inspection – Page 16 – West Boca News

Bad Inspections on Federal Highway and Rodents in Delray

Update: We confirmed a Facebook comment – The Brooklyn Water Bagel in Delray closed for “renovations” and expects to reopen in early January.
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Three restaurants on Federal Highway in East Boca each had over 30 violations. But the worst inspection of the week goes to …

The Brooklyn Water Bagel on Military Trail in Delray (just north of Atlantic) was closed again after another finding of rodent droppings. We previously reported on another rodent closing there in late November.
Inspectors found less than the last time, but still quite a bit:

Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. Observed approximately 17 fresh and 3 dry rodent droppings in rear prep area, 6 fresh rodent droppings in cook line area, 5 fresh rodent droppings by muffin cart in front counter area, 4 fresh rodent droppings by display case in front counter area and 7 fresh rodent droppings in dry storage area near mop sink.

They reopened the next day with a perfect inspection, but we worry they may have a chronic problem at that location. We would note, however, that we are fans of the one in West Boca (Powerline and Palmetto, behind Olive Garden) and still go there.

Basilic Vietnamese, Chops Lobster Bar and Chick N Chop

There were three particularly bad inspections on and near Federal Highway. Leading the way was Basilic Vietnamese Grill (south of Palmetto near Royal Palm Place) with 38 violations including 13 marked high priority. Five of those involved improper hand washing or glove usage, and another four had to do with improper storage of raw animal foods.
Nearby, on the east side of Federal, Chops Lobster Bar had 31 violations including 7 high priority. The worst of it? Ready-to-eat, potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food marked with a date that exceeds 7 days after opening/preparation. Cooked mushrooms, sour cream, and casino sauce at walkin cooler. Foods discarded.
North of Palmetto near Mizner, Chick N Chop had 35 violations with 6 high priority, including live flying insects and a stop-sale on some chicken due to temperature.
The Good News
Turning to the good news, Sal’s Italian in West Boca (Garden Shops, south side of Palmetto west of Powerline) had the best routine inspection with just one minor violation. Right behind with 2 minor violations was Aunt Adela’s Empañadas on 441 just north of the county line, and Applebee’s on Jog Road in Delray.
The two Dominic’s on Glades Road did pretty well. The one near the Turnpike had just six violations, and the one in Westwinds at 441 had five.
The Dunkin Donuts in Regency Square (Woodfield) had five minor violations.

Other notables in this report include:
Odyssey Diner on Jog in Delray, 20 violations, 2 high priority
Pavilion Grille on Yamato in East Boca, 19 violations, 4 high priority
Japango in Delray Marketplace, 12 violations, 1 high priority
Mama’s Pizza & Pasta off Kimberly between Lyons and 441, 12 violations, 1 high priority
Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Mizner Park, 12 violations, 2 high priority
Shadowood Theaters, 10 violations, 1 high priority
Our full spreadsheet for the week is below:
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/inspections-12-20-2015.pdf”]

Ho Ho Chinese Not So Merry; 6 Restaurants in Mizner Park

It may be easier to get a table on Christmas at Ho Ho Chinese in Delray Beach. The restaurant was hit Tuesday with 28 violations on their inspection, including 4 marked high priority:

Employee failed to wash hands beforechanging gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food. CHEF AT SUSHI STATION REMOVED GLOVES AND WASHED HANDS **Corrective Action Taken**
Pesticide/insecticide labeled for household use only present in establishment.CAN OF RAID ON SHELVING UNIT
Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food identified in the written procedure as a food held using time as a public health control has no time marking and the time removed from temperature control cannot be determined. See stop sale. SUSHI RICE 75° STOP SALE **Repeat Violation** **Admin Complaint**
Raw animal food stored over ready-to-eat food in walk-in cooler.RAW CHICKEN STORED OVER STRING BEANS WASHED AND BROCCOLI C **Repeat Violation**

Ho Ho had poor inspections in May as well, closed two days in a row for roaches.
Six restaurants in Mizner Park also had less than wonderful inspections.

Kapow Noodle Bar had the biggest numbers of the group with 19 total violations (6 high priority).
Villagio was right behind with 18 violations (3 high priority). Their inspection in May was worse with 25 violations and a brief closure for roaches.
Tanzy had 12 violations with 2 high priority.
The iPic Theater had 11 violations with 2 high priority.
Yard House also had 11 violations (5 high priority).
Trulucks had 9 violations (4 high priority).

Muddy Waters in Deerfield may have had the worst inspection of the week, with 15 violations including 9 marked high priority. The ones that bothered us the most were:

Live, small flying insects in kitchen, food preparation area, or food storage area.

and

Stop Sale issued on potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food due to temperature abuse. Ray [Raw] oysters. Dressings at wait station.

Muddy Waters has had bad inspections before, in May of this year and November last year where they had 30 violations and a familiar “live flies in the kitchen.” They apparently like doing the backstroke in the muddy waters.
On the good news side of things, the Boca Raton Resort had several perfect inspections including their Japanese restaurant Morimoto. The new Los Tacos, on the east side of Federal Highway north of Glades, had a perfect licensing inspection.
In West Boca, Original Pancake House had two inspections on the same day, both times recording a single minor paperwork violation. The paperwork raid extended to the Pei Wei at 441 and Glades and our friends at the Armadillo Cafe, each with the same one minor paperwork violation.
As usual, our spreadsheet for the week is below. West Boca restaurants are in bold.
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/allinsp-12-13-2015.pdf”]

Restaurant Inspection Report: Not Terrible

TooJays, Hashi Sushi Thai, Utopia Bagels and Oba Oba

It wasn’t a terrible week for inspections in and around West Boca. The worst in total number was Utopia Bagel (Boca Lyons Plaza) with 15 total violations, including 5 marked high priority.

Employee touching ready-to-eat food with their bare hands – food was not being heated as a sole ingredient to 145 degrees F or immediately added to other ingredients to be cooked/heated to the minimum required temperature to allow bare hand contact. Establishment has no approved Alternative Operating Procedure. – fresh vegetables being sliced for immediate service using bare hands. **Warning**
Employee washed hands with no soap. – after handling cash at point of sale employee placed fingertips under handsink water for “less than 1 second” then dried on a soiled terry cloth towel. **Warning**
Food-contact surfaces not sanitized after cleaning, before use. Do not use equipment/utensils not properly sanitized. – wood topped prep tabled have accumulation of soil / debris. **Warning**
Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. – REACH IN COOLER – (Front Display Cooler) deli ham 48° deli turkey 51° cream cheese salmon smear 48° potato salad 63° cole claw 54° AMBIENT TEMPERATURE 39° **Repeat Violation** **Warning**
Vacuum breaker missing at hose Bibbs or on fitting/splitter added to hose bibb. – at rear exterior mop sink. **Warning**

They’ve had good inspections in the past, and this one is not terrible compared to many we’ve seen. One off inspection like this would not deter us from eating there.
Just behind in number was the TooJay’s in Regency Court (aka Woodfield Plaza), with 14 violations including 5 high priority and a “stop sale” order:

Employee failed to wash hands beforechanging gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food.
Employee switched from working with raw food to ready-to-eat food without washing hands.
Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. – FRONT COUNTER (Display Case) shrimp salad 46° potato salad 46° Hummas 47° AMBIENT TEMPERATURE 46° (Display Case 2) salmon 53° tongue 52° corned beef 51° beef risked 52° tongue 52° roast beef 50° potato pancakes 52° Knishes 53°
Stop Sale issued on potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food due to temperature abuse.
Vacuum breaker missing at hose bibb or on fitting/splitter added to hose bibb. – at mop sinks

TooJay’s had a follow-up inspection the same day with only one minor violation. Their previous inspections have also been pretty good.
Hashi Sushi Thai (Shadowood) had 10 total violations, but only one was high priority – the vacuum breaker. This is actually much better than the 24 violations they had in September, and the 8 high priority violations in March.
Oba Brazilian (SW 18th near Powerline) had 7 violations with only one high priority. The report shows a few outstanding problems that have not been fixed despite previous reports requiring fixes, including the vacuum breaker and issues with the outdoor garbage area.
On the positive side, some of the restaurants and cafes inside the Polo Club community were inspected and did well, including their Bistro with a perfect inspection.
We also see a licensing inspection for a new “Crepe Cafe” in Royal Palm Place in East Boca. They had only one minor violation.
Fresh Bites Cafe in Mission Bay (next to Padrino’s) had a pretty good inspection with 5 violations (1 high priority). Zinger’s on Beracasa had 3 violations with 2 high priority.
As usual our spreadsheet for the week is below:
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/allinsp-12-7-2015.pdf”]

Delray: Rodent Droppings at Brooklyn Water Bagel

Dozens of rodent droppings were found in various places at the Military Trail location of Brooklyn Water Bagel in Delray Beach. Overall they were hit with 36 total violations last week, including 10 marked high priority. The worst of the bunch was not just the number of rodent droppings found (well over 100) but the locations of them:

Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. Approximately 10 fresh rodent droppings in a food storage container with open bag of powder sugar, 2 fresh and 3 dry rodent droppings under food storage shelf in kitchen by 3 compartment sink, 2 dry in tea carton, 1 fresh on top of mustard container, 1 dry in powder sugar cup on kitchen shelf, approximately 30 fresh and 10 dry droppings on top soda syrup boxes, in kitchen, approx 100 dry droppings in muffing pan on wire shelf in dishwashing area, approx. 30 dry and 20 fresh droppings on floor in dish wash area, 2 fresh on top of cinnamon container in rear prep area, 15 fresh/moist and 20 dry droppings under prep sink in rear prep area, 15 dry in corner on the floor by the kitchen door to the hallway, approx. 2 fresh and 10 dry droppings under reach in cooler and microwaves on sandwich station, 2 and 3 dry droppings in dough prep area on top of chocolate chip bag, 3 fresh on floor in dough prep area, 3 dry on floor on frontline, approx 30 fresh and 20 dry droppings in dry storage room.

That’s a lot more than a Baker’s dozen. The other 9 high priority were:

Employee failed to wash hands beforechanging gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food. Sandwich prep station. **Corrected On-Site**
Evidence of mop/cleaning wastewater dumped onto ground.
Food-contact surfaces not sanitized after cleaning, before use. Rodent droppings. Do not use equipment/utensils not properly sanitized.
Live, small flying insects in kitchen, food preparation area, or food storage area. In rear prep area near back door.
Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter at room temperature in prep area at 72°f, butter was placed in to reach in cooler immediately. Smoked salmon at 48°f and ham at 50°f (both over stacked in containers in flip top cooler. Both items were placed in bottom of reach in cooler). **Corrected On-Site**
Raw animal food stored over ready-to-eat food. Raw salmon over egg salad in walk in cooler. **Corrected On-Site**
Spray bottle with chemical/toxic substance stored near/on/above food preparation surface or food. Blue liquid cleaner in prep area. **Corrected On-Site**
Toxic substance/chemical stored by or with food. Spray bottles with cleaner stored with and over food on shelf by dish wash area.
Vacuum breaker missing at hose bibb or on fitting/splitter added to hose bibb. Outside by back door.

The inspection report indicates the restaurant was temporarily closed with “Operations ordered stopped until violations are corrected.” Normally a restaurant when a restaurant reopens we see a follow-up inspection in the data. ~~We don’t see one yet so it may still be closed.~~

Update – The company advises that they re-opened the next day and had a nearly perfect inspection, though the vacuum breaker still needs to be resolved.

Bagel Week (or maybe no-bagel week) continues as the second worst in the report was Gramercy Bagels, also in Delray (Jog Road), with 17 violations including 5 marked high priority. China Buffet on Hillsboro in Deerfield Beach was a close third with 16 violations (4 high priority).
As for the others, normally 3 violations would be a good inspection, but not for the Einstein Bagels on North Federal Highway in East Boca, which was shut down for a day due to live roaches:

Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found, Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found, 2 live roaches by front counter food storage area, 1 live by garbage can in dining room, 1 live under food / condiments display table in dining room, 1 live by broken base board in the front line food prep area, 3 live on counter next to yogurt case, 1 live on box containing register tape on the front line, 1 live under the food display case in the front line food prep area, 1 live under shelving by ovens in the food prep area, 1 live under reach in cooler on front line food prep area, 2 live under shelving in the food prep area.

They reopened the next day with a perfect inspection.
There were only 20 inspections this week, probably due to the holiday. None were in West Boca. The one good inspection went to Fit Food Fresh in East Boca, with just 2 minor violations.
Our spreadsheet for this week’s report is below:
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/allinsp-11-30-2015.pdf”]

Inspections: Tempura House (again), Padrino's and Sushi Ray

Grand Lux Cafe in Town Center, Boca Raton; image by Google

It was another pretty good week for restaurant inspections. We’ll start with the good news. A few restaurants had perfect inspections with zero violations, most notably Grand Lux Cafe in Town Center. Boston Market in Town Center also had a perfect licensing inspection.
Other perfect inspections include a new restaurant, Jasper’s, on SW 18th in the plaza with Howard’s Market and Rise Sushi; Salad Plus on Federal Highway and Wendy’s on Yamato, both in East Boca; and a Subway on Linton in Delray Beach.
Turning to the “Bad news”, none of the inspections were terrible. We often see inspections with over 20 violations and the worst this week is only 15 which is not that bad. But with that said, the biggest number was for Padrino’s in Mission Bay (441 and Glades Road) with 15 violations. Only two were high priority:

Employee failed to wash hands before changing gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food. – line cooks. – servers. – food prep people. **Repeat Violation** **Warning**
Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. REACH IN COOLER – (Cook Line Cold Table -Opposite Garland Ovens) roast pork portions 60° raw beef steaks 38° to 45° chicken 46° AN BIENT [ambient] TEMPERATURE 49°REACH IN COOLER – (Cold Tables Opposite Fryers) scallops 47° shrimp 47° (Undercounter) ham croquettes 46° AMBIENT TEMPERATURE 46° **Repeat Violation** **Warning**

Padrino’s has a history of mostly good inspections. We eat there occasionally and their inspection record doesn’t bother us.
Next worst is a tie between Sal’s Italian on Yamato in East Boca with 14 violations (2 high priority) and Sushi Ray in Boca Center (Military Trail south of Glades) also with 14 (1 high priority).
Other notables with more than 10 violations include Venetian in the Waterway Shoppes on 441 in Parkland (11 violations with 2 high priority), and Tempura House at Clint Moore and 441 (11 violations including 6 high priority).
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Tempura House had an even worse inspection the previous week that somehow did not get into our data file and was left out of last week’s report. On November 12th they had 19 violations including 7 marked high priority.

Employee failed to wash hands beforechanging gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food. **Repeat Violation**
Employee handled soiled equipment or utensils and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. -Dishmachine operator. **Repeat Violation**
Live, small flying insects in kitchen, food preparation area, or food storage area. – heavy infestation of flys around Dishmachine area and Cook line.
Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. REACH IN COOLER – Cookline scallops 46° Chicken 45° **Repeat Violation**
Raw animal foods not properly separated from one another based upon minimum required cooking temperature in reach-in cooler. – raw she’ll eggs over scallops in 2 door prep REACH IN COOLER –
Thermotape failed to turn black to indicate the sanitization temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit was achieved on the dish surface. Discontinue use of dishmachine for sanitizing and set up manual sanitization until dishmachine is repaired. **Repeat Violation**
Vacuum breaker missing at hose bibb or on fitting/splitter added to hose bibb. **Repeat Violation**

That was last week. This week (November 16th) was only slightly better. Here are the 6 high priority violations:

Employee failed to wash hands before changing gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food. **Repeat Violation** – TIME EXTENDED UNTIL 12-08-2015.
Employee handled soiled equipment or utensils and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. -Dishmachine operator. **Repeat Violation** – TIME EXTENDED UNTIL 12-08-2015.
Live, small flying insects in kitchen, food preparation area, or food storage area. – heavy infestation of flies around Dishmachine area and Cook line. – AS OF 11-16-15 NOT COMPLIED – heavy infestation of flies remains outside rear kitchen door at trash area. some infestation remains in kitchen area.
Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. REACH IN COOLER – Cookline scallops 46° Chicken 45° **Repeat Violation** AS OF 11-16-2015 NOT COMPLIED – Coolkine scallops 54° Chicken 43°
Thermotape failed to turn black to indicate the sanitization temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit was achieved on the dish surface. Discontinue use of dishmachine for sanitizing and set up manual sanitization until dishmachine is repaired. **Repeat Violation** – AS OF 11-16-2015 NOT COMPLIED (EcoLab Corrective Action Takenwith Sanitizer HookUp) – TIME EXTENDED UNTIL 12-08-2015.
Vacuum breaker missing at hose bibb or on fitting/splitter added to hose bibb. **Repeat Violation** – TIME EXTENDED UNTIL 12-08-2015.

This is not the first time Tempura House has had a bad inspection – We featured them in an early October report; and also in our report in June last year. We will not be eating at Tempura House again. Ever.
Our spreadsheet for this week is below:
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/allinsp-11-22-2015.pdf”]