South Florida Sun Sentinel
Jan 18, 2022 3:22 PM
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Sun Sentinel Restaurant Inspections
Flies hovered over the marinara sauce and cockroaches crawled into cooking pots — almost becoming unwanted protein in the process — at two of four restaurants ordered shut by state inspectors.
The closed restaurants included Spoons Grill in Lauderdale Lakes, Discovery Take-Out Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, Brimstone Woodfire Grill in Pembroke Pines and Ti Manmi’s Kitchen in Boynton Beach.
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.)
Spoons Grill, Lauderdale Lakes
Ordered shut: Jan. 10, reopened Jan. 11
Why: Nine violations (six high-priority), such as three live cockroaches found crawling “on spice container” on top of the kitchen’s flip-top cooler, on the wall and on the floor beneath the handwashing sink. The state also discovered six dead roaches near the same kitchen sink and flip-top cooler. One inspector spotted an employee blowing “into [food prep] gloves before putting on gloves,” and place cheese into a to-go box without wearing gloves. The restaurant was allowed to reopen Jan. 11 despite being cited for three more major violations. (The restaurant was ordered shut in August for similar roach problems.)
Discovery Take-Out Restaurant, Fort Lauderdale
Ordered shut: Jan. 4, reopened Jan. 5
Why: 16 violations (four high-priority), including six live cockroaches found crawling “inside employee/customer bathroom,” “inside cooking pot” stored under a kitchen prep table, “on water heater” inside kitchen and “on a personal handbag stored on a shelf next to” the kitchen’s to-go containers. (The restaurant operator killed the roaches and cleaned the pot, of course.) Inspectors also found 12 rodent droppings “behind boxes in hallway” next to the employee/guest bathroom, and “inside an old slow cooker stored in kitchen.” They also spotted roach killer spray and white paint stored on a shelf “next to cooking oil and onions,” and ordered the restaurant to move them. The restaurant was allowed to reopen Jan. 5 after the state discovered a pair of minor issues.
Brimstone Woodfire Grill, Pembroke Pines
Ordered shut: Jan. 5, reopened Jan. 6
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Why: 5 violations (one high-priority): an infestation of 47 live flies “landing on red onions,” “flying around sink and alcohol bottles” “flying over marinara sauce” and “flying over grill” in the kitchen and “flying around in office.” Other flies flew “over the ice machine” and “landed on cloths” and boxes in the storage room. An inspector also spotted an employee leaving a personal cell phone in the bar’s preparation area, which they later removed. The restaurant reopened the next day with a single minor violation.
Ti Manmi’s Kitchen, Boynton Beach
306 E. Boynton Beach Blvd.
Ordered shut: Jan. 10 and Jan. 11, reopened Jan. 12
Why: 12 violations (seven high-priority), led by eight live cockroaches spotted crawling “next to two buckets of unpeeled plantains,” on the floor beneath the kitchen sinks, and “on clean lids on shelf” next to the kitchen sink. Inspectors also saw 41 dead roaches “under refrigeration at cook line,” on the kitchen’s chest freezer and beneath the air conditioning “next to upright freezer in back room.” The restaurant also was ordered to stop selling and toss its hot dogs, cooked plantains, collard greens, boiled eggs, pork stew and cooked fish “due to temperature abuse.” The state kept the kitchen closed during its second inspection on Jan. 11 for more live roaches. During the inspectors’ third visit on Jan. 12, the restaurant reopened after no new issues were found.
