2 South Florida restaurants shut: Employee bed in kitchen storage; roaches in flour mix

Both South Florida restaurants temporarily shut by the state last week faced double-digit violations. Inspections found roach and rodent droppings, medications stored above food, and a bed set up in one kitchen’s dry storage area, among other issues. The South Florida Sun Sentinel typically highlights restaurant inspections conducted by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation in Broward and Palm Beach counties. We cull through inspections that happen weekly and spotlight places ordered shut for violations such as improper food temperatures or dead cockroaches. Any restaurant that fails a state inspection must stay closed until it passes a follow-up. If you spot a possible violation and wish to file a complaint, visit myfloridalicense.com. (But please don’t contact us: The Sun Sentinel doesn’t inspect restaurants.) Broward County Belle Cuisine Caribbean Restaurant 1952 NW Ninth Ave., Fort Lauderdale Ordered shut: June 8 Why: 16 violations (one high-priority), including: • About 42 rodent droppings “on top of reach-in cooler” and “inside reach-in cooler next to steam table.” • “Stored food not covered … Observed containers with cooked chicken, pork and turkey stored in reach-in cooler.” • “No date marked on cooked chicken, pork and turkey stored in reach-in cooler.” • “No soap provided at handwash sink in kitchen.” • “No paper towels or mechanical hand drying device provided at handwash sink in kitchen.” Status: Reopened June 9 after a next-day visit found three intermediate and basic violations. A follow-up inspection was required. Palm Beach County Yến’s Kitchen 7364 Lake Worth Road, Lake Worth Ordered shut: June 9 Why: 34 violations (15 high-priority), including: • About 24 live roaches “on floor under glass-door reach-in cooler at cook line,” “crawling out of open box of flour mix on table next to flip-top cooler” (stop sale ordered), “on table behind tabletop flip-top cooler” and “coming out from behind table and wall behind flip-top cooler.” • About four dead roaches “in door jam of customer bathroom,” “on floor in front of glass-door reach-in cooler” and “on table behind tabletop reach-in cooler.” • About two roach droppings “on table behind tabletop reach-in cooler.” • About 38 live flies “landing on shelf in dry storage,” “in employee bathroom on trash can,” “on chemical storage rack,” “on trash can at dishwashing area” and “landing on dirty dishes and wall next to three-compartment sink.” • About “15 small dead insects trapped [in] control device” in back of kitchen. • Stop sale ordered for cooked rice noodle “due to temperature abuse.” • Other time/temperature issues involved sliced cooked beef, cooked pork, cooked ground pork and cut lettuce. • “In kitchen, multiple chemical bottles stored next to and above clean dishes.” • “Standing water on floor under three-compartment sink.” • “In dry storage area of kitchen in between wire racks, employee bed set up.” • “Multiple medications stored above food products in dry storage.” • “Employee removed hat and fixed hair [and] after, without washing hands, employee resumed cutting vegetables.” Status: Closed June 10 after a reinspection found 16 violations (three high-priority). Reopened later that same day after a third visit found 10 basic violations.