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A Popeye’s, a country club, flies in tequila: 20 restaurants failing inspection

A country club with bugs in flour and rice. Moldy macaroni and cheese. Chains, chains, chains. And, as mentioned in the headline, flies in tequila.

That’s what you get on The Sick and Shut Down List under these BOGO circumstances. Because we took last week off, the list of Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach (no Monroe this week) comes two-for-one this week with the appropriate volume — 20 establishments with an array of problems, some living and some from laziness.

What follows comes from Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation restaurant inspections. Restaurants that fail inspection are closed until they pass a re-inspection. We do not list all violations on an inspection (especially for the place below that rolled up 39 Basic violations).

If you see a problem and want a place inspected, don’t email us. Go to the DBPR website and and file a complaint. We don’t control who gets inspected or how strictly. We report without passion or prejudice, but with a side order of humor.

And, we go in alphabetical order:

Bonefish Grill, 4545 Weston Rd., Weston: Of the 91 live roaches the inspector found, 50 of them hung out under the cookline steam table and another 20 were under the grill. Two of the live crew were in a place “where clean and sanitized utensils and containers are stored next to the dishwashing machine.”

Six dead roaches dotted the restaurant, also.

We realize everybody’s running light on Tilex, but come on, now...“mold-like substance on the wall in the three-compartment sink” and “all reach-in coolers gaskets with slimy/mold-like substance throughout the establishment.”

Bonefish passed re-inspection Thursday.

Burger King, 175 N. Federal Hwy., Boca Raton: At this BK Lounge, an “employee at the front counter scratched his face then adjusted his mask then proceeded to handle food and condiments for to-go orders.”

It didn’t say if the mask was being worn properly, covering the nose and the mouth (many people seem slow to comprehend that a contagious respiratory disease can be passed via the schnozz...).

The inspector also counted 15 flies, four of which were on the wall at the drive-thru window.

Customers were back having it their way after the Aug. 4 re-inspection.

The Cheesecake Factory, 5530 Glades Rd., Boca Raton: No, they didn’t add Fly Salad to the menu, never mind the 65 the inspector counted. Four were on an open box of chili peppers and 10 sat ready to buzz and pounce in the stairway between the first floor prep kitchen and the second floor main kitchen.

The inspector did The Cheesecake Factory a favor and came back for a same-day re-inspection Friday that got the restaurant open for the dinner rush.

Don Q Food by the Pound, 6452 NW 186th St., North Miami-Dade: Six roaches “crawling around the handwashing sink located next to the walk-in cooler door” seems troublesome on a couple of levels.

“Observed approximately 10 live roaches underneath the preparation table located in front of the walk-in coolers.”

“Cutting board has cut marks and is no longer cleanable. Observed single cutting board unit at the main kitchen.” Everybody’s money is funny and there’s a coin shortage, but somebody scrounge up $7 every few weeks for a new cutting board.

Don Q did well enough on Wednesday’s re-inspection to get open again.

Flakowitz, 1999 N. Federal Hwy., Boca Raton: Now, on Which Bothers You More?

“Six live flies over front deli counter where food is served from the case?” or “Approximately 50 live flies on the dining room ceiling over tables?”

Or, if you’re from Miami-Dade, are you just envious of an open dining room?

Flakowitz passed a same day re-inspection.

Gleneagles Country Club Main Dining Room, 7667 Victory Ln., Delray Beach: This joint’s website says “Initial country club joining fees range from $40,000 to $75,000.”

So what kind of membership discount did the vermin get?

“Some kind of food bugs growing in flour, rice in the dry storage room.”

“Over 30 rodent droppings underneath shelves, seven rodent droppings on top of the rice lid, two rodent droppings in the ice tea box in the dry storage room.”

As usual, as if feeding their little four-legged furry friends, you find rodents, you find “Food stored on floor....beans, potato fries at walk-in freezer.”

Inside that walk-in freezer, the stored soup wasn’t covered.

Scoop handle in contact with tuna salad , chicken salad, egg salad at salad reach in cooler.

The inspector came back for a same-day re-inspection Aug. 4. No rodent droppings. So, in a matter of hours, the rodents had left the country club? Right.

Then again, maybe their assistant greenskeeper possesses varmint-killing skills equal to Bushwood Country Club’s...

Hook Fish & Chicken, 5701 N. Australian Ave., West Palm Beach: Fish, chicken...and Pixie and Dixie.

The inspector saw 60 pieces of rodent poop, including 20 under a cookline reach-in cooler and another 10 under a cookline fryer.

And, did they have food stored on the floor? You know they did — “cases of chicken stored on the floor in the walk-in freezer.”

A handwash sink was blocked by a garbage can.

“Soiled reach-in coolers gaskets with food debris throughout the entire restaurant.”

“Encrusted material on can opener blade.”

The Hook passed re-inspection Saturday.

Living Green Cafe, 2202 N. Federal Hwy., Boca Raton: Living Green failed by finishing badly in the 125 Fly.

That’s not the 125-yard or 125-meter butterfly stroke, but the 125 flies the inspector counted on Thursday’s visit.

Highlighting this count were “Approximately 10 live flies at the single service items rack at the rear of the store landing on single service items. Approximately 10 live flies on unpeeled red onions. Approximately 10 live flies on the glass window next to juicing station in the dining room. Approximately 30 live flies at fruit station on counter for juicing. Some landing on washed fruit. Fruit rewashed. Five live flies landing on juicing equipment.”

The encrusted stuff on the can opener blade and the “mold-like substance” inside the ice machine didn’t help. This was a fly show, though.

Nine live flies caused a Friday failure at the first re-inspection. A second re-inspection on Friday got Living Green back open for the weekend rush.

Malakor Thai Café, 425 25th St., West Palm Beach: Rodent regularity dotted the dry storage area with 25 poop pellets.

Now, usually, we don’t get into even the High Priority storage violations, but raw chicken doing the open bump with anything already cooked is Salmonella Storage: “Raw packaged chicken stored with and touching cooked sweet potatoes in reach-in freezer by prep table. All items were out of the original packaging.”

Another way to invite a convention of bad bacteria is thaw raw chicken at room temperature or shrimp in a bucket of standing water. Malakor managed to combine another violation by having the bucket in a handwash sink.

Malakor passed its re-inspection enough to get back open on July 30, but still has a “follow-up inspection required.”

Mama Lucy’s All Pro Ribs, 2201 NW 119th St., North Miami-Dade: Sitting in the walk-in cooler, a metal container contained “cooked sweet potatoes and mac-and-cheese with mold-like growth.”

A Stop Sale fell on that as well as cooked ribs, cooked baked beans and potato salad kept at too warm a temperature for safe human ingestion. But maybe Mama Lucy’s could use all that to trap and poison the critters that left the more than 200 pieces of rodent poop.

That includes 25 under a kitchen cookline prep table, “approximately 100-plus...located near food preparation area, food storage area near the three-compartment sink,” and about 20 underneath plastic containers with cooking oil stored near the walk-in cooler.”

No soap or paper towels at the handwashing sink.

In the kitchen, problems surrounded workers to the side (hole), above (hole, ceiling) and below (floor tiles missing or torn up).

Give Mama Lucy’s credit for rising and repairing this wreckage to pass Friday’s re-inspection, even though we’d love to know what happened to all those rodents.

Pinolandia West Palm Beach, 1290 N. Military Tr., West Palm Beach: This is listed with the DBPR as “Pinolandia — Fritanga & Tortilleria.”

On July 29, the inspector found “Chlorine sanitizer not at proper minimum strength for manual warewashing.” Try no strength, as in zero parts per million.

Workers fixed that, but how long had this no-chlorine thing been going on? Because 27 flies landed on clean utensils on cookline shelves, five landed on a banana slicer machine. Another 50 were using a case of onions and a case of green bananas like American using the runways at MIA.

Several packages of raw beef were being thawed at room temperature. Seeing that might’ve headed off a few midnight vomits.

Pinolandia passed a same-day re-inspection (Palm Beach inspectors, baby).

POC American Fusion Buffet & Sushi, 1651 Bonaventure Blvd., Weston: Stop Sales cascaded on cream cheese marked as having been there nine days (seven is the max allowed for restaurants) and on crab salad, cooked noodles and on garlic in oil inside an apparently worthless M3 cooler.

An empty ice machine didn’t have ice, but did have seven live roaches. Six dead ones sat under the adjacent working ice machine. The inspector watched a worker kill two flies.

POC was passed re-inspection on July 30.

Popeye’s, 506 Federal Hwy., Dania Beach: Seasonings elevate Popeye’s chicken to its current status. Without that, it has nothing.

The flies know this, too.

“In the chicken prep area, observed seven flies on boxes of seasoning over the prep table. By the prep table, near the three-compartment sink, observed over 30 flies on boxes of seasoning over prep table.”

Elsewhere, the inspector counted 32 flies and, on a box of single-use to-go containers, one live roach.

“In the biscuit refrigerator, the bottom is soiled with food debris.”

Vents in prep and dry storage areas were “soiled with accumulated food debris, grease, dust, or mold-like substance.”

On the July 31 re-inspection, the inspector saw “12 live flies above prep area on boxes of seasonings” and a live roach on a wall.

Another re-inspection that day got Popeye’s open for the Friday night, Eagle Flies Today Dinner Rush.

Rinconcito Paisa No. 3, 15148 Sunset Dr., Kendall: Only one High Priority violation, 10 live roaches scurrying about the cookline. Two Intermediate violations, a kitchen “reach-in cooler soiled with accumulation of food residue” and “containers of beans, sugar, bread crumbs, soiled.”

Then, a Sick and Shut Down List record 39 Basic violations, a series of singles and doubles down the line making Rinconcito the Pete Rose of this list.

In-use knife/knives stored in cracks between pieces of equipment. Observed utensils stored between wall and three compartment sink.

Dishmachine not washing/rinsing properly. Must wash, rinse and sanitize all dishware, equipment and utensils in three-compartment sink until dishmachine is functioning properly.

Interior of microwave soiled with encrusted food debris.

Soiled reach-in cooler gaskets, located in kitchen area.

Interior of refrigerator or freezer in disrepair/has exposed insulation.

Open dumpster lid.

We don’t have the time or inclination to list all that the inspector saw. If you want to see the full inspection death by a thousand yucks, click here.

Sassano’s Pizzeria, 2760 Davie Blvd., Fort Lauderdale: The dead roaches (17, 15 of them on the dry food storage floor) outnumbered the live roaches (six, one on the takeout container shelf).

“Encrusted material on can opener blade”

“Cutting board(s) stained/soiled.”

“Bathroom facility not located on the same floor as the food establishment.” When nature calls, walking stairs can be a strain that stains.

Sassano’s passed re-inspection on July 28.

Subway, 2715 N. Dixie Hwy., Wilton Manors: What’s worse than roaches under the prep talbe? Try “eight live roaches on the food preparation table.”

“Single-service articles stored next to handwash/food preparation sink exposed to splash. Observed straws, lids and knives stored next to hand wash sink.”

And after wiping they couldn’t wash properly because there was no soap at the employee restroom handwashing sink.

These problems were conquered and this Subway passed re-inspection.

Tacos Al Carbon Mobile Unit, 4420 Lake Worth Rd., Lake Worth: “No dishwashing facilities of any kind provided. Mobile unit not self sufficient. Three-compartment sink was removed.”

Waffle House, 19675 NW Second Ave., Miami Gardens: “Observed on multiple occasions chef cracking eggs and cooking other food. No hand wash.”

Let’s get to the 74 flies, seven of which were “sitting on the syrup at the front counter,” and three of which were “on the whole loaf bread in the bread tray next to the back door” and two of which were “on clean containers on a shelf above the three-compartment sink.”

About 55 sat on the walls of the restaurant and dining area light fixtures.

“Accumulation of food debris on coffee cups, juice cups, grill, and coffee maker.”

“In-use knife/knives stored in cracks between pieces of equipment.” This violation is classified as Basic, but have you ever looked into those cracks? Nothing stuck in there should be waved above food, much less touching food, without flame sterilization.

“Wall soiled with accumulated grease, food debris, and/or dust. Throughout establishment.”

“Build-up of food debris, dust or dirt on nonfood-contact surface. On the side of the cookline, toaster, juice dispenser, and all reach-in coolers.”

Somebody grab a rag and do get with the wiping.

The House passed re-inspection July 30.

Whistle Stop, 499 NE Spanish River Blvd., Boca Raton: There were six dead roaches, one in an unused soup kettle and five on the cookline, but this place belonged to the flies.

Whistle Stop maybe could’ve gotten away with 20 flies at the dishwasher machine that wasn’t in the kitchen. And the 100 live flies in a cookline reach-in cooler not being used, maybe the could’ve skated on that.

But two dead flies killed this inspection — one inside a bottle of Dulce Vida Lime tequila and one inside Dulce Vida Grapefruit. Stop Sales came down and the kitchen was closed.

If that hadn’t done it, the no hot water at the handwash sink in the employee rest room might’ve pushed the inspector over the edge. And there was also “accumulation of black/green mold-like substance” inside the bar ice machine.

When the inspector returned for the July 30 re-inspection, 10 live flies remained zipping about and the ice machine remained icky.

Whistle Stop re-opened after re-re-inspection on July 31.

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