Posted: March 1st, 2012 - 8:52pm
Source: Sun Sentinel

Critical violations of state sanitation and safety laws observed by inspectors at four South Florida restaurants last week prompted the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation to cite the owners and briefly suspend operations.
Don & Vinny’s, 419 E. Sheridan Street, Dania Beach was found to have 13 critical violations observed by a health and safety inspector on Feb. 21 that included: ready-to-eat, potentially hazardous cooked chicken prepared on site, held more than 24 hours and not properly date-marked; a container with cheeses was stored on the floor of a walk-in cooler; several kitchen reach-in cooler interiors were soiled with an accumulation of food residue; an open beverage container was on a food prep table next to/over clean equipment/utensils; a kitchen back door/screen door was torn/in poor repair; the restaurant license was expired more than 60 days; a hand-wash sink was used for other purposes: Storing and washing utensils rather than hand-washing; the manager lacked food manager certification and the can opener was encrusted with material. Sixty-six live roaches were found in the kitchen: 6 inside and 6 under the pizza station cooler; 23 under the pizza oven near and coming out of a hole on the wall; 5 under a cook line cooler; 4 under a cook line stove; 7 on a cook line wall and 2 on a cutting board, 4 by mop sink, 2 on server station shelves and 3 next to the ice machine. There were also 19 dead roaches: 2 in an ice cream freezer chest, 1 on food prep counter in pizza station and 16 under coolers throughout the kitchen.
The next day, the restaurant was found to be in compliance and it was allowed to re-open. No one answered a phone number provided to the state.
Los Perros, 6996 Collins Ave., Miami was briefly closed Feb. 20 for having 7 critical violations that included: no cleanser was provided at a hand-washing sink in the kitchen; there was encrusted material on a can opener; potentially hazardous hot dogs were removed from original packaging and stored in reach-in units, held more than 24 hours and not properly date-marked; single use gloves were not changed as needed after changing tasks or when damaged or soiled; an employee was observed washing hands without using soap; equipment and utensils were not washed, rinsed or sanitized in the correct order; 14 live roaches were observed in the storage room next to the kitchen prep area, 8 were on the wall that divides the kitchen from the storage room; 10 were harboring in a can opener and 12 were behind a reach-in freezer in the storage room.
The next day, zero violations were observed and the restaurant was allowed to re-open. The operator could not immediately be reached for comment.