Restaurant inspection lowlights: roaches in the refrigerator, 250 pieces of rodent poop

South Florida restaurant inspection violations needed a variation to overshadow such egregious problems as 170 or 250 pieces of rodent dung. And, to use the old radio phrase, something new has been added to this week’s Sick and Shut Down List.

Roaches in the refrigerator.

So, let’s get to the Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach restaurants that got shut down by failing inspection. Monroe County, you’re clean for another week.

What follows comes from Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation restaurant inspections. If you see a problem and want a restaurant inspected, don’t email us. Click here and file a complaint. We don’t choose who gets inspected or how strictly. We report without passion or prejudice, but with a small dessert of humor.

And we go in alphabetical order:

Blessing Restaurant, 8427 NE Second Ave., Miami: As of Monday noon, they’re cleaning so they can pass their third inspection and get back open. A focused cleaning should do it as one major problem closed Blessings Tuesday before it failed Friday’s re-inspection.

The roaches went and colonized the white refrigerator.

“Roaches crawling on the inside of the white refrigerator, food was exposed to live roaches and roach droppings.”

“Four roaches crawling inside gasket on white refrigerator inside kitchen area.”

“Observed 22 dead roaches inside white refrigerator inside kitchen.”

“Observed approximately 50 roach droppings on gasket of white refrigerator.”

Food in the ‘fridge got hit with a Stop Sale.

That refrigerator’s gasket was torn, as was that of the glass door cooler in the front counter area.

All the problems weren’t refrigerated. The inspector also counted “25 small flying insects in kitchen area, landing on bananas, tomato, and lettuce.”

When the inspector returned Friday, only five fly guys and four live roaches remained. The flies weren’t landing on food and the roaches were on a kitchen wall, not playing in the Frigidaire, but with other problems (cracked sneeze guard, gaskets still torn up), it was enough for a re-inspection failure.

China 1 Express, 964 N. Congress Ave., West Palm Beach: The inspector saw “traps in the dry storage room. Live animal-style traps with bait, no trapped animals observed.”

That’s because these smart rodents avoided the traps. They were busy dropping loads under cabinets in the dining room (over 100 pieces); under prep table cabinets (over 100 pieces); and on the floor of a storage room in front of the bathroom (over 50 pieces).

Also, in the dining room “in cabinets where rodent droppings were found, observed rodent bait on shelves where food containers are stored. Rodent bait not safely in container, but in piles directly on shelves.”

Next to that, “one roach crawling on the floor” next to a kitchen storage room reach-in freezer seems akin to dust. Not so much the “15 dead roaches in a sticky glue trap” under a kitchen prep table or the 18 dead roaches under a kitchen storage shelving unit.

A Stop Sale got slapped on the noodles for not being properly cooled after cooking. They were in an “overstocked covered container.”

That’s a High Priority violation. Handwashing looks like a low priority around this joint, seeing as how the handwash sink lacked soap or a way to dry hands. The manager brought some out, but if it China 1 had it, but it wasn’t in use, then how much did they care about it?

In the walk-in cooler, the inspector saw “cooked egg rolls stored in reused cardboard box that raw chicken gets delivered in.” OK, here’s a general good policy for all kitchens, commercial and personal: once the raw chicken leaves, whatever it came in goes in the trash.

The Express was rolling again after passing re-inspection on Saturday.

Restaurant inspection fails: 112 rodent turds (not kosher), 114 roaches, a Papa John’s

El Portal Maya Restaurant, 6224 Johnson St., Hollywood: As we look at the breakdown of 170 pieces of rodent poop, we ask, “What bothers you most?”

The volume of the 60 droppings behind the front counter equipment? The placement of the 30 droppings under front counter handwash sink or the 20 droppings at the condiment storage station? There were also 30 regularity markers under a kitchen freezer and another in the chemical storage area.

Behind the front counter equipment seemed to be the place the furry friends pooped where they ate. “Old food on floor behind equipment at front counter.”

All those dumping rodents, hope there was no raw food sitting in the floor, such as “Boxes of meat stored on floor in walk-in cooler.”

Speaking of too accessible food, we ask again, is there a Tupperware or Rubbermaid or plastic container shortage in Broward County? “Food stored in dry storage area not covered. Chicken base, sugar, and flour not covered.” And, “containers of seasoned chicken and beef, taquitos, and raw shrimp uncovered in the walk-in cooler.”

If you wonder how Pixie and Dixie promenaded into El Portal Maya, “Hole in wall in dry storage area of kitchen. Area has evidence of rodent activity” and “Exterior door has a gap at the threshold that opens to the outside.”

Now, with all this vermin running around, surely, the dishes and utensils are getting properly washed and sanitized so nobody’s eating any rodent-borne bacteria or hair when they dine.

Or not.

“Dishmachine not washing/rinsing properly. Must wash, rinse and sanitize all dishware, equipment and utensils in the three-compartment sink until the dishmachine is functioning properly.”

El Portal Maya got re-opened with a time extension to fix its problems after Thursday’s re-inspection.

New Hong Kong, 6868 NW 169th St., Northwest Miami-Dade: The rodents tried to claim the kitchen with five dry droppings on the kitchen wall. Seven live roaches skittered around, four of them between cove molding and a kitchen wall.

Two roaches under the three-compartment sink didn’t make it.

Is it that hard to grab some paper towels and 409? “Interior of reach-in cooler soiled with accumulation of food residue.” “Build-up of grease/dust/debris on hood filters.” “Build-up of grease on nonfood-contact surface (kitchen equipment, reach-in cooler door, fryer.”

Or, how about a mop? “Grease accumulated on kitchen floor and/or under cooking equipment.”

New Hong Kong was back in business after passing Friday’s re-inspection.