After about 282 rodent droppings were found in a restaurant’s kitchen, an employee removed them — along with equipment and utensils soiled by the rodent droppings — and then handled clean equipment, utensils and containers of food without washing their hands.
Meanwhile, about 68 live flies were seen landing in various areas of another restaurant, including “on clean plates and serving platters in the ware-washing room.”
These were just some of the violations that forced the state to temporarily shut one Broward County and five Palm Beach County restaurants last week.
The Sun Sentinel typically highlights restaurant inspections conducted by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation in Broward and Palm Beach counties. We cull through inspections that happen weekly and spotlight places ordered shut for “high-priority violations,” such as improper food temperatures or dead cockroaches.
Any restaurant that fails a state inspection must stay closed until it passes a follow-up. If you spot a possible violation and wish to file a complaint, contact Florida DBPR. (But please don’t contact us: The Sun Sentinel doesn’t inspect restaurants.)
PALM BEACH COUNTY
McKenna’s Place
4068 Forest Hill Blvd., Palm Springs
Ordered shut: Feb. 6
Why: 23 violations (nine high-priority), including:
- About 26 flies in kitchen areas flying around dish machine, prep area and “expo line/window to cook line,” as well as “behind bar flying around/landing on tap beer dispensers.”
- One dead roach “on cook line prep table in front of steam table.”
- “Objectionable odor in bar area.”
- “Employee touched hair and then handled clean plates of food while carrying to customers without washing hands.”
- “Employee touched visibly soiled wiping cloth and then handled clean utensils and plates to prepare and serve food to customers without washing hands.”
- “Employee handled soiled dishes and utensils while scraping and rinsing at dish area and then handled plated food at expo line without washing hands.”
- Stop sale ordered for raw, in-shell clams because there was “no tag on/for original container” and for chicken wings in a walk-in cooler stored in an uncovered container “under wastewater drain line coming from fan unit water dripping onto chicken wings.”
- “At walk-in cooler, raw hamburger stored over cooked rice, raw beef stored over cooked pork ribs, raw chicken stored over cooked chicken.”
Status: Reopened Feb. 7 after a second visit found eight violations (one high-priority) and required a follow-up inspection. A third visit on Feb. 10 found four basic violations.
Flavor of India
1516 N. Dixie Highway, Lake Worth Beach
Ordered shut: Feb. 6
Why: 10 violations (two high-priority). including:
- Twenty-five rodent droppings “in the corner of the bottom shelf of dry food storage room,” “next to whole coriander bag” and “on shelf between two large pots stored in dry food storage room.”
- “Gnaw marks on whole coriander bag resulted in hole in the bag.”
- “Chef preparing food without any hair restraint for loose head hair.”
- “Bag of rice stored on floor in dry food storage room. Bag of carrots stored on floor in walk-in cooler.”
Status: Reopened later the same day after a second visit found one basic violation. A third visit that day found two violations (one high-priority), requiring another follow-up inspection.
IHOP
4562 Lake Worth Road, Lake Worth
Ordered shut: Feb. 5
Why: Nine violations (seven high-priority), including:
- 38 flies flying around prep area, dishwasher area, “on back area by water heater,” “on picture frame on hallway to the customers’ bathroom,” “on garbage can [in] dining room area next to coffee machine” and “on wrapped silverware [in] dining room on server station.”
- Time/temperature issue involved cheese and diced tomatoes.
- Stop sale ordered for hash browns “due to temperature abuse.”
- Employee handled dirty dishes in dishwasher, then handled clean plates without washing hands first.
- Employee handled a spatula that fell on the floor, then handled clean plates without washing hands.
Status: Reopened later the same day after a follow-up inspection found no violations.
Deshi Bhoj Home Style Bangladeshi Feast
1709 Belvedere Road, West Palm Beach
Ordered shut: Feb. 5
Why: Nine violations (eight high-priority), including:
- About 282 rodent droppings in areas such as kitchen “on prep table across from cook line,” “on prep table next to pizza oven,” “inside dough mixer bowl,” “on table next to pizza by the slice held using time as a public health control” (stop sale ordered), “under triple sink” and “inside closet(s) along rear wall,” as well as “in hallway between rear exit/inside public bathroom,” on floor behind front counter and in dining room.
- Stop sale ordered for cooked rice, milk and sliced cheese “due to temperature abuse.”
- Stop sale ordered because cheese pizza by the slice had “no time mark.”
- “Employee removed rodent droppings/equipment and utensils soiled by rodent droppings and then handled clean equipment, utensils and containers of food without washing hands.”
Status: Remained closed on Feb. 10 after a follow-up inspection found one high-priority violation.
Happy Garden
6177 Jog Road, Suite D12, Lake Worth
Ordered shut: Feb. 3
Why: Seven violations (three high-priority), including:
- About 45 live roaches in areas such as the kitchen “on top of reach-in cooler,” on floor “walking in front of fryer” and “under wok cooking station,” in “dry storage area next to cook line … crawling on boxes containing seasonings and sauces,” “in bathroom in lobby,” as well as “in customer dining area … crawling on floor by front counter” and “in customer waiting area … crawling on trash.”
- Approximately 56 dead roaches on floor of customer dining area and in kitchen areas such as “on soy sauce box,” “next to steam table on floor,” “under rice cooker” and “behind reach-in freezer.”
- “In walk-in cooler, raw chicken stored above snow peas.”
- Time/temperature issue involved cooked rice.
Status: Reopened Feb. 4 after the next-day visit found two violations (one high-priority).
BROWARD COUNTY
The House on the River
301 SW Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale
Ordered shut: Feb. 6
Why: Five violations (two high-priority), including:
- About 68 flies landing in areas such as on “the cork board over the chef’s prep table,” “on the utensil storage rack over the prep sink in the kitchen,” “on a pair of tongs on the utensil storage rack,” “on a plate on the cook line,” “on the cutting board of the seafood station of the cook line,” “on clean utensils over the triple sink in the ware-washing room separate from the kitchen,” “on the shelves in the storage area for the plates and serving platters in the ware-washing room” and “on clean plates and serving platters” there.
- Seven live roaches “under the fryer” anad “behind the flip-top coolers” on the cook line, and “on the floor in the clean plates and serving platters area of the ware-washing room.”
- “Floor area(s) covered with standing water” in prep kitchen and on cook line.
- “Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.”
Status: Reopened the same day after a follow-up inspection found no violations.