Darien Health Department 2015

Health Director: Chipotle Seems to Have Had Problems Training Employees in Health Practices

Health Director: Restaurant’s ‘Fair’ Inspection Rating Should’ve Been ‘Poor’

Two Chipotle Restaurants in Town Get ‘Poor’ Ratings in Health Inspections

Latest Darien Restaurant Health Inspections: One ‘Poor’, One ‘Fair’, Eight ‘Good’

You Can Now Read Full Health Inspection Reports on Darien Restaurants Online

Darien Health Director to Do Similar Job in Stamford for 3 to 4 Months

Latest Health Dept Restaurant Inspections: 1 Good, 2 Fair, 2 Poor

Health Inspectors Rate Four Restaurants ‘Poor,’ But Embody Gets a Perfect Score

Four ‘Fair’ Ratings, One ‘Good’ in Latest Health Dept Restaurant Inspections

Embody Fitness Gourmet Continues String of ‘Poor’ Health Ratings, 3 Town Restaurants Do Better

Latest Health Dept Restaurant Inspections: 1 ‘Poor,’ 3 ‘Fair,’ 3 ‘Good’

Latest Darien Health Inspections: Three Restaurants ‘Good,’ One ‘Fair,’ One ‘Poor’

Latest Darien Restaurant Health Inspection Ratings: 9 Good, 2 Fair, 1 Poor

Health Inspection Ratings: Nine Eateries ‘Good,’ Four ‘Fair,’ One ‘Poor’

Darien Health Fair Coming Wednesday, Oct 21

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By David Gurliacci | December 29, 2015

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By David Gurliacci | December 29, 2015

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Darien Health Department

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Food & Drink, Restaurants & Bars

By David Gurliacci | October 14, 2015

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By David Gurliacci | October 13, 2015

Recent health problems at various Chipotle restaurants across the country and health code violations found at two of the restaurants in Darien have town Health Director David Knauf concerned about the company’s training practices for food handlers. After problems with outbreaks of e. coli bacteria at various locations (not in Connecticut) and norovirus at a Chipotle restaurant in Boston, the company announced recently that it would change its procedures to keep and handle food safer. Among the changes: The company said it would put uncooked onions in boiling water briefly to kill some germs; test samples of meat before shipping it to restaurants; marinate chicken in plastic bags rather than bowls; and chop tomatoes and cilantro in centralized locations rather than at stores. The company told ABC News last week: “With all these program components in place, we will be able to reduce the risk of contamination within our system to a level near zero.” But Knauf doesn’t think that addresses a central problem: “It’s not a question of the food sources — it’s a question of practices within the establishment,” he said.

A health inspection report for a restaurant in town led to an unusual reaction from Darien Health Director David Knauf:

He said the inspector’s description of the health violations was more serious than the “Fair” rating the inspector gave, and Knauf ordered a new inspection to make sure problems were being fixed. Fuji’s Restaurant at 111 Old Kings Hwy. S. received a “Fair” rating in a Dec. 22 inspection, which noted several violations regarding:

sanitizing (“sanitizer solution not adequate; food contact surfaces not sanitized every four hours; proper sanitizing not achieved; wiping cloths not kept in sanitizer between use”) and
other violations mentioning lack of cleaning (“upper shelving of prep tables unclean; hood unclean, fryer unclean; floors in kitchen unclean; utensils stored stoiled and not in use on equipment”). A full quote of the inspector’s remarks and links to the report online are presented at the bottom of this article, along with ratings and information on other recent restaurant inspections.

As the Chipotle restaurant chain has had problems with various outbreaks sickening its customers, the Darien Health Department conducted inspections at two of the chain’s restaurants in town and rated each of them “Poor” on the department’s rating system. One other town restaurant was given a “Good” rating in the latest health inspections announced by the department. The reports from a health inspector noted chicken at too low a temperature at the Chipotle in the Darien North rest stop on Interstate 95 and (at the Chipotle at 71 Post Road rice in a walk-in cooler at 50 degrees — not cold enough (details from each inspection are below). Elsewhere

Recently some customers in Massachusetts were sickened from a novovirus after eating at Chipotle, and, in the months before that, E. coli outbreaks among people who ate at Chipotle restaurants were reported in various states. Some of the customers became sick in October and November.

One food-serving establishment in town received a “Poor” rating, another “Fair” and eight others “Good” in the latest inspection reports from Darien Health Department, which can now be found online. How the ratings systems and scores work

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

Before you go out to dine at a restaurant in town (or even if you’re staying in), you can now check out the entire reports of health inspections at that food-serving establishment, sometimes going back a whole year. It’s all on the same Web pages where Darien Health Department has been posting its “plates” ratings of “Good,” “Fair” and “Poor” for food-serving establishments in town. You can check out your favorite restaurants and others (more than 100 establishments, including snack bars, school cafeterias and wherever food is sold for consumption on the spot) right here. On the website, run by the town Health Department, allows you to search for restaurants in various ways. We had some trouble finding the link to the full inspection reports when we searched directly for the name of the restaurant — instead, search by the first letter of the name, then when that list of restaurants comes up in alphabetical order, click on the one you’re looking for.

Darien Health Director David Knauf will be interim health director for Stamford as that city searches for a new director, the Stamford mayor’s office announced. With the agreement of First Selectman Jayme Stevenson, Knauf will remain as Darien’s health director while he takes on duties in Stamford, starting Dec. 7, according to a news release from Mayor David Martin. Ann Fountain, Stamford’s director of health and social services, is leaving that job after seven years to take a position in the private sector, according to the news release. She has worked for Stamford for a total of 11 years.

Two food-serving establishments in town received “Poor” ratings, two more received ratings of “Fair” and only one a “Good” rating in the latest inspection reports released by the Darien Health Department. An inspector also found that Whole Foods Market still had fruit flies at various places around the store — also a finding in a previous (recent) inspection at the store. How the ratings systems and scores work

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.

Four out of five food-serving establishments in town received mediocre “Fair” ratings from Darien Health Department inspectors, with a new one getting a “Good” rating and an almost perfect score, according to the most recently released inspection reports. How the ratings system and scores work

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 deductions 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.

Embody Fitness Gourmet, which serves food at Equinox at 72 Heights Road received another “Poor” rating by Darien Health Department inspectors on Nov. 5, a week after it received a “Poor” rating on Oct. 28. Other ratings in the recent batch of released Health Department reports: Two restaurants in town were rated “Good” and one “Fair.” Embody at Equinox (there’s also an Embody at the Darien YMCA with better ratings) has a history of poor and fair ratings from the town department’s inspectors, as Darienite.com reported back on July 31:

July 31, 2014 — Poor
Aug.

One food-serving establishment in town continues to get “Poor” ratings in Darien Health Department inspections, while three others received a “Fair” rating and three were rated “Good,” in the latest reports released by the department. How the ratings system and scores work

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 deductions 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.

Darien Health Department sanitarians who inspected local restaurants recently rated three of them “Good,” another was rated “Fair,” and another “Poor.” Information on the five restaurant inspections was the latest released by the department. [Editor’s note: If it seems like Darienite.com just published restaurant inspection results, it’s because that’s the case. Last week, results were released later because of work the Health Department was doing on a health fair held in Town Hall.]

How it works

Only one restaurant was rated “Poor” by Darien Health Department inspectors, another two were rated “Fair,” and nine others received “Good” ratings in the most recent health inspection data released by the department. Two eateries — Palmwich on the Post Road and Subway on Heights Road — received perfect ratings of 100. How it works

Only one food-serving establishment in town received a “Poor” rating out of 14 recently inspected by the Darien Health Department. And — unusually — there were three establishments receiving perfect “100” scores on the state scale — Subway on Heights Road, St. Luke’s Parish and Middlesex Middle School cafeteria. Here’s how Darien Health Department inspectors rated and scored restaurants and other food-serving establishments in town during recent health inspections. How it works

Restaurants in town are rated under the Darien Health Department’s own Good/Fair/Poor ratings system.

« August 2022 »

You can get your flu shot and learn about various ways to stay healthy at the Darien Health Fair from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 21 at Mather Community Center. Darien Health Department nurses will be administering flu vaccine for those 3 years of age and older. All vaccine, regular and high dose (for people 65 and older) is preservative-free. For this event only, the cost for vaccine is $15, cash or check ONLY.