tempura house – West Boca News

Roaches Close Denny's on Federal Highway

Denny's on Federal Highway. Image by Google. — Denny’s on Federal Highway. Image by Google.

Denny’s restaurant on Federal Highway in Boca was temporarily closed by inspectors on September 9th after roach activity was found:

Roach activity present as evidenced by live roaches found, 1 live on bucket on top of ice machine, 2 live on outside walk in cooler wall, 1 live in break room, 1 live on wall entryway of kitchen near dish area. 1 live on wall near office.

Otherwise it was not that bad of an inspection with 8 total violations and just that one marked high priority. The restaurant reopened the same day after a second inspection showed only 3 minor violations.
Although of course finding roaches is a bad thing, it can happen anywhere. This is one of the smallest we have seen and also one of the quickest and most effective clean ups.
The biggest number in our report goes to Bonefish Macs on Sample in Coral Springs. They had 23 total violations with 6 marked high priority:

Employee failed to wash hands before changing gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food. Observed a cook change gloves without Washing hands. The Mgr corrected him and he removed the gloves, washed hands and put on a new set of gloves. **Corrected On-Site** **Repeat Violation**
Outside bar glasswasher 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. Observed 0 ppm when tested.
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. See stop sale. Jerk chicken wings prepared on 9/8/16 in the walk-in cooler are still 45-59°
Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) hot held at less than 135 degrees Fahrenheit or above. Observed a cream sauce in hot hold at 114-116°F on the cook’s line. The pan was put on the grill to be reheated. **Corrective Action Taken**
Toxic substance/chemical stored by or with food. Observed a sanitizer pail with sanitizer in it on a prep table. It was relocated. **Corrected On-Site**
Vacuum breaker/back flow preventer missing at hose bibb or on fitting/splitter added to hose bibb.

The biggest number in West Boca goes to Tempura House at Clint Moore and 441. They had 13 violations with 4 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. – employee cutting and trimming broccoli florets with bare hands.
Nonexempt fish offered raw or undercooked has not undergone proper parasite destruction. Fish must be fully cooked or discarded.
Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. – COOK LINE (Counter Top) broccoli florets 64° sprouts 54° peas 54°cabbage 49° Repeat Violation – REACH IN COOLER – (Cook Line Cold Table) cooked shrimp 43° BBQ pork 45°cooked chicken 57° cut peppers 58°cut onions 58° **Repeat Violation**
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. – sushi rice.

On the good news side of things there’s a new BurgerFi on Atlantic in Delray, just east of the Turnpike. They had a perfect licensing inspection with zero violations.
There’s a new French bakery, Lublu, in Somerset Shoppes (Lyons and Glades) and their licensing inspection showed only one minor violation.
Near perfect routine inspections (1 violation) were recorded by the Chipotle and the Burger King at Palmetto and Powerline, Pei Wei in Westwinds (Glades & 441) and Cilluffo’s on SW 18th.

Other notables include:
Cherry Smash Ice Cream in Coral Springs (2 minor violations)
Five Guys near Town Center (2 violations, both high priority)
McDonalds at Clint Moore and Jog (2 violations, 1 high priority)
First Watch on St. Andrews (2, 0)
Brendy’s at Yamato and Lake Ridge (2, 0)
Vinny’s All Day Cafe (2, 0)
Burger King on 441 near Target (3, 1)
Taco Bell in Sandalfoot (3, 1)
Casa L’Italien at Yamato and Lake Ridge (3, 1)
It’s All Greek on Clint Moore (4, 1)
Gary Woo Express on Yamato (4, 2)
Burt & Max’s in Delray Marketplace (5, 2)
Boston Market in Shadowood (5, 0)
Chow Thai in Sandalfoot (5, 0)
Hurricane Grill in Mission Bay (6, 0)
Brendy’s at Clint Moore & Jog (6, 2)
Einstein Bagel on Powerline (7, 2)
Dunkin Donuts on 441 near Sandalfoot (7, 1)
House of Bread & Coffee, 441 near Sandalfoot (13, 4)
Los Tacos on NE 5th in East Boca (16, 6)
Our full spreadsheet is below:
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/allinsp-9-11-2016.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”]

24 Violations at Tempura House; Roaches at Lemon Tree

A couple Japanese places lead our inspection report this week in number of violations, though overall their reports aren’t really the worst of the bunch.
Tempura House on Clint Moore had the most violations with 24, including 6 marked high priority. Saito in Coconut Creek’s Promenade was next with 18 violations, 3 high priority.
The big violations for Tempura House were:

Employee failed to wash hands before changing gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food. – food handlers changing cloves without washing hands. **Repeat Violation** **Warning**
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. – dishwasher dirty to clean without handwashing. **Warning**
In-use utensil stored in unclean water at or above 135 degrees Fahrenheit. – Spoons for rice – **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**
Potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. – REACH IN COOLER – (Cook Line Cold Table/Undercounter Unit) scallops 54° shrimp 54° raw beef 53° cooked shrimp 53° tripe 54° raw ground pork 53° AMBIENT COOLER TEMPERATURE 42° – COOK LINE – (Held Open at Room Temperature) mushrooms 74° noodles 73° sprouts 74° water chestnuts 72° corns 72° **Repeat Violation** **Repeat Violation** **Warning**
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. – tested on Three Cycles. **Warning**
Vacuum breaker missing at hose bibb or on fitting/splitter added to hose bibb. – at rear mop sink. **Warning**

As we noted in our review a few years ago, Tempura House seems very popular. But we’ve never really liked it and we’re not alone – Jeff Eats hated it several years ago. Their inspection record has been spotty, with some good ones and some terrible, like in 2014.
We started going to Saito (Lyons and Glades) and haven’t looked back. The 18-violation inspection we just saw for the Coconut Creek location is a minor turn-off, but it’s a different spot and the details make the inspector seem picky.

Although it’s a lower number, the worst inspection this week goes to Lemon Tree Cafe, on Lyons Road just south of the Sawgrass. They were closed for a day after a 14-violation inspection including the dreaded roaches:
Observed: Roach activity present as evidenced by 5 live roaches found in dishwashing area, 4 live roaches in dry storage behind GE chest freezer, 5 live roaches in cookline under food prep table, 2 live roaches in service station next to Bianchi coffee machine. **Warning**
That was one of the high priority violations. Two of the “basic” ones are also troubling.

Observed: Accumulation of dead or trapped birds, insects, rodents, or other pests, in control devices. Dead flies **Warning**
Observed: Dead roaches on premises, approximately 30 dead roaches in dish washing area under dishwashing machine, approximately 10 dead roaches in storage under GE chest freezer, approximately 10 dead roaches under food prep table on cook line. **Warning**

Usually we wouldn’t consider 9 violations to be that bad but PF Chang on Glades in East Boca had four marked high priority:

All potentially hazardous (time/temperature control for safety) foods in reach-in cooler cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. 2 door glass reach in cooler- cookline cheese cake 52° vegetable spring rolls 49° egg rolls 53° salmon 46°. Moved all TCS foods to working cooler, all items in cooler >2 hours. **Corrective Action Taken** **Warning**
Employee failed to wash hands beforechanging gloves and/or putting on gloves to work with food. On cookline. Hands washed properly. Single-use gloves not changed as needed after changing tasks or when damaged or soiled. On cookline. Hands washed properly. **Corrected On-Site** **Repeat Violation** **Warning**
Raw animal food stored over ready-to-eat food in WALK in cooler. Raw pork over sauce and pasteurized eggs in WIC. All items stored properly. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**
Raw animal foods not properly separated from one another based upon minimum required cooking temperature in walk-in cooler. Raw chicken over raw beef. All items stored properly. **Corrected On-Site** **Warning**

The Good News
Five places had perfect inspections, including a food truck (Tastee Express 10), two places inside Boca Pointe, one inside Boca Grove, and Cherry Smash Ice Cream in Coral Springs (we went there a few weeks ago and liked it).
Maggiano’s on St. Andrews by Town Center had another near perfect inspection, with only one violation.
Tricky Dick’s Pub, Boston Market (Beracasa Way), and Lime Fresh in Promenade each had only 2 minor violations.
Yokohama Sushi in Polo Club and Giovanni’s Pizza (Powerline) each had 3 minor violations.
A few other notable restaurants had inspections that were neither terrible nor great.
Burt & Max in Delray Marketplace had 7 violations but all were minor.
Chipotle in Westwinds had 9 violations, with one high priority (vacuum breaker). The one on Glades in East Boca had 7 violations.
Our full inspection spreadsheet is below:
[gview file=”https://westbocanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/allinsp-10-2-2015.pdf”]

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.