Miami metro area restaurant filth: a Taco Bell, a Dunkin’, rodent poop on bags of flour

Hovering flies and plumbing problems kept appearing on this week’s Sick and Shut Down List, which features two national chain restaurants.

So, let’s get down on it.

PLEASE READ AND ABSORB: What follows comes from Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation restaurant inspections in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties. A restaurant that fails inspection remains closed until passing an inspection.

If you see a problem and want a place inspected, contact the DBPR. We don’t control who gets inspected nor how strictly the inspector inspects.

We don’t include all violations, just the most moving, whether internally or literally moving (because it’s alive or once was alive). Some violations get corrected after the inspector points them out. But, you have to ask, why do the violations exist in the first place? And how long would they have remained if not for the inspection?

We report without passion or prejudice, but with a dash or two of humor.

In alphabetical order...

Antojo Latino, 10045 Belvedere Rd. No. 5, Royal Palm Beach: Routine inspection, 12 total violations, six High Priority violations.

What’s worse? Flies that dart about too quickly or ones that kind of hover lazily like little black helicopters?

This place had the latter, with two flies at the front counter “hovering around the espresso machine” and another three flies “hovering above the expo window and landing on waste receptacle located directly next to wares.” And one fly was landing on the cutting board next to the flip top cooler.

Six roaches ran — and four died — under the water dispenser in the kitchen and another six ran under a reach-in freezer.

A little disconcerting that these folks don’t know how to thaw food.

“Time/temperature control for safety food thawed in an improper manner. Chorizo thawing on top of convection oven.”

“Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees...raw beef (63 degrees) being held at room temperature.” The meat had been out for two hours, but the employee started to fix the beef.

Antojo passed re-inspection the next day.

Mold, old food on ‘clean’ slicer, no permit: a Coral Gables coffee bar fails inspection

Dunkin’ Donuts, 8099 S. Dixie Hwy., South Miami: Complaint inspection, seven total violations, zero High Priority violations.

Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television. The Seven Samurai. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (and that’s all we’re going to say about that...).

And, now, Seven Basic Violations.

Seven Basic violations at this Dunkin’ added up to the least basic inspection stumble in Sick and Shut Down List history — the first shut down without a High Priority violation.

So what are The Not-At-All-Magnificent Seven?

▪ “A minimum of one bathroom facility is not available for public use. Observed men’s and women’s bathrooms currently out of order due to sewer backage.”

▪ “Observed the men’s bathroom floor dirty and the toilet full of paper.”

▪ “Observed the toilets of the men and women bathrooms do not flush.”

▪ “Water draining onto floor surface. Observed when toilets of men’s and women’s bathrooms are flushed, sewage/waste water overflows to floor.”

▪ “Observed a leaking faucet at the hand wash sink of the back of the house area.”

▪ “Open dumpster lid.”

Customers were back Dunkin’ donuts after re-inspection the next day.

Rodents in a Broward Infiniti dealer’s food service area chewed open a bag of chips

Galuppi’s on the Green, 1103 N. Federal Hwy., Pompano Beach: Complaint inspection, 12 total violations, five High Priority violations.

“Observed employee dicing tomatoes with bare hands. Observed employee handle cheese with bare hands that was over stacked in cook line cooler.” That’s fine for home, but proper restaurant food safety these days requires you wash your hands AND slide on gloves.

“Insect control device installed over food preparation area,” which is really gross when combined with “Accumulation of dead or trapped insects in control devices. Observed at all control devices in establishment.”

“Dead roach observed next to the handwashing sink in front of the cookline.”

Five small flies at an unused banquet bar and nine small flies at the main inside bar were “hovering and landing near soda guns.” Also hovering were four flies at the wait station and three flies around kitchen prep tables (those guys landed inside trash cans). Of the 10 flies in the outside area around the ice machines, two were landing inside ice buckets on the ground.

“Can opener blade soiled.”

Before the inspector could drop Stop Sales on the mahi dip (50 degrees); seared tuna (54 degrees); cheese (54 degrees); cooked chicken (58 degrees); and cheese (52 degrees) for being too warm, the manager tossed it all in the trash.

Passed re-inspection the next day.

More laxatives of Walmart, Kroger, Publix, 20 other brands recalled for contamination

Griot Caribbean Take Out, 1558 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. No. 4, West Palm Beach: Routine inspection, 14 total violations, six High Priority violations.

A fly landed on turkey that sat on a prep table. Elsewhere on the prep table, a roach strolled across “with food on the table,” one of 13 live roaches and five dead roaches counted in the restaurant.

Observe 1 flying insect landing on Turkey on prep table.

Neither of the handwashing sinks in the work area had running water.

So, food workers washed their hands in the bathroom and put gloves on there, which is technically another violation. “Employee used the bathroom and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands upon returning to employee area.”

At the prep table, rice (65 degrees), turkey (59 degrees) and pork (50 degrees) were way above the 41 degree limit, but the workers “stated that they leave them on table until they finish” with no regard for time or temperature control.

The lettuce and the tomatoes in the flip top refrigerator were too warm because, the inspection seemed to say, there was no actual flip top “just a large bowl that doesn’t cover the refrigerator opening and cold air is escaping.”

Griot passed re-inspection on July 22 and again this Wednesday.

Moldy fruit and unsafe food in another Miami supermarket chain store failing inspection

Taco Bell, 2700 Stirling Rd., Hollywood: Routine inspection, two total violations, one High Priority violations.

All about the flies.

Two of them “flying around and landing on tortilla chips” in dry storage. Three were “landing on cut lettuce, cut tomatoes and on the cutting board.” Another three were landing on a guest table. Three others were landing on a “warm gladd door window” at a drive-thru prep station.

“No proof of required state approved employee training provided for any employees.”

The bell was ringing again after passing re-inspection the next day.

Y & C Restaurant, 1242 NE 163rd St., North Miami Beach: Complaint inspection, 31 total violations, six High Priority violations.

That’s a nice number of ice cream flavors (especially if it includes Blueberry Cheesecake HINT) but way too many inspection violations to stay open.

“Objectionable odors in bathroom or other areas of the establishment.”

Maybe it was the smell of rodent butt.

“Observed in a back dry storage room: approximately 40 rodent droppings underneath two wheeled storage containers with rice; approximately 30 rodent droppings underneath a table with canned goods; approximately two rodent droppings on top of bags of flour.”

Even the roaches didn’t bother to look for a toilet, leaving four droppings on an apparently low traffic handwashing sink in the kitchen.

“Ice scoop placed on the ice machine dusty surface.”

The inspector saw “a pipe draining water from the refrigeration unit through the wall of the walk-in freezer into a bucket by the handwashing sink,” so you know the place has plumbing problems and water where you don’t want water.

That said, wonder what’s growing under the “unsealed concrete floor in food preparation, food storage and warewashing areas.”

Usually, we don’t include the “Handwash sink used for purposes other than handwashing” violation because it’s usually just someone using it to dump water or a fork being in the sink. But, the handwash sink near the front counter by the fish tank contained Renuzit, wrapped single service plates...and a basketball.

Then again, the front counter handwashing sink didn’t have soap or paper towels, but it completed the hat trick by not having running water.

Y & C passed re-inspection the next day.