Courtesy of Simon Malls

Three restaurants at Dadeland were forced to close last week due to health code violations.

One of our most important duties here at Short Order is to ensure our readers are made aware when restaurants are not maintaining healthy standards. Unfortunately for restaurant owners, it often takes just a little negligence for violations to occur. Fortunately for patrons, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation's safety and sanitation inspectors seldom allow violations to go unnoticed during each eatery's two to three annual inspections.
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Photo by billwisserphoto.com

Villa Azur

Update: Short Order received an email from Villa Azur's First Amendment attorney, Kent Harrison Robbins, who informed us that all but one of the code violations have been "corrected and are no longer current." Then he added: "The only outstanding issue is the attendance of management and employees at a formal training program," which is scheduled for completion on Monday.

Before posting this story, Short Order called Villa Azur's PR firm, the Patton Group, three times. We had been awaiting comment until the arrival of the letter, which is printed in its entirety at the end of this post.

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Villa Azur, the ultra-trendy, über-French-Mediterranean restaurant co-owned by Halle Berry's celebrity fiancé Olivier Martinez and partners Jean-Philippe Bernard and Michael Martin, was hit with 20 code violations during a routine health department inspection.

Read also:
- Best of Miami 2012: Best Service, Villa Azur

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation conducted the inspection November 16 and found 20 violations, including 13 critical infractions that require immediate action and a follow-up visit. Though some of the findings are icky, according to the state, "Violations require further review but are not an immediate threat to the public." The critical violations found include:

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There is one thing you can expect when you go to Miami International Airport (MIA) -- prices on everything, especially food, are elevated. Restaurants and retail stores there pay equally elevated rent for those cramped metallic spaces scattered within and outside the terminals. Thanks to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, we now know that at least two of those cramped spaces are sites for roach hedonism.

Island Chicken Grill on concourse "J" and Famous Famiglia Pizza in the South Terminal Food Court were both closed October 3 due to the presence of live and/or dead roaches. Island Chicken Grill specializes in Caribbean food, with selections like jerk chicken and ox tail. Short Order called to get a statement, but manager Alie Hermanus denied the store ever closed. Mall Officials could not be immediately reached for comment, but responded with the following statement received by Short Order Friday.

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Miami New Times

Pasha's in Brickell was one of two restaurants closed due to health violations over the past week.

In a report published by the Florida Department of Business and professional Regulation for the week ending September 8, two of eight restaurants in the state closed due to health violations were in Miami. Roach activity, which is the leading cause of restaurant closures in Florida, was observed at Cine Citta Cafe in Surfside and Pasha's in Brickell.

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Courtesy of Miami International Mall

Miami International Mall has been a favorite in Doral since opening its doors in the early 1980s. The mall was renovated in 2000 and redesigned to go along with the international theme similar to nearby Miami International Airport. Consumers bring their children and frequent the Simon Property Group mall by the thousands to shop at stores like The Gap and Bath & Body Works. Apparently, small children aren't the only critters enjoying the food court selections.

Last week, three of the most popular restaurants on the property were shut down, all due to roach activity. Roaches were observed by state inspectors at China Max, King's BBQ and Charley's Grilled Subs. Calls to Charley's and King's BBQ were not returned. China Max managers declined to comment when confronted by Short Order Tuesday. (China Max attorney Eric Smithers called Friday to say the restaurant has yet to open. The violations relate to a prior tenant, China, China, he says.) The official report from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation can be found here.More »

Florida restaurant inspectors cited Natural Chicken Grill at 95 NW First St. in downtown Miami after rodents were observed. They also whacked El Toro Taco in Homestead for roach activity.

Both restaurants received orders to shut down after an unannounced July 10 inspection, but were allowed to reopen the next day upon re-inspection.

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Courtesy of Bayside Marketplace

Along with beautiful views and myriad dining choices, Bayside Marketplace also apparently features a plethora of rodent droppings and live roaches.Of 10 restaurants cited during a random health inspection May 10, eight are in the South Pavilion of one of Miami's most popular and successful shopping malls.

"The safety and well-being of our visitors are of paramount importance to us," said Bayside marketing director Marie Balbuena in a statement. "Food vendors, whether at a mall or elsewhere, have a responsibility to operate under the highest of health and safety standards. Any time a violation or infraction is discovered, food vendors are required to take immediate corrective action. We support and cooperate fully with all health department inspections of food vendors."

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​Short Order regularly peruses the restaurant violations that are downloaded for everyone's enjoyment on the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation website. Call it our version of reading the obituaries.

Usually, Miami restaurants come in pretty clean, which is why you don't regularly read inspector reports. If a restaurant doesn't score a perfect rating (and few do), many violations are nit-picky at best. Things like not clearly labeling food items and having a rag lying on the counter for the split second the inspector pays a visit are enough to be written up, but not enough to close a restaurant down. Most restaurants have a few violations, which are categorized into critical and non-critical categories. (That rag lying around is considered non-critical. A roach crawling on the rag is critical).

So we were surprised when we went down the weekly list on the department's website and saw that during an inspection conducted on March 9, Einstein Bros. Bagels on 13710 SW 88th Street was cited with 25 different violations. Of the 25 violations, 12 of them were listed as critical. Some of the critical violations included:

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Bagatelle via Facebook

Bagatelle's been getting a lot of press lately

​Bagatelle, the pretty little Key West restaurant on the 100 block of Duval Street has been in the news twice this week, and it's only Wednesday. So do you want the good news or the bad news?

OK, good news first:

The Florida Keys Keynoter reported the happy news that Jack Terry, a bartender at Bagatelle, was named Tommy Bahama's new Rumologist, beating out 100 other mixologists to win the title, which includes a $50,000 check and a job as brand ambassador for the brand's rum and 13 Caribbean-themed restaurants.

Oh rats (literally and figuratively) -- here comes the bad news:

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Photo by Alexandra Leon

Gator Grill 192's gator and pineapple kabobs.

Gator Grill's new owners Sal and Elsa DeVito have taken the grease out of the menu -- and off a few window panes as well.

At the end of June, the DeVito's took over the Homestead establishment after the Bronx-bred chef Nino took off. The couple changed the name of the restaurant to Gator Grill 192 and removed fried items from the menu to keep it healthier.

"We've cleaned it up and we're looking for our new clientele. I have great expectations for this," said Sal.

The restaurants windows and wood paneling were pressure cleaned to remove grease residue. "You couldn't see to the outside," Elsa added.

Yet, a look in health records shows that a July 14 inspection turned up 13 violations.

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