In Latest Health Inspections, One Darien Restaurant Gets Lowest Rating — ‘C’

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Health Department Inspection Ratings Restaurants 11-17-17
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One Darien restaurant received a “C” rating, the worst in the town A-B-C ratings system, in in the five most recently released town Health Department inspection reports, including three schools.

The other four establishments were rated “A.”

The reports, all released Thursday, were based on inspectors’ visits from May 3 to 9.

Most Recent Inspection Results

Health Certificate Frosty Bear 01-19-17

Town Health Department ratings certificates are supposed to be displayed prominently, like this one at the Frosty Bear Cafe at Darien Library.

Here’s an alphabetical list of the most recently released health inspection results (an explanation for each part of the list, including links, is just below the list).

Keep in mind that a food-serving establishment with a history of good ratings may occasionally get a poor inspection rating, occasionally the best do, and every restaurant normally gets a few things wrong (an explanation of how this list is put together is immediately below it):

SCHOOLS

—Darien High School — High School Lane — May 9 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 98 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Door covering in floor grease trap rotting and in disrepair; walls in ware-wash area unclean.” — Inspector’s Comments: “No hot-holding at time of inspection. Breakfast made to order. Kitchen manager to renew Serve Safe [ServSafe? It’s a food-safety education and certification program.] on May 30.”

—Hindley School — 10 Nearwater Dr. — May 7 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 100

—Tokeneke School — 7 Old Farm Road — May 7 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 100

OTHER

—Tokeneke Club Inc. — 4 Butlers Island (Main) Road — May 7 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 94

—Steam – Darien — 971 Post Road — May 3Town Rating: C — State Score: 85 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Raw meat (chicken) stored over cooked product in walk-in [cooler]; food uncovered in freezer walk-in (dumplings); bleach levels in santi buckets are 10 ppm [parts per million]; no bleach in the machine when tested: jug empty; bowls, knives, trays and food processing equipment stored unclean; no soap at hand sink on the line; label granular items not in original containers; thawing the large volume of food at room temperature (chicken and beef); knives stored between wall and bain marie; gasket in poor repair: hard to open freezer walk-in door; floors unclean under equipment in prep area, raw chicken dripping from trays in back prep area; cell phone still on top of equipment: back prep area.” — Inspector’s Comments: “Chicken out thawing at 87 degrees. Large gloves used to mix raw product: when are these gloves cleaned and sanitized? Latex gloves in use: there is a latex glove ban since 2016. Beverage cooler not cold holding: did not contain PHF [potentially hazardous food]. Who is the QFO [qualified food operator]  for this facility? Chef certified in New York City.”

 

Dates link to the food establishment’s inspection report referenced here (when available, sometimes it takes a while to get posted online), and Darien’s own A/B/C ratings link to a Web page showing several of the restaurant’s recent inspection ratings.

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See also:

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For restaurants and other food-serving establishments rated “C,” and for some others of interest to the public (like schools) additional information is given. When we provide that information here, then words within brackets (“[ ]”) have been added for clarity by Darienite.com; semicolons (“;”) separate individual comments by the inspectors. Each comment separated by semicolons is about a particular violation that triggers a deduction of one or more points from a perfect state score of 100.

How Darien’s Food-Serving Places Are Rated

Restaurants in town are rated under the Darien Health Department’s own A/B/C 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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Like this article? …

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The Darien system takes into account problems that are ongoing, so a restaurant scoring higher than others on the state scale may actually get a lower score on the Darien scale.

Health Department Health Inspections Health Reports

The “A”, “B” and “C” letter grades a restaurant gets in its last inspection will be prominent on these certificates, which must be posted where customers can see them, and you can use your phone and the “QR” code to the right of the letter grade to get to the department’s ratings website for more information.

 

You can find the past several inspection ratings under the Darien ratings system for food-serving establishments along with copies of inspection reports, including state health code scores on this website.

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

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