Miami Food Blog

​(Sing to the tune of Home On The Range)
Home, home, down in Dade
Where the rats and the roaches lay eggs
Where seldom is heard
How inspectors find turds
Where you eat and are expected to pay.

Who likes getting rat hairs in their teeth? How about a roach leg stuck to your lip?

Here are our Top 5 places NOT to eat at based on Emergency Order Shutdown dispositions that were the result of routine food inspections less than a week ago.

And your winners are:

Order up. Pork Chops, Side of Bacon.

​City of Miami cops want you to think they're clean. Clean arrests. Clean records. Clean city.

But if you believe the State of Florida, the place where they eat is dirty, dirty, dirty.

This past June, state inspectors cited a tiny café in police headquarters on NW Second Avenue with 23 "critical" violations. Among them: "encrusted" and "soiled" material on a slicer, no soap in the men's room, and reuse of dirty gloves.

That's not the only problem at the homey café on the third floor. In 2008, the state fined the eatery $750 for labeling cheap panga fish as grouper. And just last week, state Department of Business and Professional Regulation spokesperson Alexis Lambert said the restaurant would be sent a warning letter because it hasn't paid $22.77 of its license fee. "The Miami Police Deptartment café is listed as delinquent because its license expired on October 1," she explained.

The café is independently owned and serves 100 to 200 meals a day, mostly to officers and state workers from a complex across the street. Riptide sampled some French toast and a cheeseburger last week. Meals went for about five dollars each, tasted OK, and did no harm.

The hard-working, 50-year-old kitchen veteran running the place -- who would only give his name as Hector (and who records show is probably company principal Hector Lopetegui) -- said the state is a pain in the ass. The inspectors, he griped, "don't care you got proof. When the inspectors write it down, they write it down." When problems have cropped up, he said, they've been corrected.

None of several cops at the station was particularly enthusiastic about the restaurant. "I try not to think about the place," said an officer working the front desk when Riptide visited.

Click here for the restaurant's full inspection history. 

 

​Roaches!

On September 8, 2009 a Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations routine food inspection saw them running around the kitchen of Ola at Sanctuary (1745 James Ave., Miami Beach).  Click here for the report.

The disposition of the report was "Emergency Order Recommended: Conditions have been found that endanger the health and safety of the public requiring immediate closure of the establishment."

A total of 17 live roaches were noted in the inspection report.
Another critical violation noted by the inspector read "objectionable sewage odors in kitchen area."

The restaurant is currently back open, and a followup inspection the next day confirms that roaches were no longer in evidence. Click here for the followup report.

We called for comment to the situation from the restaurant's manager and executive chef. Here's what they had to say:

​Paying big money for a night out at the fish house? You better hope that's grouper in your grouper.

Today, The Herald dropped an article about Mahmood Shivji, a college professor using forensic science to determine whether plated fish from restaurants around the country are of the species they are purported to be.

Here's a roundup of 10 restaurants that have been cited for the critical violation of "Identity of food or food product misrepresented" in 2009. Click the restaurant name for the full report.

• Goldie's Conch House - 11275 NW 27 Ave. - ADVERTISING GROUPER (GROUPER FINGERS, GROUPER DINNER, GRILLED GROUPER) IN MENU. INVOICE FROM ANCHOR SEAFOOD DATED 7/27/09 SHOWS ONLY BASA FILLET. ANOTHER RECEIPT DATED 7/27/09 #3394 WITH COMPANY LETTERHEAD "HEADS OR TAILS" WITH AMOUNT CHARGED OF $183; ATTACHED TO THIS RECEIPT AN INVOICE HANDWRITTEN WITH 20lbs GROUPER IS LISTED (WHOLE FISH WITH NO BOX CUT IN WALK_IN FREEZER). OPERATOR STATES ADVERTISED GROUPER FINGERS COMES ALREADY AS GROUPER FINGERS IN BOXES.

​Ever had a termite sandwich? The bread's hard as wood and when you get done there are insect legs stuck in the cracks between your teeth. Here at Short Order we don't wanna see that happen to anyone, unless that's what you ordered. Here's a roundup of recent violations from the world of Dade County routine restaurant inspections. Click each restaurant name for the full report

• The Oasis Restaurant (19 Harbor Drive, Key Biscayne) - Critical. Stop Sale issued on potentially hazardous food due to temperature abuse (see Stop Sale Notice).
• China Steak 1214 W 68 St, Hialeah - Critical. Stop Sale issued due to CONTAMINATION of food product. (COOKED CHICKEN STORED ON TOP OF EGG CARTONS)

A recent routine food inspection report for La Champa Sport Grill (2001 NW 36th St., Miami) turned up some interesting results. According to the report "Violations require further review, but are not an immediate threat to the public."

Here are my favorite 2 violations

- Observed hole in wall.
- Observed rodent activity as evidenced by five plus dry rodent droppings found.

I'm no scientist, but dry rodent droppings musta been there for a while, at least as long as it takes rat shit to dry, which is long enough for me to get outta there if I see em or even hear about em. Calls to the restaurant were met with the smooth robotic voice of the operator telling me "We're sorry. You have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service..." The phone number is 305-635-2848, so if you get bored while you're reading this go head and call them up and see what's the deal with the rat crap at this hole in the wall.


-The Inspector

Yesterday we received this comment to a post about roaches at a North Miami Quizno's:

Paul says, "They should check out Ver Daddy's taco shop on Biscayne too."

The Inspector is here to give the people what they want, "the truth" as a matter of public record as reported by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation through their inspection reports and the responses of the business against which claims are made. Here's the scoop on Ver Daddy's Taco Shop (7501 Biscayne Blvd., Miami).


Ver Daddy's last routine food inspection took place on October 6, 2008 and turned up 10 violations, 5 deemed "critical." Here are the lowlights.

• Observed processed ready-to-eat, potentially hazardous food held more than 24 hours not properly date marked after opening.
• Observed food-contact surfaces encrusted with grease and/or soil deposits.
• No proof of required employee training provided. All public food service establishments must provide the division with proof of employee training upon request, including, but not limited to, at the time of any division inspection of the establishment.

The owner of Ver Daddy's Taco Shop, "epicurean rock-star David Bass" according to verdaddys.com, had this to say:

"Those things sound bigger than what they would actually be. Not a day goes by that we don't start fresh; every day we start fresh. Every Sunday, we bomb the restaurant for roaches and critters. We also have a contract with Orkin. We're in a building from 1964 and we deal with food products. This is Florida, we gotta fight em'. The negative part of the bombing (fumigation) is that it brings them out and takes up to 7 days to kill them, but those are their last living moments. Every Monday we do a full cleaning of the restaurant, I pay extra for that."

In reference to violations incurred, Bass said "our hood systems had to get cleaned, that's where the grease was. We had to hang up proof of training on the window. We have rectified all that." As for the health inspector who filed the report Bass says "He even sends customers here, people tell us the health inspector recommended us."

As for the comment left by Paul, Bass is upset "A lot of people wanna see you succeed, but a lot of people don't wanna see you succeed at all, they'll do anything to try and bring you down, we've dealt with that since the beginning, but we support the community and the community supports us."

You can read the full reports here.

-- The Inspector

Have questions about a restaurant's inspection record? Leave a comment or ask the Inspector

Roaches. Love em', hate em', eat em'. Or don't, at least not at a North Miami Quiznos location (11850 Biscayne Blvd., North Miami). The restaurant was temporarily closed down on December 4 by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation after inspectors found 12 violations, which they termed "critical." .

Some highlights of the state report:

• 27 DEAD ROACHES BEHIND WASHER AND 3 COMPARTMENT SINK
• 4 DEAD ROACH BEHIND PREP TABLE
• 13 LIVE ROACHES BEHIND WASHER AND DRYER NEXT TO 3 COMPARTMENT SINK
• 1 LIVE ROACH ON WALL ADJACENT TO WALK IN COOLER
• 3 LIVE ROACHES BEHIND MOTION DETECTOR IN KITCHEN AREA
• 1 LIVE ROACH ON FLOOR IN FOOD PREP AREA
• 1 LIVE ROACH IN ONE COMPARTMENT SINK
• 3 LIVE BEHIND PREP TABLE IN FRONT AREA
• No currently certified food service manager on duty with four or more employees engaged in food preparation.
• No proof of required employee training provided. All public food service establishments must provide the division with proof of employee training upon request, including, but not limited to, at the time of any division inspection of the establishment.

According to the owner, who gave her name only as Abigail, the restaurant has a contract with Terminix fumigation service, which accounts for all the dead roaches found. "It was just a one time accident that was beautifully and competently handled," she says, adding that the place was only closed for 10 hours.

Abigail added that the restaurant has an exemplary record. Indeed a July 9, 2008 inspection  showed no violations.

Here is a link to the report for the temporary closing, the report that reopened the restaurant, and reports going back to 2006.

-- The Inspector