After several “Fair” and “Poor” health inspection ratings in past months, Embody Fitness Gourmet at Equinox fitness club received a perfect 100 and a “Good” rating on Nov. 19 from a Darien Health Department inspector.
Embody was one of a dozen food-serving establishments in town inspected and rated recently by the Health Department, which rated five “Good,” three “Fair” and four “Poor” (details below).
Embody’s snack bar at the Darien YMCA received an almost perfect score of 99 in a health inspection on the same day. (The only thing found wrong: water was pooling in a bain marie.) The YMCA snack bar, which received a “Good” rating under the Darien Health Department system, has not had a history of many “Poor” or “Fair” inspection ratings.
How the ratings systems and scores work
Some restaurants and other food establishments display their Darien ratings certificates on their front windows, as Darien Doughnuts did here.
Restaurants in town are rated under the Darien Health Department’s own Good/Fair/Poor ratings system. Health inspectors also use the state health code regulations to score restaurants, with a perfect score set at 100, and demerits (of 1 to 4 points each) for various code violations.
The Darien system takes into account problems that are ongoing or that have been fixed, so a restaurant scoring higher than others on the state scale may actually get a lower score on the Darien scale, or vice versa.
You can find the past several inspection ratings under the Darien ratings system for food-serving establishments on this website.
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See also:
- Our previous article listing restaurant inspection ratings (Nov. 18)
- Taco Bell Opens at Interstate 95 South Rest Stop in Darien (Nov. 18)
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Any establishment actually deemed unsafe can be closed by the town Health Department until violations are fixed. Darien Health Director David Knauf says that has never happened in the time he’s been with the department.
(In the list of health inspection results, below, information is listed by name, address, date of inspection, Darien rating, state score. For restaurants rated “poor,” additional information is given: inspector’s comments that led to the state rating and additional remarks on the inspection report [information within brackets has been added for clarity by Darienite.com; semicolons like this (“;”) separate individual comments, each one with a particular violation that triggers a point deduction from a perfect state score of 100 points]. Darienite.com will change abbreviations, punctuation and other grammar to fit our editorial style, usually silently, sometimes with brackets.)
Here’s an alphabetical list of the most recently released results of Darien health inspections (keep in mind that a food-serving establishment with a history of “Good” ratings may occasionally “Fair” or “Poor” inspection rating, and occasionally the best do):
Burgers, Shakes & Fries — 800 Post Road — Nov. 19 — GOOD — 93
Dunkin Donuts — Darien South rest stop on Interstate 95 — Nov. 19 — FAIR — 92
Green & Tonic — 1098 Post Road — Nov. 24 — FAIR — 85
Little Thai Kitchen — 4 West Ave. — Nov. 23 — FAIR — 91
McDonald’s Restaurant — Darien North rest stop on Interstate 95 — Nov. 10 — GOOD — 96
Sbarro — Darien South rest stop on Interstate 95 — Nov. 19 — POOR — 91 — Inspector’s comments: “No time-v.-temp log kept for pizza, calzone, stromboli, garlic bread; no handle on bowl dispensing rice; no soap or paper towel at hand sink (ware wash, prep area); hand sink at ware wash unclean; granular [container] not labeled, not stored in original container; ice scoop not stored properly, stored on top of ice machine with no protection.”
Steam — 971 Post Road — Nov. 20 — POOR — 90 — Inspector’s comments: “Several new people in the kitchen — no [health training] documentation; ribs on stovetop at 83 degrees (large pan, no flame on); wiping hands on the aprons, filling sanitary bucket from hand sink; label all [containers holding] granular [contents] not in original [container], on line and in prep areas; water dripping on covered food, walk-in freezer — Inspector’s additional remarks: “Owner […] on site during inspection, glove use observed.”
Tengda Asian Bistro — Goodwives Shopping Center at 25 Old Kings Hwy. N. — Nov. 24 — POOR — 83 — Inspector’s comments: “Foods left uncovered during storage; plastic containers with no handles used for dispensing food; sanitizer in buckets at toxic level; shelves in walk-in cooler unclean; sanitizer bucket at toxic level above 200 ppm [parts per million]; shopping bags used to store foods; door gasket under counter reach-in in disrepair; floors unclean; hood fulters have heavy grease buildup.”
Trader Joe’s — 436 Post Road — Nov. 19 — GOOD — 96
Whole Foods Market — 150 Ledge Road — Nov. 18 — POOR — 84 — Inspector’s comments: “Chicken wings at 131 [degrees] just brought down from reheat (no log), chicken in HH at 121 [degrees] not hot holding, other chicken wings on cart at 113 [degrees], going back up for reheat, […] employee [said]; bain marie not working — part on order (sandwich area/deli), tomatoes at 51 [degrees], meat and cheese at 53 [degrees] (food stored in the top of unit); thermometer missing in pizza low boy and another not working in cheese low-boy refrigerator; cover [a] light or replace [it] with shatterproof bulb in muffin/scone display case; label products not in original containers in the bakery depth (upstairs); cutting boards in poor repair (red boards, upstairs), broken knife handle taped in meat department and hand juicer in the guacamole area is chipping; shelving and other not-food-contact equipment upstairs [was] unclean; plumbing issue upstairs in the meat prep sink drain, bakery hand sink draining very slowly; fruit flies observed in several locations throughout the store; floor drains in the deli unclean, floors near the fryers unclean upstairs.” Inspector’s additional remarks: “[…] locked refrigerated Ryder [rental] truck holding proteins for Thanksgiving in parking lot.”