‘Fuzzy mold' on fruit among Miami to Palm Beach restaurant inspection issues

Miami Herald

10-04-2025

Too many roaches and not enough water were among the reasons eight South Florida restaurants wound up on this week's Sick and Shut Down List.
This covers failed restaurant inspections from the Keys to the Palm Beaches. This week, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach are represented. Good job, Monroe, you came correct and clean.
We don't choose who gets inspected. These are routine inspections or inspections sparked by consumer complaint. We don't do the inspections. That's done by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation, to which all complaints should be sent.
In alphabetical order:
Avocados Food, 7535 North Kendall Dr., Kendall
Routine inspection, seven total violations, three High Priority violations.
All problems here flow from no-flow: 'No running water at the three-compartment sink. Also observed at the handwash sink.'
'Employee engaging in food preparation without handwashing' because, well, no water.
The equipment and utensils weren't sanitized as they should have been in the three-compartment sink because no water to mix with the chlorine sanitizer.
Culinary Flair Enterprise, 7028 Charleston Shores Blvd., near Lake Worth Beach
Routine inspection, 13 total violations, seven High Priority violations.
Let's start with the dead vermin, such as the 40 dead roaches in the kitchen receiving area and the 30 dead roaches under the kitchen handwash sink and around racks used for sanitized dishes. There were 10 dead roaches on that rack. About 20 dead roaches were on the floor by the three-compartment sink.
The inspection described a lot of roaches 'walking around.' Five wandering about the kitchen floor, four doing the same inside the refrigerator, 10 in the dishwashing area on the floor. And 40 strollers 'on boxes of food, crates of packages of commercial sealed veggies and fruits and on the floor' of the kitchen receiving area.
And there was 'pesticide tracking powder spread through out the kitchen on the floor.'
In the air, the inspector found '50 flies landing on walls, a trash can, cleaned and sanitized dishes and food crash carts' as well as 40 flies in the kitchen receiving area 'landing on boxes of food, crates of veggies and fruits.
Not flies, but 'heavy white fuzzy mold-like growth' got a crate of strawberries in the walk-in cooler hit with a Stop Sale.
Also getting smacked with a Stop Sale from the walk-in cooler was cooked beef chili, made on March 6, should have been tossed on March 13 but was still there on April 3.
No paper towels at the rear kitchen handwash sink.
There's no online record of a passed re-inspection.
Dragon Delight, 4381 N. University Dr., Sunrise
Routine inspection, 12 total violations, six High Priority violations.
Rodents left about 15 pieces of poop behind reach-in cooler in the food preparation area, three pieces under the dry storage shelf in that area and five on the floor in the employee restroom.
Also behind that reach-in cooler: one dead roach.
A 5-pound can of hoisin sauce was dented, which means Stop Sale on the sauce inside.
The kitchen handwash sink didn't have paper towels, a blower or a way to dry hands.
Red Door, 625 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
10 total violations, seven High Priority violations
Two live roaches in the dining room at the hibachi area.
Someone 'entered the cookline and began working with food, preparing rice, without first washing hands.'
'Single-use gloves not changed as needed after changing tasks or when damaged or soiled ... The cook used a personal cell cell with gloves on, then engaged in food preparation, cooking on the grill without changing gloves and washing hands.'
Stop Sales came down on two eggs (for being cracked), and cooked rice and cooked chicken (for still not being cold enough after being in the walk-in overnight).
'Handwash sink used for purposes other than handwashing.' Yes, that's a violation. That little sink should be used just for handwashing. 'Cookline hand sink being used for food preparation.'
Rose Mass Take Out, 4049 N. Haverhill Rd., West Palm Beach
Routine inspection, six total violations, five High Priority violations
'Establishment operating with no potable running water' at the three-compartment sink or handwash sink.
So, no handwash sink for the employees.
'Observed employee washing dishes in large metal bowl, then handled clean container of vegetable oil spread' without washing his hands.
Thai Shokun, 6346 Lantana Rd., unincorporated Palm Beach County
Routine inspection, 19 total violations, 12 High Priority violations
'Employee used hand to wipe mouth and, without washing hands, handled raw beef in a bowl to place in the reach-in cooler.'
The oven contained three live roaches and 12 dead roaches. The inspection didn't say if they were cooked or raw. Another roach was walking under the oven.
The dishwasher was run three times and the sanitizer measured zero each time.
The kitchen flip-top cooler lacked the requisite cool, unable to keep food at or under 41 degrees. So, Stop Sales came down on shrimp, raw chicken, raw lobster and cooked bamboo shoots.
No soap at the sushi bar handwash sink. No paper towels or blowers at the bar and dishwashing area handwash sinks.
Tin Fish, 9101 Lakeridge Blvd., unincorporated Palm Beach
Complaint inspection, 10 total violations, two High Priority violations
This deep into the list before we get the old reliable: 'Accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine...'
Two roaches ran on the dry storage area floor and 10 ran behind a reach-in freezer in the sushi prep area.
Not the kind of activity you want when you've got boxed food and food in trays flat on the floor of a walk-in freezer.
The 'clam, mussel and oyster tags were not marked with last date served. (The) establishment is not maintaining clam/mussel/oyster tags for 90 days.'
3G's Gourmet Deli, 5869 W. Atlantic Ave., near Delray Beach
Six total violations, five High Priority violations
Three flies darted around the front counter bakery and dessert station. Two played in the dishwashing area and another pair were in dry storage. One used the cookline as his airspace.
Yet another dishwasher with sanitizer that measured zero parts per million. So, nothing was getting sanitized.