UPDATED 2-11-07
WTHR's "13 Investigates" and Bob Segall take a look at how well local restaurants are faring in food safety after more than 600 people were sickened at the Castleton Olive Garden last December. If you're like me and eat out a lot, you will definitely want to check out the results of their investigation. WTHR's website provides a helpful link to an interactive map of Indianapolis area counties, which allows you to see which restaurants were cited for the most violations in 2006. Living in Indianapolis, naturally, I'm concerned about restaurants in Marion County. If you like Sushi on the Rocks at 235 S. Meridian, you may want to know it topped the list for the total number of critical violations at 41, as well as the total number of non-critical violations at 91. Sushi on the Rocks is co-owned by Bill Mays and Lacy Johnson, two of the principal investors in the controversial 300 East bar in the Julia Carson Government Center according to a story by Susan Guyett of the Star from December 18, 2005. The worst offenders in terms of the number of critical violations violations included:
Sushi on the Rocks, 235 S. Meridian Street (41)
Mexico City Grill, 8028 S. Emerson (25)
Tropicana, 6447 W. Washington Street (24)
Great China Buffet, 6332 E. 82nd Street (23)
Pollo Allegre, 3804 English Avenue (23)
La Hacienda, 6429 E. Washington Street (19)
El Rodeo, 2606 N. High School Road (19)
Peking Wok, 3315 E. 86th Street (19)
8 China Buffet, 5393 E. 82nd Street (19)
Uncle Arties Bar-B-Q, 4851 N. College Avenue (19)
Cici's Pizza, 9982 E. Washington Street (19)
If you live in Hamilton County, you might want to know that the Mandarin Restaurant on Rangeline Road and the Ram Restaurant in Fishers fared badly. In Shelby County, the Sante Fe Cattle Company checked in with 28 criticial violations last year. And Ching Garden and Margarita's Grill in Greenwood checked in with 24 and 16 critical violations, respectively, last year. According to Segall's report, a "critical violation" is one that is more likely to cause a food-borne illness because of the serious nature of the violation. "Inspection reports show lots of things at restaurants that you won't find on the menu: Mold and slime inside ice machines, dirty dishes and filthy utensils, sewage in the kitchen, and just about every type of critter you can think of," Segall reported. On Monday night, Segall will continue his series and show you what 13 Investigates found in area restaurants with hidden cameras.
8 comments:
That is just scary. In Fort Wayne, the Journal Gazette regularly publishes the results of food inspections, and usually there are not more than 1-2 "serious" violations for a given restaurant. Typically there are none. Hopefully that is because the restaurants are cleaner, not because the inspectors are incomplete.
The clip they show where someone is sqeezing water out of lettuce with one gloved hand and one bare hand is frightening! Makes you think of the Seinfeld episode where Poppy steps out of the stall in front of Jerry and doesn't wash his hands and goes and puts his hands in the pizza dough.
I can think of a few other things I would like this reporter to investigate!
The sad truth is, an overwhelming majority of these establishments are ethnic food eateries.
Fact two, sad but true, is that a large number of their workers are, let's just say, not totally documented.
My rule of thumb: only one or two "local" Chinese restaurants in town get my business...tried and true over multiple years, and few if any health violations.
The likely culprit here is foreign cultures, from which many of the workers come, and the standards of cleanliness/sanitation in those countries do not match ours.
Every Sunday the Washington Post used to publish the previous week's health code violators. Routinely, it was the paper's second- or third-best-read piece.
I'm not sure if they still do it.
As a consumer, you have the right to ask to see the restaurant's health code violations record.
It might shock you.
Good report.
New York also published the names of every restaurant that failed inspection and WHY. Yikes! That was some scary reading.
Does anyone recall who the owners of Sushi On The Rocks are? Remember, this was the place where the photo of Heather Bolejack, her husband and Michael McKenna was taken for Party Crashers at the grand opening. As I recall, it included a couple of prominent investors in the 300 East bar. Can anyone confirm?
Juicy. DO TELL
The Sushi is co-owned by:
Lacy Johnson, Sr., a law Partner at Ice Miller and President of the Indianapolis Airport Authority Board, and close friend to Mayor Bart Peterson.($Controller of Contracts$).
"nuff said"
AND
William Mays, owner of Mays Chemicals;
the Indianapolis Recorder, which was until the recently, the exclusive black media in Indianapolis;
the boss of big-mouth racist Amos Brown. Amos complains(screams racism) and Mays puts his net out and collects the droppings;
and finally co-owner, past and present, of many nuisance nightclubs in neighborhoods and hospital districts.
"nuff said"
Both Lacy johnson and Bill Mays used their political and economic myte to acquire "superior" treatment from the City of Indianapolis--both are co-owners of the 300 East Night Club scandal.
Mays and Johnson work with what some of us call the Ghetto Mafia, others call it the Carson Machine--
Mays supplies the kool-aid, Lacy the hammers and band-aid--some folks get fat, others are severely wounded. (Heather Bolejack).
Bolejack's husband works for Mays Chemicals and the jerk from Lousiana who got the money from Bolejack was renting from Mays at a building he own's downtown. This was the same building where the notorius "Guvernment" nightclub was until they were shut down. The Guvernment had posters of Al Pacino with a machine gun and others gangster like prints. There were several shootings and killing there. The owner of that club was the son of the peashake house owner on 34th central, slim carruthers.
"nuff said"
It's time to "Dismantle the Machine--it has substituted itself for the will of the people.
It's also Ice lounge on the same health inspection. The second floor bar has no sink at all. Zero. Would you drink from a place where they had no means to clean anything up? No way to wash their hands. How do they get away with that? Even if you had outdoor temporary concession you need to have hot water otherwise the health department closes you down.
Post a Comment