Monday Linkage

Oops. Thanks.

re: planet thai – first luger, now this. let me tell you what i know. first, it depends on the inspector. some of them hunt and peck for hours (yes, hours) to find everything they possibly can to write as a violation, while some of them just blow in an out and do almost nothing. depends on which inspector the restaurant gets, luck of the draw, more or less. second, the DOH makes a lot of money on the fines. third, there are points written for a missing choking victim poster, for a “not conspicuously displayed” copy of the permit, for a fridge that doesn’t have a temp gauge inside (those things fall down and get lost, a LOT), for a cleaning cloth that’s left on the counter instead of kept in the bleach solution bucket (that means that if the worker wiped something and left the cloth on a counter, the same cloth that he’s using at the moment, a violation is written), and stuff like hot and cold food not at the proper temp. this can include cheese that’s left out to temper (come to room temp) before being used to make a sauce.

if you really want to know how a restaurant is run via cleanliness, just look around. look at the kitchen, look at the servers, look at the place itself. your eyes will tell you, more specifically, about the cleanliness and sanitary procedures of an establishment, than will the DOH website.

for instance, i have worked in places that were immaculate, where all of a sudden a cucaracha popped in for a visit. this can happen when foodstuffs are DELIVERED to a restaurant. maybe it was in the box and scramble out when the box was opened. that doesn’t mean the place had roaches.

sigh. so, anyway, judge with your eyes.