coconut creek – Page 2 – West Boca News

Roaches at Saltimbocca in Delray – Twice

The worst of our latest “Near Boca” restaurant inspection report goes to Saltimbocca in Delray Beach. It was not a Happy Halloween when the inspector on October 31st found:

Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found…..one live roaches underneath 3 compartment sink and 4 live roaches along wall underneath Dishmachine

Usually when we see something like this, the follow-up inspection is clean but that’s not what happened on November 1st:

Dead roaches on premises…..2 dead roaches in underneath 3 compartment sink. You would imagine they would take it upon themselves to research pest control companies by now. **Warning** Call back: 6 dead roaches underneath Dishmachine, 8 dead roaches underneath 3 compartment sink, 6 dead roaches in cook line .
Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found…..one live roaches underneath 3 compartment sink and 4 live roaches along wall underneath Dishmachine. **Warning** Call back: approximately 10 alive roaches dishwashing area, 6 dead roaches underneath Dishmachine, 8 dead roaches underneath 3 compartment sink, 6 dead roaches in cook line.

Earlier in October they had 15 violations including 3 rated high priority:

Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit……eggplant fry, chicken breast 45°, lasagna , cheese 50° in flip top reach in cooler cross from fryer in kitchen . Food being held less than 4 hours ice down on food. Corrective action taken. **Repeat Violation** **Warning**
Raw animal food stored over cooked food…..raw burger above cooked lasagna and ready to eat cheese in reach in cooler in kitchen. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**
Raw animal foods not properly separated from one another based upon minimum required cooking temperature in walk-in freezer – all products not commercially packaged. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**

Saltimbocca Italian Bistro is on Military Trail just south of Atlantic. We’ve never been there and we’re not likely to try it.
Other less than stellar inspections:

Peppertree Bagel on Sample near 441 in Margate, with 22 total violations. High priority violations involving hand washing and food storage were the most serious.
Duffy’s Sports Grill on Hillsboro at Lyons, with 19 violations including small flying insects in the kitchen and bar area.
Rotelli’s in the same plaza with Duffy’s had 15 violations, four high priority, such as hand washing, food temperatures and food storage. A follow-up will be required related to paperwork.
Lucky Dragon Chinese on 441 north of Hillsboro (near Starbuck’s and BJ’s) had 12 violations with live flying insects and food storage issues.

The Good News

The best of this report goes to Sub Zero Ice Cream in Parkland, with a perfect zero violations. It’s on University Drive and would be a short drive from the end of Palmetto Park if we built that bridge (never gonna happen).

Honorable mentions go to the near-perfect Bluefin Sushi and Hidden Tea Secrets, both in Parkland on Parkside Drive. Each had two minor violations. We’ve been to Bluefin and like it, and we’ve been inside the tea place. It looks nice but we haven’t tried it.

Other inspections worth noting:

Jersey Mike’s on 441 north of Hillsboro had a good inspection with only 2 violations, though one was high priority related to food storage.
Bamboo Wok in Coconut Creek (Hillsboro at Lyons, near the Rotelli’s and Duffy’s) did pretty well with 6 violations, all minor. It’s part of the same chain as the one on Glades west of Lyons, which was voted best Chinese west of the Turnpike in our survey.
Japango in Riverstone Shoppes (441 just south of Lox Road) had 8 violations, but all were minor.

Our spreadsheet for this report is below. The two most recent Saltimbocca inspections were not in the data set, but were on the state website when we were looking into the earlier inspection.
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/nearboca-inspections.xls”]

53 Violations? – Restaurant Inspections in "Near Boca"

We’ve changed how we break down restaurant inspections geographically into three areas: West Boca, East Boca, and what we call “Near Boca.” We covered East Boca inspections about a week ago, and West Boca Inspections a week before that. For Near Boca we include parts of Delray Beach, Parkland, Coconut Creek, Pompano Beach, Margate, Coral Springs, and Deerfield Beach.
This report’s worst is an easy call. CJ’s Drafthouse in Deerfield Beach got clobbered by inspectors with a whopping 53 violations.

It was so bad that it got covered by a local TV station’s “Dirty Dining” segment:

They were closed for a day, and had the same thing happen to them in June. They have a long history of inspections that were bad enough to require follow-up inspections. Here’s the full list of “high-priority” violations from this inspection, including live flies, roaches and rodents:

Dishmachine chlorine sanitizer not at proper minimum strength. Discontinue use of dishmachine for sanitizing and set up manual sanitization until dishmachine is repaired and sanitizing properly-0 ppm when tested.
Grease interceptor/trap overflowing onto floor/ground.
Numerous live flies in kitchen.
Pesticide-emitting strip present in food prep area.
Pesticide/insecticide labeled for household use only present in establishment, Raid and hot shot insect sprays on shelves in kitchen, 5 cans of raid on shelf in front of reachin cooler.
Raw meat/poultry cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit in reachin cooler by cookline. Note: Operator said they are working, took corrective action by placing ice on products.
Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found, 6 next to dish machine, 4 in imperial oven by cookline, 1 on clipboard on wall across from cookline, 3 with eggs intact on hand wash sink infront of cookline.
Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found, approximately 10 moist on shelf next to hand wash sink in front of three compartments sink, approximately 20 moist on pot cover on shelf in storage area, approximately 20 moist behind reachin freezer, approximately 40 moist behind dish machine, approximately 60 moist under shelf by dish machine, approximately 4 moist on bag with sugar on shelf in front of walkin cooler, 2 moist on top of cream Saran wrapped container with bread on shelf in front of walkin cooler, 3 moist on wall next to rear door, approximately 25 on top of reachin cooler next to ice machine, 2 moist on top of hot water heater, 3 moist on floor on the west side of the bar, 6 moist on wall in dining room.
Stop Sale issued due to food not being in a wholesome, sound condition, flour bag with evidence of rodent bites, and bag with sugar with evidence of moist rodent droppings.
Toxic substance/chemical stored in food preparation area with potential to cause cross contamination, raid.

CJ’s Drafthouse is at the intersection of Hillsboro and Military Trail.

Other restaurants that stood out to us this week include:
Also in Deerfield Beach, the Paragon theater had only 5 violations. The worst of it was paperwork issues.
In Coconut Creek’s Promenade, Saito’s Steakhouse had 12 violations, but they were mostly minor ones and did not require a follow-up inspection or any other warnings. Salad Creations there had 11 mostly minor violations, and La Via Ristorante had only 3 violations, all minor.
Butterfly World (Lyons Road & Sample in Coconut Creek) had the best performance in this report with two separate inspections on October 1st. One inspection had a perfect zero violations and the other had only one minor violation. Just north of the Sawgrass on Lyons, The WOW Factory had six violations, all minor.
On Sample Road in Margate, La Bamba had 10 violations with one marked high priority, and Golden Corral had 7 minor violations.
On the west side of Sample in Coral Springs, the results were pretty good. Uncle JC Chinese was the worst with 7 mostly minor violations. A paperwork issue will require a follow-up inspection. Pita Pit had 3 violations, all minor. Tobo Japanese had only 2 minor violations.
Closer to West Boca, we see only one place in Parkland on the list. Yogurt Craze on 441 had only one minor violation.
North of Boca we didn’t see any restaurants in Delray Beach that we recognize. The worst number was “Florida Meals, Inc.” on Linton with 14 violations including 3 high priority and a warning. Nearby Poppies had 9 violations with 3 high priority, a warning and a stop sale:

Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit……..chicken, gravy, tomato sauce, dill sauce , beans, fat, holandale sauce 49° to 51° in 3 door reach in cooler by the walk in cooler . Canadian bacon, ham, cheeses, 51° in daily back up reach in cooler cross from conventional oven in way to kitchen. Food being held more than 4 hours . Stop sale issue. Butter, cream cheese 61° no under control temperature in bar counter . Operator discarded food. Butter cream cheese, 45° in flip top reach in cooler in server station and tuna salad, chicken salad, egg sala, pasta, 45° to 46° in daily display cooler in front line. Operator stated door was not closed perfectly . Advised closed door all the time. Corrective action taken. **Warning**
Raw animal food stored over cooked food…….raw shell eggs above hot dog in reach in cooler in cook line . **Corrected On-Site** **Repeat Violation** **Warning**
Stop Sale issued on potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food due to temperature abuse……see stop sale report. **Warning**

Excell on Congress had a poor inspection with 9 violations including 5 high-priority:

Chlorine sanitizer not at proper strength for manual warewashing. Do not use equipment/utensils not properly sanitized. ………200+. **Corrected On-Site**
0Clams/mussels/oysters cold held at a temperature greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. …..beef, turkey , ox tail, beans, goat , rice 51° to 54° in 2 door reach in cooler in kitchen. Food being held more than 4 hours. Stop sale issue.
Equipment and utensils rinsed after the application of the sanitizer solution. **Corrected On-Site**
Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit…….beef, turkey, rice, ox tail,beans 51° to 54°,meat vegetable 45° in 2 door reach in cooler in kitchen . Stop sale issue. **Repeat Violation**
Stop Sale issued on potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food due to temperature abuse…..see stop sale report. **Admin Complaint** **Repeat Violation**

The best result in Delray Beach was the Subway on Congress south of Atlantic, which had only one minor violation. Hunan Garden on Linton had a perfect zero violations, but it was a callback inspection which means they had a problem on their previous inspection that required a follow-up.
Our spreadsheet for this report is below.
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/nearboca.xls”]

West Boca High's Tommy Covella Arrested on Warrant

West Boca High grad Thomas Covella (19) was arrested last night by PBSO on an “out-of-county warrant.”

Our readers might remember Mr. Covella. He was previously mentioned in our West Boca High arrest article from March. Shortly after we mentioned him again in an editorial, How Stupid Are You?
We checked the FDLE warrant database and don’t see anything for Mr. Covella there.
We do see that he had a prior arrest in Coconut Creek (Broward County) for burglarizing a “conveyance” (that usually means a car) and grand theft.

The “disposition” in that case was some kind of probation:

So our best guess is that this is for a violation of probation. That is often minor and we hope for Mr. Covella’s sake that it’s nothing big. It’s our impression that he may have had a few bad moments but otherwise he might actually turn out to be a good kid.
We also see that his earlier case involved another West Boca High grad, Brandon Navarro (also 19). Navarro’s case is still pending and has a calendar call in September. So there’s a small chance the warrant for Covella relates to him being a witness in that case.

Restaurant Inspections: Ouch!

We go through restaurant inspections about twice a month. The biggest surprise in early June is Tempura House in the plaza at Clint Moore and 441.
28 violations? 8 high priority violations?
A complaint led to the June 12 inspection and it’s one of the biggest numbers we’ve seen. Problems included live flies in the kitchen, food storage containers, food storage temperature, and repeat problems with handwashing. Then there was this one: “Required employee training expired for all employees. … All training expired on 1/30/2014.” A follow-up inspection is being required.
On the bright side, this one was better than April when they had 51 violations with 12 high priority ones. They had two inspections in 2013 that were much better.

We reviewed Tempura House back in 2012 and didn’t love it, but it is very popular. We left it out of our Chinese food survey and it was mentioned favorably by several respondents in the “other” question.
For those turned off by these inspections, Saito’s Japanese Steakhouse at Glades and Lyons had a much better inspection in February, and we like the food better.
That was the highest number in this report for all of Boca Raton. Nearby in Coconut Creek, Tesser’s Deli on Lyons had 33 violations with 5 of them rated high priority in a June 2 inspection. That’s up from 23 violations back in January. No follow-up was required either time.

There were three other inspections in West Boca:
Grill Time on Glades Road near Boca Rio had a fairly low 4 violations with one high priority. Pita N Go near Sandalfoot had 7 violations but none were serious. Hong Kong Palace (near Olive Garden) had 11 violations with 2 rated high priority. We’re puzzled about this one. It’s a licensing inspection and the first one in the official records. But we see reviews for the place on other websites dating back to 2010, and it received 33 responses in our survey. Where are the previous inspections? Readers rated a little worse than average in the survey.
In East Boca, a couple places in Royal Palm Plaza popped up. There appears to be a new Indian restaurant, Sapphire Indian Cuisine. Their licensing inspection had 7 minor violations. Holloway’s Pub had 3 violations, 2 of them serious, on June 5th. A follow-up on the 13th had a perfect zero violations.
On Federal Highway, Sushi of Boca Raton and Renzo’s Cafe & Pizzeria both had perfect inspections, as did Giveness Caribbean on Dixie Highway. Josephine’s Italian on Federal had 4 violations with 2 rated “high priority.” The new La Nouvelle Maison on Palmetto Park had only 3 violations with none serious in a licensing inspection. It’s the same owner as the nearby Trattoria Romana.
Up in Delray Beach, Carrabba’s on Linton had 14 violations with 5 serious, including “small flying insects in dishwashing area” and a stop sale order on some food items:

Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit……….grill chicken, rice, pre cooked pasta, 46° to 47° in reach in drawer station one across from 2 stove in cook line. Food being held more than 4 hours . Stop sale issue and operator discarded food. Corrective action taken.

There were also several inspections in Coconut Creek that might interest some of our readers. We mentioned Tesser’s Deli above.
In the Village Shoppes on the northeast corner of 441 and Wiles, Jake’s Wayback Burgers, Flutter’s Ice Cream and Santos Buffet were all inspected. Jake’s and Flutter’s did well with only two violations and one, respectively. Santos had 12 violations with 4 serious ones, though the details don’t look that bad to us.

Lime Fresh Mexican in Promenade had 4 violations with 2 high priority. The McDonald’s on 441 near Regency Lakes had 10 violations but only one was serious (live small flying insects). Bru’s Room on Hillsboro had 12 violations with 5 of them serious (including live flies and live small flying insects). Jimmy John’s near that had a perfect zero.
Further east on Hillsboro, Bamboo Wok had six mostly minor violations and Amici’s Pizza had 3 minor violations.