Worst Inspection for "Boca's Best Pizza"

bocas-best-pizza
Boca’s Best Pizza Bar on Palmetto Park in East Boca was temporarily closed by restaurant inspectors after 21 violations including 8 high priority. One of the “basic” violations may be the worst we’ve seen:

Basic – Dead roaches on premises. Approximately 30 dry rodent droppings inside of liquor room (former bathroom) in next door food prep room that is not on the original palms. **Warning**

And here are the 8 high priority ones:

  • Cooked potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food not cooled from 135 degrees Fahrenheit to 41 degrees Fahrenheit within 6 hours, pasta salad 51°, operator stated pasta salad prepped at 11:00 am, discarded at 4:40. Stop Sale issued. Lasagna 71°, operator stated prepped at 11:30 then kept at room temperature. Stop Sale issued. **Warning**
  • High Priority – Employee began working with food, handling clean equipment or utensils, or touching unwrapped single-service items without first washing hands. Next door prep room without a hand wash sink. **Warning**
  • Live, small flying insects in kitchen, food preparation area, or food storage area. In the kitchen and dish wash area near backdoor. **Warning**
  • Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit, cheese 51°, pasta salad 50°, eggs 51°, cut tomatoes 50°, cooked chicken 50°, tuna salad 50°, ham 51°. Operator stated cooler flipped at 2:00 pm, iced down, 3 door True unit, front counter.Corrective Action Taken** **Corrective Action Taken** **Warning**
  • Raw animal food stored over cooked food. Raw she’ll eggs over cooked chicken wings in walk in cooler. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**
  • Roach excrement present on certified food manager card and employee training certificates on wall to the kitchen entrance. **Warning**
  • Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. Approximately 7 fresh rodent droppings in the next door food prep room under the dry food storage shelve and 2 fresh under the food prep table in the same food prep room. **Warning**
  • Sewage / waste water on ground of establishment outside by the backdoor and coming out of the drain pipe near the backdoor running into the soil,rocks in the back alley. **Warning**

There were several problems with “Tastee Express” food trucks with emergency orders recommended on two of them.
Meza Mediterranean (Yamato near the train station) had 20 violations including 5 high priority.
On the bright side of our weekly report, the Tutti Frutti frozen yogurt place in Shadowood had a perfect inspection. Near perfect inspections included Chipotle on Palmetto near Powerline and Packy’s in Logger’s Run Plaza.
Other notables in this week’s report include:
Rise, a popular sushi place on SW 18th, and Orient House Express across the street, each had 16 violations including 3 high priority.
Hong Kong Palace on Powerline had 14 violations including 2 high priority on a call back inspection.
12 violations each for Four Seasons Restaurant on Glades, Bruce’s of Great Neck on 441, and Gramercy Bagels on Jog in Delray.
On Beracasa Way, Nino’s had 10 violations and Pei Wei had 9. Zingers had only 2 violations on a complaint inspection.
Rafina on SW 18th had 4 violations, all minor. Ciluffo’s, nearby, had only 1 minor violation but somehow managed to get a warning. We’re guessing that’s just paperwork.
Our full spreadsheet for the week is below:
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/allinsp-8-16-2015.pdf”]

Good News and Bad News: Restaurant Inspections

lime-fresh
We’ll start with the good news in our inspection report. We see two new licensing inspections in West Boca. Lime Fresh Mexican Grill had their licensing inspection on Friday, August 7th. We reported in November that they were coming, and reviewed the one at Promenade in Coconut Creek in 2012.
Also coming is Hotdog-Opolis, which will be on the north side of Glades Road just west of Boca Rio and the Turnpike. There’s one already on Federal Highway and another in West Palm Beach. This appears to be the third in the chain.
Both of them had perfect licensing inspections with zero violations. It’s common for licensing inspections to have very few violations.
Now to the bad news …


itsallgreekboca
The worst of our weekly inspection report goes to It’s All Greek in The Reserve at Clint Moore just east of 441. They had 29 violations including 4 marked “high priority.”

  • Employee handled soiled dishes or utensils and then handled clean dishes or utensils without washing hands. … Dishmachine operator working dirty then clen ends of Dishmachine without handwashing.
  • 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. … Food Preparer having Bare Hand Contact with Feta Cheese as cutting it into blocks.
  • Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. … WALK IN COOLER (at 4:30pm) … Soup 44° Raw Shrimp 52° Raw Squid 45° Mousaka 46° Spinach Pie 46° Lamb Shank 46°. AMBIENT TEMPERATURE 48° …WALK IN COOLER (at 5:00pm) … Soup 44° Raw Shrimp 53° Raw Squid 45° Mousaka 46° Spinach Pie 46° Lamb Shank 46° AMBIENT TEMPERATURE 46° – thermostat Adjusted.
  • Raw animal food stored over ready-to-eat food in walk-in cooler. … Uncovered Raw shrimp, Uncovered Raw Squid, and Uncovered Raw Salmon directly above cooked, White Rice and Cooked Sauces. **Repeat Violation**

Palm Beach Bagel in the same plaza had 25 violations including 3 high priority.

  • Employee failed to wash hands beforechanging gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food.
  • Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. … FRONT COUNTER (Display Cooler Front) salmons 55° white fish 54° cheeses 45° turkey 46° AMBIENT TEMPERATURE 55° – refrigeration Service called – presently in-route. If not immediately corrected food to be relocated to other coolers. **Corrective Action Taken**
  • Vacuum breaker missing at mop sink faucet or on fitting/splitter added to mop sink faucet.

Also, a food truck known as “Tastee Express 8” was temporarily shut down on August 3rd with 18 violations, and reopened the next day with 16 violations.
There weren’t many inspections in East Boca in the past week and most were call backs on previous inspections. Max’s Grill had a complaint inspection with 8 violations including 4 high priority. For “Near Boca” Beijing Palace on Jog Road in Delray and Steak & Shake in Coral Springs each had 13 violations. Little Caesar’s Pizza in Delray had a perfect inspection. In West Boca Puccini’s on Yamato near 441 was arguably the best with only three minor violations.
As usual our inspection spreadsheets are below.
West Boca
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/westboca-8-9-15.pdf”]
East Boca
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/east-boca-8-9-15.pdf”]
Near Boca
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/nearboca-8-9-15.pdf”]

The Dirty Near Dozen: Restaurant Inspections

–Update–
Since we originally posted this article we received a response from Terra Fiamma:
terra-fiamma-tweet
At this writing we cannot confirm their claim of a perfect inspection on August 4th. It does not show up on the inspection page:
terra-fiamma-inspection-page
It appears any inspection on August 4th would be a follow-up inspection. The bad inspection we reported on was from June 1st, and there was a follow-up on June 6th that still required a further follow-up. We do not consider follow-up inspections to be as significant as routine inspections or complaint inspections because the restaurant has more warning and has had a wake-up call. A good restaurant should notice these problems before the inspector does.
With all that said, we like Terra Fiamma. We have eaten there in the past and will do so again.


terrafiamma
Nearly a dozen restaurants received 20 or more violations in our latest restaurant inspection report. The worst of the pack in total number were Terra Fiamma in Delray Marketplace and Sergio’s Americas Bakery in Northwest Sandalfoot Plaza. Each had 29 violations.
20130117-204209.jpg
On the bright side for Sergio’s, there was only one violation marked as high priority. By contrast Terra Fiamma had 8 high priority violations on their June 1st inspection including dozens of live flies:

  • Chlorine sanitizer not at proper minimum strength for manual warewashing. Do not use equipment/utensils not properly sanitized. 0 ppm chlorine at 3 compartment sink. Corrected to 100 ppm chlorine. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**
  • Employee ate then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment without washing hands. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**
  • Employee dried hands on soiled towel after washing. Re washed hands. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**
  • Live, small flying insects in kitchen, food preparation area, or food storage area. Approximately 50 live flies inside restaurant in cookline area/prep area/ server stations/ bar / dining room/ dry storage area. Approximately 100 live flies just outside back door . **Repeat Violation** **Warning**
  • Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Fresh garlic and oil at 70° F in servers station area near pizza prep area. Time marked. Repeat Violation. Over stacked veil at cookline cooler at 62° F. Over stack removed and placed inside cooler. Milk and creamer at 67° F in servers station. Added ice to food level. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**
  • Raw animal food stored over ready-to-eat food. Raw chicken over veggies at cookline cooler. Raw veil over dough at walkin cooler. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**
  • Toxic substance/chemical stored by or with food. Butane in food storage shelving. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**
  • Wiping cloth sanitizer solution exceeds the maximum concentration allowed. Over 200 ppm chlorine. Corrected to 100 ppm chlorine. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**

We’re changing the way we do inspection reports. We separate our reports into areas – West Boca, East Boca and “Near Boca.” Now we’re combining them into one report hopefully each week.
Others in the dirty near dozen, with 20 or more violations, include:
West Boca
Long Island Bagel (441 near Target)
Bamboo Wok (Glades Road west of Lyons)
Lucky Palace (441 near Target)
El Balcon De Las Americas (441 at Sandalfoot)
Mozart Cafe (west side of Powerline at Camino Real)
East Boca
Canton Garden (Spanish River Blvd)
Near Boca
La Bamba (Delray)
The Palm Grill (Delray)
Mama’s Pizza (Deerfield)
There were also some perfect and almost perfect inspections:
West Boca
Domino’s Pizza (441 Mission Bay)
Yogurt Zone (Somerset Shoppes)
Jet’s Pizza (Somerset Shoppes)
Burger King (441 near Target)
East Boca
Hooters (Glades east of Town Center)
Chef Tai’s (NW 2nd)
McDonald’s (Federal Highway)
La Rosa Nautica (NE 20th)
Five Guys (NW 19th)
Bagel Wit Schmear (Federal Highway)
One other notable lowlight was Sushi Masa on Glades Road in East Boca, which had four inspections in a 9-day period in late July because of continuing problems with food temperatures. Another follow-up inspection is expected.
Our spreadsheets for this report are below:
West Boca
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/westboca-inspections-8-5-2015.xlsx”]
East Boca
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/eastboca-8-5-2015.xlsx”]
Near Boca
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/nearboca-8-5-2015.xlsx”]

Japango or No Go? Two Bad Inspections

Japango in Boca Raton; image by Google.
Japango in Boca Raton; image by Google.

Japango in Regency Court (northwest corner of Yamato and Jog) had the worst numbers in our latest restaurant inspection report for West Boca. In early July they had 30 total violations, only 5 weeks after a previous inspection with 27 total violations. Usually we see places clean up their act after a bad inspection but that didn’t happen here.
The four high priority violations on the late May inspection were:

  • Food stored in ice used for drinks. See stop sale. Lemon wedges for drinks
  • Live, small flying insects in kitchen, food preparation area, or food storage area.
  • Raw animal food stored over ready-to-eat food in reach-in cooler. Raw shelled eggs over ready to eat **Corrected On-Site**
  • Raw animal foods not properly separated from one another based upon minimum required cooking temperature in walk-in cooler. Raw chicken above raw beef and sea food

The more recent July 2nd inspection also had four marked high priority:

  • Nonexempt fish offered raw or undercooked has not undergone proper parasite destruction. Fish must be fully cooked or discarded. … Fresh Scottish Salmon is being used for sushi.
  • 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 no time control
  • Raw animal food stored over ready-to-eat food. … Cook Line Undercounter Cooler, raw she’ll eggs over ready to eat uncovered sauces. **Corrected On-Site**
  • Vacuum breaker missing at hose bibb or on fitting/splitter added to hose bibb. … Rear exterior of building AND at interior mop sink.

Incidentally we’ve never understood why a vacuum breaker is a high priority violation, while other violations rated “intermediate” seem more disturbing, such as these:

Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine.
Certified Food Manager or person in charge lacks knowledge of foodborne illnesses and symptoms of illness that would prevent an employee from working with food, clean equipment and utensils, and single-service items.

But now that we looked it up, we understand why a vacuum breaker might be important:

[A vacuum breaker] prevent[s] potentially contaminated water from flowing back up a hose, faucet, pre-rinse, or toilet fixture and into the potable water system in your restaurant. Waste and sewage water is rich with microorganisms that can quickly infect an entire water supply, and that’s why these plumbing valves like this brass ball valve that allow for the complete shut off of flow, are so important.

Sandalfoot Bagel; image by Google
Sandalfoot Bagel; image by Google

Next worst in this report goes to Sandalfoot Bagel with 27 violations on July 7th. The high priority violations didn’t look so good:

  • Employee failed to wash hands before changing gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food. … Cook changed gloves multiple times, all without hand washing. **Repeat Violation** **Repeat Violation** **Repeat Violation** **Repeat Violation** **Warning**
  • No proof of parasite destruction or aquaculture documentation for cold smoked salmon served raw or undercooked. Fish must be fully cooked or discarded. … **Repeat Violation** **Warning**
  • Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. … REACH IN COOLER… (3 Door Jordan) soup 48° pooled eggs 50° corned beef hash 54° AMBIENT TEMPERATURE 48° **Repeat Violation** **Warning**

Two others with 20 or more violations were:
China Spring on 441 (25 violations including 4 high priority)
Boca Pita Express on Beracasa Way (20 violations with 1 high priority)
Between 10 and 17 violations:
On/Near Palmetto Park
New Golden China Inc
Sushi Yama Japanese Restaurant
Sal’s Italian Restaurant
Hong Kong Palace
Mama’s NY Pizza Inc
Sandalfoot
China Wok
Pizza Thick And Thin
On/Near Glades
Brooklyn Boys Pizza
Einstein Bros Bagel #845
Duffy’s Sports Grill
Dominic’s
441
China Ming
Tempura House
On the positive side the licensing inspection for the new Chen’s Yokohama (replacing Yokohama Sushi) in Boca Lyons Plaza was perfect. Other perfect inspections included Yogurt Zone in Somerset Shoppes, Hurricane Grill in Mission Bay, and Moon’s Tavern in Boca Greens. Moon’s also had a perfect inspection last year.
Near-perfect inspections included Vinny’s All Day Cafe, Outback Steakhouse and La Ferme.
Our spreadsheet for this report is below:
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/westboca-inspections-july-19.pdf”]

48 Violations at Romano's: East Boca Inspections

Romano's Macaroni Grill in Boca Raton; image by Google
Romano’s Macaroni Grill in Boca Raton; image by Google

Romano’s Macaroni Grill was hit with 48 violations in an early July inspection and the restaurant was temporarily closed. Seven of the violations were “high priority” and included insects and rodents:

  • Employee failed to wash hands before changing gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food. **Corrected On-Site**
  • Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cooked/heated yesterday/on a previous day not cooled from 135 degrees Fahrenheit to 41 degrees Fahrenheit within a total of 6 hours. Food has been cooling overnight. Cooked potatoes cooling overnight between 47° F and 50° F at walkin cooler. See stop sale. Food discarded. **Corrected On-Site**
  • Presence of insects, rodents, or other pests. Ants in rear prep area by slicer and flour bin and in frontline area by dessert storage cooler.
  • Raw animal food stored in top portion of make table over ready-to-eat food in bottom portion of make table _ no complete physical barrier between top and bottom. Raw scallops over sauces at make table top where drippings from scallops may contaminate sauces. **Corrected On-Site**
  • Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. Observed approximately 15 fresh and 5 dry rodent droppings in rear prep/ dishwashing area and 3 fresh and 2 dry rodent droppings on table tops in dining room area.
  • Small flying insects in dishwashing area.
  • Stop Sale issued on potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food due to temperature abuse. Cooked potatoes cooling overnight between 47° F and 50° F at walkin cooler. Food discarded. **Corrected On-Site**

On the bright side they had a near-perfect inspection the next day and reopened. They also had an additional inspection two weeks later which was also good with only five minor violations.
The next worst in this report is Chinese restaurant Sieng House, which is south of Camino Real just west of Dixie Highway. They had 19 total violations (4 high priority) and there were three more inspections within ten days. It looks like there was a persistent problem with food temperatures but their final inspection was perfect.
High numbers were also reported for four restaurants in and near Royal Palm Plaza. Ichiyami Buffet, Gluttonous Goat, Yakitori Sake House and Biergarten each had 16 violations from late May through early June.
The best inspections in this report go to Seasons 52 (near Town Center) and The Wick Theatre which were both perfect. The Wick’s dining service is now headed by our favorite local chef, William Walden, formerly of Bistro Gastronomie.

Chef William Walden from The Wick
Chef William Walden from The Wick

Villagio in Mizner Park shows up in our spreadsheet (below) but we already covered that inspection as an update to our May inspection report for East Boca.
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/eastboca-july-2015.pdf”]