One Darien food-serving establishment received a “C” rating — the worst in the town A-B-C ratings system — in the most recently released town Health Department inspection reports.
One other health inspection report was released on Thursday by the department. It received an “A” rating. The inspections took place on Oct. 24.
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):
—Palmer’s Market — 264 Heights Road — Oct. 24 — Town Rating: C — State Score: 79 — Inspector’s Remarks: “Lowboy cooling unit in salad prep area ambient temperature 50 degrees, product at 48 degrees; several items in kitchen walk-in cooler improperly cooling. Chicken breast—97 degrees, chicken marsala—90 degrees, barbecue pork (covered)—96 degrees, asian noodles (covered)—64 degrees. No cooling log or documentation provided as to what time product was placed in cooler and at what temperature. Blast chiller not utilized for these items. Items made the day of inspection; several uncovered foods in main kitchen walk-in coolers; mixing bowls not allowed to air dry, pooling water; multiple sanitizer buckets set up with no wiping cloths in them. Are we sanitizing?; unclean mixing bowls and utensils in storage found in downstairs bakery, butcher shop, main kitchen; all granular must be labeled; unused, soiled tongs stored under grill; wooden spoons, strainer, rubber spatulas in poor repair in kitchen; cracked food containers and lids in use in walk-in cooling unit upstairs; duct tape used on Selina case and off set spatula in deli area; door gasket on walk-in cooler door in disrepair (downstairs bakery); large amount of frozen condensate in walk-in freezer (downstairs); trash receptacle in employee and public ladies room uncovered; floor in main kitchen walk-in cooler in disrepair; floor in bakery walk-in cooler downstairs unclean; wall, ceiling, exhaust fan with moderate to heavy dust buildup in ear [?] oven in downstairs bakery; no ventilation in employee ladies room; personal cell phone stored on prep table.” — Inspector’s Comments: “Although some hand washing was observed, it needs to occur more often. Shellfish tags keep [kept?] and organized. Chef with bandaged finger … no glove. Santi buckets are full without wiping cloths, are they being used for surface cleaning?!? Discussion about procedure with large batch cooling and using the blast chiller. Greg is calling to have the lowboy fixed in the salad prep room. Doing a great job with date labeling, both in the walk-in and inside the grab-and-go case.”
Image from Darien H.D. website
Part of the Oct. 24 inspection report for Palmer’s Market.
—Woodway Country Club — 540 Hoyt St. — Oct. 24 — Town Rating: A — State Score: 96
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.
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.
_________
See also:
- Our previous article showing restaurant inspection ratings (Oct. 25)
- STAMFORD online health inspection results
- NORWALK online health inspection ratings (explanation of ratings)
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.
_________
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.
_________
Like this article? …
- Sign up for the Darienite.com newsletter.
- Like Darienite.com on Facebook.
- Follow Darienite.com on Twitter.
_________
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.
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.
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.
Pingback: Two Restaurants Get Worst Rating — 'C' — in Most Recent Health Inspection Reports - DarieniteDarienite