Is your KFC/Taco Bell among 7 Miami metro area restaurants too dirty to stay open?
After an active week for the rodents, roaches returned as the dominant vermin on the Sick and Shut Down List of South Florida restaurants that failed inspection.
Regular readers know how we do this. Newbies, just know that this list is totally reactive. We don’t report places. We don’t go roach hunting. We don’t want to see any rodents that aren’t animated and being chased by inept cats. We don’t do inspections. People from the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation inspect these joints.
We just find out who failed inspection in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties, why they failed inspection, tell you if they passed an inspection to get back in business and tell you with a dash of humor and a pinch of disgust.
In alphabetical order...
China Star, 4233 W. Commercial Blvd., Tamarac: Routine inspection, 13 total violations, two High Priority violations.
Employees coming out of the restroom flapped their arms, rubbed their hands on themselves or on each other because there were “No paper towels or mechanical hand drying device provided at the handwash sink in the employee bathroom.”
The wall behind the rice warmer and the one behind the kitchen mixer was “soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust.”
That didn’t bother the three roaches by the hand sink because they were dead. That also didn’t bother the live roaches on the wall by the three-compartment sink (two); at the cookline grill (one); between the food prep table and reach-in cooler (six); or under the lip of the three-comparment sink (20).
At re-inspection, eight dead roaches (two in the kitchen light shield) and two live ones (one on the kitchen floor) kept China Star dim.
Same day re-re-inspection: five live roaches, one of three of them in the three-compartment sink facility ruined this chance to reopen.
Re-re-re-inspection: seven live roaches, one on the cookline floor and another under a food prep table, killed this inspection.
Re-re-re-re-inspection: Passed.
Estacao Do Pao Bakery and Restaurant, 23269 State Rd. 7, Boca Raton: Routine inspection, six total violations, two High Priority violations.
First, the bad food.
The walk-in cooler that should’ve kept food safely chilled out under 41 degrees had no chill. Or, not enough to keep cheese, ham, sausage, turkey, milk, meat sauce, raw beef and raw chicken from being too warm and pitched into le garbage.
Hopefully, Estacao properly covered its garbage, seeing as how the inspector counted more flies (97) than the Miami Dolphins counted points (70) last week.
Among that 97 were two landing on a dough machine; 10 landing on containers of pastry ingredients; 10 landing on a shelf over the prep table in the bakery kitchen; six landing on bags of unpeeled onions; 10 landing on (previously) clean pots on a shelf; and 20 landing on unpeeled potatoes under a prep table.
Comeback inspection: failed on five flies behind the bar area of the front counter and three flies inside of a pastry display case.
Comeback inspection No. 2: 15 flies were counted, including seven landing on the wine bottles at the front counter bar.
Comeback inspection No. 3: The number of flies...goes up! The inspector counted 20 flies in the bakery kitchen, 10 of which were landing on food containers.
Comeback inspection No. 4: Passed. Maybe they bribed the flies.
Hiliary & Sons Royal Deli, 630 Royal Palm Beach Blvd., Royal Palm Beach: Routine inspection, 14 total violations, five total violations.
Guess the Royal Deli family considers themselves and employees above handwashing seeing as how a cookline handwash sink was blocked by a reach-in cooler and another handwash sink didn’t have any soap.
Wonder if that’s the same reach-in cooler next to the cookline under which 30 live roaches danced. Wonder if they poured some out for their five dead friends under the prep table and one under the grill.
The previous day’s egg salad in one reach-in cooler measured too warm for safe eating. The same could be said of the cheese in another reach-in cooler. Both, basura.
Hiliary & Sons salvaged the weekend by getting open after a second re-inspection.
KFC/Taco Bell, 8221 W. Broward Blvd., Plantation: Routine inspection, six total violations, two High Priority violations.
Counting flies on the wall, that didn’t bother the inspector at all.
“Approximately four dead flying insects on the wall in the back stock room....approximately 10 dead flying insects on the wall at the storage shelf in the chicken prep area.”
As for the live flies, the inspector counted 24, one landing on KFC’s signature buckets.
The inspector saw a low boy cooler “with black accumulation of residue” and 15 live roaches “crawling on the wall, floor and packages of single service items.”
The chicken/burrito mash-up was back open after passing re-inspection.
Saisaki, 851 Village Blvd., West Palm Beach: Routine inspection, 31 total violations, eight High Priority violations.
This place had problems washing stuff.
Hands because there was no soap at the cookline handwash sink and “no hot or cold water at the handwash sink next to the three-compartment sink. An employee was unable to turn the water on.”
Cookware couldn’t get really clean because there was an “accumulation of debris inside the warewashing machine.”
The dishes went through a dishwasher that lacked minimum strength sanitizer.
Nobody took a few minutes to spray and wipe the cookline microwave because an “accumulation of black substance/grease/food debris” darkened the appliance’s inside.
“Fly sticky tape hanging over food/food preparation area/food-contact equipment.”
Over by the dishwasher, an “Insect control device was installed over a food preparation area. A zapper was on the clean dishes rack next to the sushi boats by the dishwasher.”
As for the 197 — yes, 197 — flies that didn’t get stuck or ZZZTed, 50 of them were by the dishwasher and the shelves used for clean dishes and three were on clean plates and silverware in the dining room. Four were at one dining room booth close to the kitchen. Another 60 were under the three-compartment sink, which had to create a weird feeling around the legs of anybody using that sink.
Stop Sales hit the sushi rice for being too old and white rice in the rice warmer for being too cool.
Three flies caused a re-inspection failure. One more re-inspection, one more fly, total of four, caused another failure.
This joint finally passed inspection on Monday.
Tarks of Dania Beach, 1317 S. Federal Hwy., Dania Beach: Complaint inspection, 13 total violation, six High Priority violations.
Tarks is an institution to some longtime South Floridians. And, apparently, the local roaches, eight of which did Tarks the honor of dying there. Two of them expired under a cookline prep table.
There were actually 10 dead roaches, but two of them were alive before an inspector watched an employee kill them on a wall and in a short walkway. That left four live roaches.
A block of frozen shrimp sat in standing water next to the three-compartment sink. That’s not how you safely thaw anything that’ll go down someone’s gullet.
“Floor not cleaned when the least amount of food is exposed...Food debris buildup under/around cookline equipment and under the front counter.”
The soda gun holder at the front bar had “mold-like buildup.” Bottled water, please.
Tarks passed re-inspection the next day.
Tokyo Peking Express, 5857 N. University Dr., Tamarac: Routine inspection, nine total violations, five High Priority violations.
First off, the name makes no daggone sense. “Express” usually means a train or a bus. Tokyo is in Japan. Peking is in China and is what we’ve called “Beijing” for decades. There’s some water and historic bad blood between Japan and China.
“Objectionable odors” in the men’s restroom. Sometimes, gentlemen, you’ve got know when to say when on the broccoli.
“Nonfood-grade containers used for food storage in direct contact with food...Cooked egg rolls stored in direct contact with a cardboard box” in a cookline cooler. Wonder what the box contained when it arrived at TP Express.
Now to the roaches, three of which were dead and two of those inside a tool box.
They tended to hide. Over 10 were inside a broken molding under a handwash sink. Four were on the underside of low shelving holding a water heater. One was under a water heater. But, then, there were the 15 on and around the wheels of a cookline cooler.
Five live roaches ended the re-inspection.
After a second re-inspection, the express was back doing it until they were satisfied.
