’d find Travelers located four restaurants down from the Palm Beach Gardens’ Original Pancake House on that Dec. 14 list.
The rodents at this week’s third repeater got on top of a counter, left a piece of poop there and on a board under the counter. Five more pieces of rodent regularity sat under a food storage rack, “where large food storage containers are stored.”
A microwave plate got cleaned but not sanitized.
Travelers was back open after a same day re-inspection.
Way Beyond Bagels, 9858 Clint Moore Rd., Palm Beach County: Routine inspection, eight total violations, three High Priority violations.
Not another repeater, but this week’s Wayne Gretzky Award winner for a hat trick of inspection failures.
“Pesticide-emitting strip present in the food prep area.”
Judge the effectiveness of such a strip yourself by the numbers of seven dead roaches, one of which was on the cookline floor and another inside a kitchen oven, and six live roaches. Four were in the drip pan of a cookline cooler.
The inspector spotted a “buildup of food debris/soil residue on equipment door handles” as well as a “soiled” ice scoop holder.
Inspection No. 2: Four live roaches in a cookline cooler, one dead roach in an outlet and another under a cookline window caused the second failure.
Inspection No. 3: A dead roach on the floor in the front and a live one on a back wall pushed this into the “nope” range.
Third callback inspection: The inspector returned the same day and Way Beyond was back in business on Blue Star.
