Roaches at a Miami Carvel, 180 pieces of rodent poop in Davie among restaurant shut downs

We might have seen rodent poop on a prep table on the Sick and Shut Down List previously. We definitely haven’t seen a dead fly on a cutting board.

Well, we have now, after this week’s list of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach restaurants that failed state inspection.

This is not why we do this, but how we do this: 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 re-inspection. If you see a problem and want a place inspected, contact the DBPR, not us.

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). We report without passion or prejudice but with spread of humor.

In alphabetical order:

Carvel, 3781 W. Flagler St., Miami: A Carvel in Miami on Flagler, mere yards from Coral Gables. Does it get more South Florida than that?

Yes. Just add about 10 live roaches and 36 dead roaches. For placement, seven of the live ones and 15 of the dead ones were on the front counter. One live one strolled on the front counter by the cash register. There was a dead roach inside a reach-in freezer. And “approximately 20 dead roaches on the floor of the entire establishment.”

“Person in charge changing tasks from dirty to clean without hand washing.” Ew.

“Gaskets with slimy/mold-like build-up.”

At the front counter, there were “clean utensils or equipment stored in dirty drawer or rack.”

All the lids of the reach-in coolers, the inside of the reach-in cooler and the inside of the refrigerator all were “soiled with accumulation of food residue.”

During the re-inspection, the inspector saw “approximately 40 dead roaches inside reach in coolers and all over the floor in the establishment including prep areas, walk-in cooler entrance, and front counter....approximately three live roaches crawling by a reach-in freezer located at the front counter.”

Carvel passed re-re-inspection on Friday.

ChefCorp, 5745 Columbia Cir., Mangonia Park: Start to punch this into Google and you see “Caterer West Palm Beach” (Mangonia Park is a town near West Palm Beach, sort of like West Miami or Medley). Click on the website for this caterer and the first thing that comes up is “Food safety training/certification options,” including a “Florida Food Handler Certificate.”

There’s no links for teaching extermination. Shame.

“Rodent rub marks and gnawing marks present two places along south side wall by dry food storage shelf in the kitchen.”

Then, there’s the 115 pieces of rodent poop everywhere, including one on a wooden prep table, two on a “Golden buttermilk pancake mix box” and over 20 on a box of food storage bags.

Somehow, despite all that rodent regularity everywhere, this joint passed a same-day re-inspection on Thursday.

DiSalvos Italian Restaurant, 5945 S. University Dr., Davie: Inspectors don’t enjoy counting flies, so we’re not going to go through all 28 flies this inspector counted, we’ll just hit the highlights of “four live flies on containers with uncovered soup on a counter in the servers’ station. Six live flies on the table where the salad ingredients are stored in the servers’ station. Two live flies landed on clean and sanitized utensils in the servers’ station.”

That servers’ station sounds like it’s got more things flying than O’Hare Airport.

“Nonfood-grade bags used in direct contact with food...rolls stored in black garbage bag next to handwash sink in prep area.” Really, people? Swing by Costco on the way to work.

The handwash sink was blocked. Not there’s-something-small-in-the-sink-but-you-can-still-wash-your-hands, 2004 Miami Dolphins not-really-blocked. We’re talking “blocked by the garbage can and cases of items recently delivered.”

The cutting boards on the flip top coolers and the insides of the reach-in coolers were described as “heavily soiled.”

DiSalvo’s passed re-inspection Friday.

This Hialeah restaurant serves one of the best sandwiches in the world, Time Out says

Jalisco, 700 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale: This Rodents vs. Roaches battlefield seemed to be won by the four-legged furry creatures.

They marked their territory, but clearly were trying to be considerate, with six droppings on a case of toilet paper. Not so considerate the four droppings on cans in a dry storage closet.

As for the roaches, the inspector saw only the 36 dead, 30 of them in the cabinet with the carbon dioxide tanks for the soda fountain and one on a container of sugar.

Jalisco passed re-inspection on Thursday.

Lallo’s, 1401 NW 39th Terr., Lauderhill: Lallo’s license? Expired Dec. 1, 2019. Lallo’s flies? They haven’t expired.

Here’s a new place to find flies. Approximately 15 flies floating inside display champagne glasses at the bar counter inside establishment.

Another 20 were at the corner walk-in cooler door and inside a handwashing sink. Another handwashing sink, ice machine and cooler hosted 25 flies.

The inspector approximated seeing 95 flies in this establishment.

Lallo’s passed re-inspection on Friday.

Ocean One Grille, 14851 Lyons Rd., Delray Beach: The Stop Sales flew like flies here.

First, there were the cut tomatoes at the prep station that nine flies used for a dance floor. Then, there was the old food, in the fridge for way too long, such as pomodoro sauce (eight days), remoulade (eight days), balsamic sauce (14 days) and beer cheese (10 days). And the food not kept properly cooled or warmed, such as pasta, cut chicken, artichoke, lemon garlic sauce, and heavy cream.

The other actual flies included three live flies sitting on a kitchen prep counter and a dead fly on a kitchen cutting board. There were 18 dead flies on the floor by the bar and another 30 on the floor of the dining room.

“Employee making wraps with bare hands.”

“Dishmachine chlorine sanitizer not at the proper minimum strength” — like no strength, 0 parts per million.

They passed re-inspection on Saturday, but the inspector dropped by Tuesday again.

“Dishwasher handled soiled dishes or utensils and then handled clean dishes or utensils without washing hands.”

The Palace Cuisine of India, 11422 SR-84 E, Davie: Rodent dropping count: 184.

That includes 50 on the storage room floor, where pots, pans and food containers were stored. Another 20 under a prep table, another 10 under a shelf where onions are stored and 10 more under a shelf where sanitized dishes are stored.

All that vermin and, of course, there was “Food stored on the floor. Observed bust pans with frozen food stored on the floor by storage room.”

Three dead roaches by the back door. Wonder what they ate.

Haven’t seen this bete noire of ours lately. “In-use knife/knives stored in cracks between pieces of equipment...knife stored in the gap between the three-compartment sink and the wall.”

The Palace kept the rodents constipated long enough to pass re-inspection the next day.

Saalan, 7256 W. Oakland Park Blvd., Lauderhill: The inspector saw “approximately 50 rodent droppings underneath a storage rack and underneath a freezer located in the dry storage room.”

So, of course, there were “open bags of rice, flour and onions stored on the floor across from the front counter.”

There was also a “container of cooked rice stored on top of handwashing sink,” so we’re guessing they didn’t miss the handwashing sink as much as they miss more counter space.

Saalan passed re-inspection the next day.

Spankys Cheesesteak Factory, 309 N. State Rd. 7, Plantation: The inspector saw 11 pieces of rodent waste, including five behind at kitchen prep table.

“Encrusted material on can opener blade...old food residue buildup on can opener blade.”

“No paper towels at a hand wash sink on cookline.” Guess, they’re just supposed to flap and slap.

Spankys passed re-inspection the next day.