Roaches in Snappers’ breadcrumbs, and other Miami-Fort Lauderdale restaurant failures
Is your nearby Snappers the one with roaches in the breadcrumbs and flour? You’ll find out by the time you’re through this week’s Sick and Shut Down List of South Florida restaurants closed after failing inspection.
HOUSE RULES: What follows comes from Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation restaurant inspections of restaurants in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties. These are the restaurants that fail inspection. A restaurant that fails inspection remains closed until passing a re-inspection.
We don’t do the inspections. We don’t control who gets inspected. We don’t control how strictly the inspector inspects. If restaurants in your part of South Florida are not included, we have nothing to do with that. If you see a problem and want a place inspected, contact the DBPR.
We don’t include all violations, just the most moving, whether internally or literally moving (because it’s alive or once was alive). Some violations get corrected immediately after the inspector points them out. But in those situations, ask yourself, why did the violations exist in the first place? And, how long would they have remained if not for the inspection?
We report without passion or prejudice, but with doggy bags of humor, indignation and exasperation.
In alphabetical order...
The Farmer Girl Restaurant, 1732 N. Dixie Hwy., Lake Worth Beach: Routine inspection, 18 total violations, nine High Priority violations.
“Several holes throughout the restaurant, primarily at floor levels.” When you see that high in the inspection, it’s the Chekhov’s Gun of violations, the gun in the first chapter that will be fired in the second or third chapter.
Throughout the kitchen area, “Wall soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust ... paint started to peel.”
The inspector said that before putting on gloves, an employee blew into the gloves, then handled clean utensils. “Educated employee,” the inspector said, which means somebody explained possibly blowing your spit around the gloves defeats the purpose of gloves.
Then again, there was no soap in the cookline handwash sink.
Dishwashers should sanitize dishes. Sanitizer measurement? Zero parts per million. And when they started using the three-compartment sink, “Observed dishwasher washing dishes in three-compartment sink with soap and water only. Followed by placing those utensils with clean utensils.”
And, Chekhov’s Gun goes BANG — “Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found.”
About 58 pieces of rodent regularity, 20 of which were on the floor under cookline toasters, 10 on a shelf with pots and pans in a storage room and eight on a shelf with dry sealed goods.
When the inspector came back for the re-inspection, the dishwasher tested at 10 ppm after three tries. Also, three rodent droppings marred the re-inspection.
They passed a same-day second re-inspection.
4900 Powerline at the Fort Lauderdale Grand Hotel, 4900 Powerline Rd., Oakland Park: Routine inspection, eight total violations, one High Priority violation.
The wall near the entrance to the main kitchen liquor room and a kitchen wall near a walk-in cooler had holes. There’s the gun again....
Also, in the kitchen, a dead roach was on the floor. Somebody put a dead roach on a plate on a cart. Or, what was on the plate killed the roach.
BANG —”Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found.”
At the fry station in the kitchen, 15 rodent droppings were on the fireplace prop stand and another nine were on the floor behind it.
A same-day re-inspection got “Follow-Up Inspection Required.” There’s no online notation of an inspection ending with “Met Inspection Required.”
Miyi La Cubanita Cuban Cafe, 1380 S. Powerline Rd., Deerfield Beach: Routine inspection, eight total violations, four High Priority violations.
Aside from the dead roach under the three-compartment sink, Miyi needs to talk to her folks about basic cleanliness.
Washing and rinsing the cookware, but not sanitizing it.
Someone with gloves working at the three-compartment sink, then “handling cookline utensils without changing gloves.”
Another worker “swept the floor with a broom then proceeded to handle plated food without washing hands.”
Still, a third person went out side the building, touched outside tables and chairs, then handled a single-serve cup and an ice scoop without washing hands.
Of course, the message sent by the equipment is “Handwashing? Ehhh.”
The only handwash sink in the back of the house was taken out of the prep area.
“Hand wash sink at front counter was not functioning ... Only hand wash sink for establishment is in restroom.
Miyi partially passed a same-day re-inspection and fully passed a re-re-inspection on Wednesday.
READ MORE: Listeria recall of frozen products sold at Kroger, Food Lion, Albertson’s stores
Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club, 2425 Maya Palm Dr., Boca Raton: Routine inspection, two total violations, one High Priority violation.
According to Coldwell Banker residential Realtor Isabella Scott’s website, a Social Membership costs $50,000 for initiation and $12,000 per year. A Golf Membership costs $125,000 for initiation and $18,000 annually.
Apparently, the club has a special free Fly Membership because the inspectors counted 20 flies landing on the walls in the sushi-pastry prep area of the kitchen and 15 flies “landing on mixer paddle and whisk hanging over the sushi station in the kitchen.”
The flies were gone by the same-day re-inspection.
Santino’s Pizza & Pasta, 18267 Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines: Routine inspection, 23 total violations, six High Priority violations.
“Exterior door has a gap at the threshold that opens to the outside .... broken frame on both sides of back entrance door.”
While we wait for that gun to go off again, let’s take note of the return of the old reliable violation, “Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.”
Clean lasagna bowls stored on a dirty surface, under the cookline steam table.
The dishwasher wouldn’t give up a molecule of sanitizing, no matter how much they tried.
Stop Sales hit sauce and garlic butter, both of which were still too warm (thus bacteria pools) after an overnight of cooling.
BANG! A dead roach in the pizza station room and another three between a pair of customer self-service reach-in coolers.
Two live roaches under a steam table and crawling on wall. Two on an empty shelf. Three running behind the stove. One on a shelf of lasagna bowls under a steam table. Three moving on a wall above the three-compartment sink, “where clean equipment storage rack is located.”
On the re-inspection, the roach count was down to two living (one next to baking trays) and two dead, but that’s two living and two dead too many.
Santino’s passed re-re-inspection on Monday.
Snappers Fish & Chicken, 4037 NW 19th St., Lauderhill: Complaint inspection, 13 total violations, six High Priority violations.
“Stored food not covered. Bulk containers of flour, seasoned four, cornmeal, and breadcrumbs in back store room not fully covered; cans do not have tight fitting lids.”
Gun. Big gun, like, 30.06 rifle.
The soap dispenser at the kitchen handwash sink wasn’t working (one violation). It needed batteries. The cookline employee changed batteries, then didn’t wash his hands afterward (another violation).
The handwash sink in the back of the kitchen didn’t have any way to dry your hands.
BANG! BANG! BANG! The gun was loaded with Stop Sales, hitting the container with breadcrumbs with one dead roach and one live roach; the container of cornmeal with two live roaches and two dead roaches; the seasoned flour with two dead roaches; and BANG! the plain flour with one dead roach.
Snappers passed re-inspection the next day.
Zoe Ladies Kitchen, 5634 W. Sample Rd., Margate: Routine inspection, seven total violations, four High Priority violations.
The sanitizing solution at the warewashing sink was too strong for once.
What wasn’t strong enough was the cooler, which had cooked beef and vegetables for two days and they still measured 57 degrees. They need to be below 41 for safe cold keeping. Stop Sale.
Four live roaches and 13 dead roaches dotted the restaurant, including four corpses on the ground next to a kitchen oven.
The re-inspection failed on the legs of three live roaches.
A same day second re-inspection got Zoe’s open for the weekend traffic.
