Old Scoops, Chairs Disappear

Who knew? In a New Haven restaurant, you can’t put bags of potato chips in a bin on the floor, or scoop grated cheese without a handle.

Etkin Tekin (at left in photo) didn’t know that when he and two fellow Yale undergraduates opened The Little Salad Shop on High Street last August.

The students received an education in those rules and other city health department regulations recently when they failed an inspection.

City sanitarians inspect all New Haven restaurants once a year. Restaurants that score less than 80 have about two weeks to make the recommended corrections. The department can also close a restaurant, regardless of score, if they see an immediate danger to public health. The most recent round of inspections (detailed lower down in this story) saw some other restaurants, like Tony & Lucille’s, earn As. The Great Wall of China was given 30 days to de-grease to earn a perfect score.

The Little Salad Shop scored a 69 out of 100 on its Feb. 23 pop quiz. The inspector, Brian Wnek, found that employees were dishing salad ingredients using handle-less scoops. Since then, ​“as you can see, everything has a handle,” noted Tekin, the shop’s anagrammatic co-owner.

And the salt packets aren’t getting anywhere near the cleaning agents. Someone had apparently stashed a Windex bottle on the counter near a back-up supply of salt. ​“Toxic items need to be out of the food area so they don’t become contaminated,” Wnek said in a conversation Friday.

Then there was the matter of the bags of Dirty brand potato chips. The shop has the chips displayed in reclaimed crates in front of the counter. Those crates sit on other crates. The owners previously stored back-up bags of the chips in those bottom crates. ​“We were under the impression that [if] it’s a sealed product and in a container,” Tekin said, ​“it would be OK.”

Nuh-uh. Now those bottom crates are empty.

Also gone are the chairs and tables in the front public area. Turns out you can’t have seating if there’s no public restroom.

Tekin expressed no complaints about the learning process. Wnek ​“has always been helpful. We always love interacting with him,” said Tekin, a senior anthropology major who hails from Florida, N.Y. For his part, Wnek said he stopped by the shop to check out the changes; the shop’s now in compliance, he said. ​“I’m sure they’re going to be OK.”

Meanwhile, the Little Salad Shop just scored high on a different test this month: It was one of the winners of Inc. Magazine’s 2012 ​“Coolest College Start-Ups” contest.

Inspection results from late February and early March follow:

Feb. 23, 2012

The Little Salad Shop, 45 High St.
Score: 69/100
Corrections due: 2 weeks

• Hang up mops and brooms
• Invent single serve containers and plates
• Wipe wall boards/clean A.C. cover
• Clean gaskets in doors/clean tracks on sliding doors/clean shelves
• Wipe inside of cooler
• Clean floors/touch up flooring/touch up stairs
• Don’t store food or drink on the floor
• Hair restraints
• Before putting on a new pair of gloves, employees must follow proper hand washing procedures
• Scoops must have handles on them to minimize hand contact
• Seal floor/wall junctions
• Keep front door shut or install screen
• Don’t store toxic items with food product (i.e. Windex w/ salt packets)/label toxic items in spray bottles
• Store wipe cloths in sanitary solution
• Eliminate seating due to lack of access to bathroom for customers
• Add soap to rear hand sink
• Cover exposed food products
• Empty mop water bucket when not in use

Tony and Lucille’s Little Italy, 150 Wooster St.
Score: 91/100
Corrections due: ASAP

• Fix defective ceiling tiles/wipe fan blade
• Touch up defective exterior on equipment/wipe exterior of equipment
• Seal gap on exterior doors
• Lower hot water in bathroom to in between 110 – 115 degrees Fahrenheit
• Wipe inside cooler and freezer
• Fix defective flooring/wipe shelves

Lacocinita Mexican Cafe, 177 Park St.
Score: 79/100
Corrections due: ASAP

• Repaint cement floor in back area
• Cover all food product during storage
• Eliminate broken containers
• Properly store cleaning equipment, hang mops/brooms
• Repair screen on rear exit door
• Clean knife rack in back, clean and sanitize knives
• Clean refrigerator gaskets
• Eliminate cups as scoops, provide scoops with handles
• Store food containers off floor
• Do not reuse single service containers
• Provide paper towels at hand sink, must be accessible
• Provide light shields on overhead bulbs
• Store wiping cloths in sanitizer
• Eliminate box storing equipment, utensils
• Store utensil handles facing in the same direction
• Properly label food product out of original containers
• Clean walls
• Replace broken refrigerator gaskets
• Store raw food product under cooked and ready-to-eat food
• Clean ceilings under hood
• Rust inside reach-in freezer
• Hot water in bathroom must not exceed 115 degrees Fahrenheit (currently at 136 degrees Fahrenheit)

Feb. 27, 2012

Great Wall, 1378 Whalley Ave.
Score: 93/100
Corrections due: ASAP

• Upright freezer in disrepair — insulation showing
• Using plastic cups without handles as scoops
• Plastic cups are submerged in food containers
• Grease build up on walls, hood and attached equipment
• Unsealed wood shelf holding grinder — not clean
• Some broken floor tiles — replace
• New wood shelves need to be sealed
*30 days for cleaning, de-greasing hood, etc.
Note: license not posted, not found/numerous extension cords

Feb. 28, 2012

Thai Taste, 1151 Chapel St.
Score: 81/100
Corrections due: ASAP

• Cover all food product during storage
• Eliminate bowls as scoops, provide scoops with handles
• Don’t store scoops inside food product
• Soiled duct tape on lift-up freezers
• Clean overhead pipes, wires, etc., clean around exhaust fan
• Clean walls, repair damaged walls
• Clean floors under and behind equipment
• Eliminate soiled foil wrapping pipes
• Provide light shield on bulbs inside refrigeration units
• Clean inside under table unit refrigerator
• Replace broken refrigerator gaskets
• Damaged counter and cabinet
• Paint or shellac bare wood where dish racks are stored
• Broken floor tiles
• Replace stained ceiling tiles
• Don’t store utensils between equipment
• Chipping paint on walls in men’s room
• Hot water must not exceed 115 degrees Fahrenheit (present 138 degrees Fahrenheit)
• Provide self-closing door on men’s bathroom
• Provide paper towel holder with paper towels at bar hand sink

March 1, 2012

Avellino’s Apizza Restaurant, 384 Grand Ave.
Score: 85/100
Corrections due: ASAP

• Plastic containers of liquid and shakers of granular missing labels
• Food in containers uncovered
• Missing gloves when handling dough
• Wiping cloths throughout not stored in bucket with sanitizer
• Can opener inside microwave, prep counters not clean, stove top not clean
• Refrigerator units not in good repair
• Black rubber gaskets on reach in doors shredded
• All exterior doors propped open
• Dumpster uncovered
• Rear yard with open black garbage bags outside dumpster, construction debris and beverage trays
• Missing container for construction debris
• Bathroom sink not clean
• Bathroom hand sink missing soap
• Stained ceiling tiles and new constructed walls not finished
• Side areas storing construction tools, paint, etc.
• Inside reach-in under fan not clean

March 5, 2012

Buen Gusto, 379 Grand Ave.
Score: 78/100
Corrections due: March 19, 2012

• Beef stew in warmer in kitchen at 127 degrees Fahrenheit
• Container of granular missing label
• Containers of food uncovered in kitchen
• Lining cutting board with damp wiping cloth
• Cooked meat in oven — turned off
• Using plastic cup as scoop — no handle
• Plastic cup submerged in food
• Hand sinks blocked by equipment
• Hand sink not clean
• Food workers coats and purses throughout — need one place for storing during shift
• Plumbing clog in basement requires sanitizing
• Food containers and paper good stored on shelf too low — 18 inches minimum
• Using grocery stores to store food in walk-in freezer