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Rodents displayed some not-very-kosher behavior last week inside Kosher Cuisine, a Hollywood catering company, leaving behind 181 droppings and a burrowing hole in the kitchen. The caterer is one of seven South Florida restaurants temporarily ordered shut by state inspectors.
Other restaurants closed included Wally Jean’s Paradise Restaurant in Lauderhill, Cecibon in Fort Lauderdale, Bru’s Room Sports Grill in Deerfield Beach, La Union Bakery in Margate, Piman B&K Bar Restaurant in North Lauderdale and Tacos El Papi and Blanka’s Bakery in Oakland Park.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel highlights restaurant inspections in Broward and Palm Beach counties from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. We cull through hundreds of restaurant and bar inspections that happen weekly and spotlight places ordered shut for “high-priority violations,” like improper food temperatures or dead cockroaches.
Sun Sentinel readers can browse full Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade county reports on our state inspection map, updated weekly (usually Monday) with fresh data pulled from the Florida DBPR website.
Any restaurant that fails inspections must stay closed until it passes a follow-up state inspection. If you spotted a possible violation and wish to file a complaint, contact Florida DBPR here. (But don’t contact us: The Sun Sentinel doesn’t inspect restaurants.)
Kosher Cuisine, Hollywood
Ordered shut: Oct. 6, reopened Oct. 7
Why: Nine violations (three high priority), led by a whopping 181 rodent droppings – a record for this weekly roundup. Inspectors counted droppings “on the floor behind a storage table holding cooking utensils,” on the floor under a two-door freezer,” “behind a storage rack holding clean pots and pans,” “under a storage cart holding liquor” and “in a corner under an unused dish machine” filled with catering supplies and utensils. Even worse: a not-at-all-kosher “rodent burrow” discovered beneath a kitchen sink near the cook line with “chewing or gnawing marks around the perimeter.” The kosher eatery was allowed to reopen Oct. 7 with zero new incidents.
Tacos El Papi and Blanka’s Bakery, Oakland Park
Ordered shut: Oct. 4, Oct. 7 and twice on Oct. 8, remains closed
Why: The state spotted 18 violations (five high priority), such as 32 live cockroaches discovered crawling on top of and “inside unused drink dispenser,” “crawling into box of paper towers on kitchen floor,” on the “wall behind espresso machine,” on the bus cart and behind the portable A/C unit in the dining room, on the wall between the prep area and kitchen, and “inside takeout freezer in dining room.” Inspectors also saw “tomatillos, onions and jalapeños stored on floor in prep area.” Finally, the state saw “6 flying insects crawling in container of dried chili peppers,” and – naturally – the restaurant was ordered to throw them out. The restaurant couldn’t seem to shed its roach woes during three subsequent visits – once on Oct. 7 and twice on Oct. 8 – and the restaurant remains shut.
Wally Jean’s Paradise Restaurant, Lauderhill
Ordered shut: Oct. 6, reopened Oct. 7
Why: 11 violations (three high priority), led by 17 live flies “landing on whole cabbage,” flying around and landing inside containers of cooked beans and rice, and flying over (but not landing on) an uncovered container filled with 20 pounds of red snapper. Inspectors also saw a “thank you” grocery bag inside a pot filled with cooked plantains, and spotted a “spray bottle of flying insect killer [stored] next to seasoning and plantains.” The restaurant was allowed to reopen Oct. 7 with a trio of small violations.
Ordered shut: Oct. 5, reopened Oct. 6
Why: 20 violations (five high priority), including one live fly “inside kitchen not landing on food” and four live cockroaches on the kitchen floor, behind the ice machine and on “wall behind reach-in cooler in kitchen,” which the operator later killed and sanitized. Inspectors also ordered the restaurant to stop selling and toss its cooked turkey, white rice, mixed riced and legumes “due to temperature abuse.” The state let the Haitian restaurant reopen Oct. 6 with a handful of small violations.
Bru’s Room Sports Grill, Deerfield Beach
Ordered shut: Oct. 6, reopened Oct. 7
Why: Of the three violations state inspectors saw, only one was high-priority – but it was serious enough to shut down the sports grill: 80 live flies in the kitchen’s dishwashing area, “landing on clean cutting boards in dish area,” hovering around soda dispenser boxes in dry storage, and landing on the “wall and ceiling” near the rear exit. Inspectors let Bru’s Room reopen Oct. 7 with a single minor issue.
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Ordered shut: Oct. 7, reopened Oct. 8
Why: 11 violations (three high priority), including an infestation of 28 live flies found landing “on cooler with ice,” “flying inside trash can,” “landing on peppers inside case,” inside the dishwashing machine and “flying around garlic and refried beans.” The state also spotted 11 dead cockroaches “on floor at cases of soda,” inside a hand-washing sink, and inside a pest-control device. One inspector noticed an employee’s half-finished Gatorade inside a walk-in freezer. The restaurant was order to stop selling and throw out its beef flank, shredded cheese, refried beans, beef and potatoes and shelled eggs “due to temperature abuse” and because the cooler where it was stored stopped working. Inspectors let the restaurant reopen Oct. 8 after discovering a single minor issue.
Piman B&K Bar Restautant, North Lauderdale
Ordered shut: Oct. 7, reopened Oct. 8
Why: Eight violations (three high priority), including 13 live flies spotted “landing on cooked turkey and cooked beans and rice,” landing on the kitchen exit door, on the kitchen hand-washing sink and “flying and landing on cooked plantains, raw onions and cutting board.” (The report doesn’t say whether inspectors ordered the eatery to toss its tainted food.) They also saw a live cockroach “crawling on reach-in cooler door” as well as 12 rodent droppings “behind reach-in cooler.” The restaurant reopened Oct. 8 after the state discovered zero follow-up problems.
