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The tireless state employees who inspect South Florida restaurants every day must be literary types, because this week’s dining inspections read like poetry.
Reports from six restaurants ordered shut last week contain vivid, whimsical lines such as “interior of microwave soiled with encrusted food debris” and “packaged raw pork stored above tamales” and “4 flying insects flying over short ribs.” These words focus on a common theme: the constant tug-of-war between nature (pests) and civilization (clean restaurants).
Of course, one inspector’s poetry is another restaurant’s bad news. Eateries temporarily shut this week included DLC Caribbean Restaurant in Lake Worth, Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza in Boca Raton, New Wong’s Hollywood in Hollywood, Excell Restaurant in Delray Beach, Mole Cantina Mexicana in Wellington and Agave Bandito in Pembroke Pines.
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.)
DLC Caribbean Restaurant, Lake Worth
Ordered shut: Aug. 26, Aug. 27 and Aug. 28, remains closed
Why: 12 violations (two high-priority), including an infestation of 12 live cockroaches crawling on “vegetables on cook line,” inside the oven and on the wall behind the sink and prep tables. Inspectors also noticed examples of a “soiled” kitchen in disrepair, and spotted “missing ceiling tiles,” a dirty kitchen hood and reach-in cooler, and food improperly stored inside “nonfood-grade” to-go bags. The state’s Aug. 27 reinspection found five more live and dead roaches, keeping the restaurant shut. The state kept the restaurant closed after its third inspection on Aug. 28 found four more live roaches and an unclean kitchen.
Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, Boca Raton
Ordered shut: Aug. 26, reopened Aug. 27
Why: Inspectors spotted four violations (two high-priority), such as 44 live flies “inside of a food storage pan” above the sink, landing on to-go containers “on shelf over prep table” and on top of napkins “stored on rack” over the sink, as well as swarming around the kitchen salad station and “on storage shelf for pots and pans.” Anthony’s was allowed to reopen Aug. 27 after the state’s reinspection found zero issues.
New Wong’s Hollywood, Hollywood
Ordered shut: Aug. 25, reopened Aug. 26
Why: Nine violations (three high-priority), including 20 live cockroaches “crawling on shelf where cans of ketchup and sauces are stored” in a storage room, beneath a prep table where “containers of flour and salt are stored,” and underneath a reach-in cooler. One inspector found a “dead roach under wok station” in the kitchen. The state allowed the restaurant to reopen Aug. 26 when a follow-up inspection discovered a pair of basic issues.
Excell Restaurant, Delray Beach
Ordered shut: Aug. 24, reopened Aug. 25
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Why: Where to start, folks? A diverse collection of vermin visited Excell last week, leading to 10 violations (five high-priority), including 30 live flies “landing on bag of raw onions” in the walk-in cooler. The state also spotted a pair of “live rodents” trapped inside pest-control devices in the walk-in-cooler, and four dead cockroaches in another pest-control device beneath “the cash register at front counter/bar area.” Of course, inspectors ordered the restaurant to stop selling and trash its onions “due to adulteration of food product.” Inspectors let Excell reopen Aug. 25 after discovering a minor issue. (Excell, a repeat offender, was last ordered shut June 23 for similar roach, fly and rodent problems.)
Mole Cantina Mexicana, Wellington
Ordered shut: Aug. 24, reopened Aug. 25
Why: 11 violations (four high-priority), including 13 live flies landing “on a covered container of pico de gallo” in the kitchen, “on the tomato slicer” and “on a clean plate on the prep table located in the kitchen.” (Inspectors ordered the restaurant to wash, rinse and sanitize the slicer and plate immediately.) One state inspector saw an employee “eating in the cook line, put on new gloves and engage in food preparation without hand-washing first.” Mole was allowed to reopen Aug. 25 after inspectors spotted one issue.
Agave Bandito, Pembroke Pines
Ordered shut: Aug. 24, reopened same day
Why: Five violations (two high-priority), including seven “flying insects flying over short ribs and cut peppers,” landing on the kitchen expo line, and “landing on grated Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley.” Inspectors, naturally, ordered Agave to stop selling and throw away its Parmesan cheese and parsley “due to adulteration of food.” Inspectors let the restaurant reopen the same day after discovering one basic issue. (Agave, a repeat offender, was last ordered shut June 23 for similar fly woes.)
