Stanislaus County food inspectors close restaurants 43 times over two-year span

Food service inspectors found health problems bad enough to temporarily close restaurants, bars and markets throughout Stanislaus County 43 times in the past couple of years.

Many quickly reopened after correcting minor violations, such as lack of hot water. A few had little or no control over circumstances, like fires or cars crashing into their businesses.

Three – Modesto Sports Bar & Grill downtown, Le Saigon Sandwich in west Modesto and Riverbank’s Cobblestone Bakery – eventually halted public sales at those locations for reasons unrelated to health inspections. Le Saigon plans to open elsewhere in the spring. Cobblestone continues to use its Riverbank kitchen and others for catering and opened another retail shop near Modesto.

The restaurant permits of Le Saigon and south Modesto’s La Roca Seafood Taqueria each were suspended twice in the two-year period. Le Saigon also was suspended twice in 2011.

Le Saigon owner Le Nguyen said she decided to move her 10-year-old business rather than shoulder the cost of upgrading her I Street restaurant. She will start over in a new place on West Orangeburg Avenue in a few months, she said.

“I decided to take a break,” Nguyen said. “I was not having problems. I didn’t want to put money into it.”

Vermin infestations were at least partly to blame for three temporary shutdowns: Cobblestone, east Modesto’s Sunny Kitchen and Teriyaki King in Ceres. Flies were found inside a bottle of Frangelico liqueur at Modesto Sports Bar before it went out of business.

Cobblestone owner Garrett Sand said he employed a deep-cleaning service and a pest control company “to come out and take care of whatever issues were suspected” in a June 2013 inspection. A former employee who had been fired for stealing had tried to exact revenge with a complaint to the county, he said.

“I voluntarily closed my operation on two days that we normally would be closed, not on regular hours,” said Sand, who has other Modesto-area bakeries. “Obviously I’m doing something right in a bad economy.”

According to inspection reports, several food services had refrigerators or freezers that were too warm to safely hold food, while three were forced to throw out bad meat: Le Saigon (twice), Sunny Kitchen and La Roca.

A Sunny Kitchen representative said she did not care to comment. Two people answering telephones at La Roca hung up on separate calls placed by The Modesto Bee.

A few eateries were found to handle food improperly: East Modesto’s Great Wall thawed meat the wrong way; south Modesto’s El Pollo Feliz was steam-heating meat; and a taco truck in Turlock called Mario’s had been storing meat in a portable ice chest. Le Saigon cooked egg rolls in a deep frier on the floor.

Two businesses – ice cream shop Paletalandia in Turlock and downtown Modesto’s Cheap Cheap Groceries – remodeled without permits, and Patterson’s New Frontier Club closed one day because its publicly displayed license could not be located, in addition to having no hot water.

Three of the 43 suspensions lasted longer than a week: Turlock’s Campus Vista Market for 18 days after an inspector discovered an improper sink; Modesto Sports Bar for 17 days for having no hot water and a warm refrigerator; and Ceres’ International House of Pancakes for two weeks after a sport-utility vehicle drove into the eatery.

Campus Vista now operates as a liquor store under a new name and new management.

The average of 22 closures per year indicates a moderate rise from 16 a decade ago, the last time The Bee took an in-depth look at food service inspections.

The 43 suspensions in 2013 and 2014 included:

▪ 19 for lack of hot water (some had other problems as well)

▪ 10 for warm refrigerators or freezers

▪ 10 that were allowed to reopen the same day

Inspectors verified additional violations in the past couple of years that did not lead to closure, many brought to their attention by complaining diners:

▪ A worker with an oozing sore on her face at Modesto Noodles and Sandwiches, which no longer is in business on West Rumble Road

▪ A House of Beef employee in Oakdale with a nosebleed was cooking with gauze hanging out of a nostril. Owner Steve Medlin said he was too busy just before Christmas to address questions.

▪ An unrefrigerated pig body in a hallway at south Modesto’s La Santaneca restaurant, whose owner could not be reached

▪ Roaches at Newman’s St. George Bar & Grill. St. George’s food permit was canceled in September 2013 and a new restaurant with another name has opened at that location.

▪ Grease oozing through a vent into a business upstairs from east Modesto’s El Cazador, whose owner did not return a call

▪ Maggots in rotting refuse outside Salida’s Carniceria la Merced, which had not had garbage removal service for two months

▪ Rats in south Modesto’s Mi Pueblo Food Center, whose owner did not return a call

▪ Flies inside Modesto’s Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, whose manager implemented an abatement plan

▪ Maggots on fish served at south Modesto’s Mariscos Sinaloa in August 2013. The current owner said she took over seven months ago.

In a reported resolution, an inspector wrote, “Fish have naturally occurring parasitic worms. The parasites live inside the muscle under the skin. Even though alarming, the worms are a parasite for fish, not man. The deep frying method used kills them.”

The Bee asked the county’s Department of Environmental Resources, which conducts inspections, for further explanation. Janis Mein, director of health and code enforcement, said in an email that staff researched the issue and “learned it was not a violation.”

“Parasitism is very common in nature and should not be viewed with distress,” Mein continued. “Among all the parasites found in California marine fishes, few appear to cause damage to the fish and only one, a larval roundworm, is cause for human concern. And even this parasite is rendered harmless if the seafood is properly prepared.

“Worms are naturally occurring and unsightly,” she concluded, “but when thoroughly cooked, are harmless.”

This story was originally published December 27, 2014 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Stanislaus County food inspectors close restaurants 43 times over two-year span."