Two South Florida restaurants temporarily closed last week after state inspectors observed violations such as improper food storage, an employee handling food with damaged gloves, and about 25 cockroaches in a kitchen cooler.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel typically highlights restaurant inspections conducted by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation in Broward and Palm Beach counties. We cull through inspections that happen weekly and spotlight places ordered shut for “high-priority violations,” such as improper food temperatures or dead cockroaches.
Any restaurant that fails a state inspection must stay closed until it passes a follow-up. If you spotted a possible violation and wish to file a complaint, contact Florida DBPR. (But please don’t contact us: The Sun Sentinel doesn’t inspect restaurants.)
Dragon City, Hollywood
6706 Stirling Road
Ordered shut: March 4; reopened March 5
Why: Nine violations (two high-priority), including four cockroaches spotted crawling around the kitchen in areas such as “on table next (to) rice warmer,” “under unused slicer on shelf under prep table” and “next to closed container containing bowls under prep table.”
The report also found three dead roaches in the kitchen — “on floor behind microwave” and “under prep table.”
An employee’s opened bottle water was seen “stored over sauces in dry storage room.” Other issues included “ice machine reflector soiled in ware washing area,” “floor soiled/has accumulation of debris behind chest freezers in storage room” and “hood filters soiled with accumulation of grease in cook line.”
Additionally, some ceiling tiles had damage or were in disrepair in the dry storage room.
Although the restaurant racked up two basic violations during a follow-up inspection, the state cleared it to reopen the next day.
Porto Bella Italian Restaurant, Boynton Beach
9770 S. Military Trail
Ordered shut: March 7; reopened March 8
Why: 10 violations (four high-priority), including “25 live roaches inside of door jamb of left-side cook line flip-top cooler in kitchen” and “one dead roach on ground next to steam table in kitchen.”
An employee was seen “handling food with damaged gloves,” and “raw animal food” (chicken cutlet) was “stored above unwashed onions in walk-in cooler.”
Other violations: a soiled “metal stem-type thermometer,” an oven/microwave with “accumulation of black substance/grease/food debris” and a reach-in cooler’s interior/shelves with “accumulation of soil residues.”
The state found two intermediate and basic violations during its March 8 inspection and let the restaurant reopen. Porto Bella previously was ordered shut four times in January.
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