Darien Health Inspection Ratings: 2 ‘Good’, 1 ‘Fair’, 2 ‘Poor’

Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant at 71 Post Rd. received a “Fair” health-inspection rating and a note that the town inspector saw “good hand-washing practices and adequate sanitization” during a Jan. 14 visit. Another restaurant, Tengda Asian Bistro, received a “Poor” rating.

An employee working a grill was “without documented grill training,” and some cutting boards needed replacing, according to the inspection report (see below).

Tengda Asian Bistro in the Goodwives Shopping Center on Jan. 13 received the latest in a series of lackluster Health Department inspection ratings — “Poor” with a state health code rating of 87. In the previous six Health Department inspections, going back to Jan. 23, 2015, the restaurant has only received five ratings of “Fair” and one “Poor” rating. (For details from its latest health inspection, see below.)

The Chipotle restaurant is part of a nationwide chain that has had problems with norovirus and e.coli outbreaks in various locations in the United States. As Darienite.com previously reported: “After problems with outbreaks of e. coli bacteria at various locations (not in Connecticut) andnorovirus at a Chipotle restaurant in Boston, the company announced recently that it would change its proceduresto keep and handle food safer.”

Health Director David Knauf questioned whether or not the chain was making sure its employees were adequately trained in healthy food-handling practices. He said cross-contamination of food can lead to e.coli outbreaks.

The restaurant has two locations in Darien: At 71 Post Road and at the Darien North rest stop on Interstate 95. The restaurant at the rest stop received a “Good” rating from the Health Department in its most recent inspection on Jan. 5 (after receiving a “Poor” rating previously) and a 98 on the state health code scoring system.

(The national chain will close all of its U.S. restaurants on Feb. 8 for a “national team meeting” to discuss changes in food-handling practices, for employees to ask questions and for management to thank employees for their “hard work during this difficult time,” a company spokesman said, according to the San Jose Mercury News.)

A report of the restaurant’s health inspection was one of five recently released by the Darien Health Department. Another restaurant and a school did well in the eyes of inspectors, but two restaurants in town received ratings of “Poor”. (Details of the inspections are below.)

How Darien’s restaurants are rated

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.

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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, and now you can also find copies of inspection reports in the same place.

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See also:

• Our previous article showing restaurant inspection ratings (Jan. 14)
• Tokeneke School Gets a ‘Poor’ Health Rating in Inspection — Meat, Taters Not Hot Enough (Jan. 13)
• You Can Now Read Full Health Inspection Reports on Darien Restaurants Online (Dec. 8)
• Health Director: Chipotle Seems to Have Had Problems Training Employees in Health Practices (Dec. 29)

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Any establishment actually deemed unsafe can be closed by the town Health Department until violations are fixed. Knauf says that has never happened in the time he’s been with the department.

Recent inspection results

(In the list of health inspection results, below, information is listed by name, address, date of inspection, Darien rating, state score. Dates link to the restaurant’s inspection report online, if it’s available yet, and Darien ratings link to a Web page showing the restaurant’s recent inspection ratings.

(For restaurants and other food-serving establishments rated “poor,” and for some others of interest to the public (like schools) 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, you can see the original online.)

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, and everyone normally gets a few things wrong):

• Chipotle Mexican Grill — 71 Post Road — Jan. 14 — FAIR — 93 — Inspector’s remarks: “Alternate forms filled out during inspection; grill employee without documented grill training; employee working with a blue finger cut; replace worn produce cutting boards (green ones); dumpster uncovered and clean up around dumpster.” Inspector’s additional comments: “Good hand-washing practices and adequate sanitization observed during inspection — improvement from previous inspections.”
• The Goose American Bistro & Bar — 972 Post Road — Jan. 13 — GOOD — 92
• Royle School — 133 Mansfield Ave. — Jan. 13 — GOOD — 98 — Inspector’s remarks: “Large tray of cookies on the line (uncovered upon arrival and some children not using tongs); cover light in storage.” Inspector’s additional comments: “Good hand-washing practices observed.”
• Tengda Asian Bistro — 25 Old Kings Hwy. N. (Goodwives Shopping Center) — Jan. 13 — POOR — 87 — Inspector’s remarks: “Raw meat stored over RTE [ready-to-eat] foods (CORRECTED); insufficient amount of sanitizer in sanitizer buckets; not properly sanitizing food-contact surfaces; wiping cloths not kept in sanitizer between use; shelving in walk-in cooler unclean; knife in knife rack stored unclean; hot water pressure not sufficient at cook-line hand sink; shelves in ware wash area unclean; wok area unclean; floors unclean; cardboard used as mats in walk-in cooler; underside of hood unclean.” 
• Ten Twenty Post Oyster Bar and Bistro — 1020 Post Road — Jan. 13 — POOR — 90 — Inspector’s remarks: “Bain marie at 53 degrees, all items discarded by owner; server using bare hands to cut, plate bread for tables; prep table downstairs unclean; milk crates used as shelving in storage and walk-in freezer; no cover on waste receptacle in women’s room.” Inspector’s additional remarks: “Refrigeration tech[nician] to be out tomorrow.”