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Castle Rock eateries clean up after recent health inspections
Recent Tri-County Health Department inspections of South Garden II restaurant and Jarre Creek Ranch Restaurant and Brewing Co., both of Castle Rock, revealed health violations.
By By:Vicky Gits
Recent Tri-County Health Department inspections of South Garden II restaurant and Jarre Creek Ranch Restaurant and Brewing Co., both of Castle Rock, revealed health violations.
South Garden II of 4833 Front St. showed improvement in some areas since its last inspection and overall was judged satisfactory enough to be taken off the civil penalty list.
The China Café, 734 S. Briscoe St. in Castle Rock, which was on the health department's civil penalty list in November, was deleted as of December after correcting cleanliness issues.
While South Garden II cleaned up some flaws, it was cited for several old and new faults.
Jarre Creek Ranch Restaurant, 810 New Memphis Court, was cited for 14 critical violations in a regular, unannounced inspection Dec. 15. The violations concerned hygiene practices, food temperature and sanitation and most of them have been corrected.
Critical violations must be addressed in the follow-up visit or the restaurant is subject to inclusion on the civil penalty list, which means they are considered to be a risk for foodborne illness.
Violations noted on a regular inspection Dec. 15 for South Garden II include:
n Using hand sanitizer in place of proper hand-washing.
n Rodent droppings present on the floor and on the dry storage shelves in the rear of the kitchen.
n Buckets of soy sauce under the kitchen hand sink..
n Rice cooker covered with tin foil.
n Laminate on a shelf under rice cooker at the cook line was missing and exposing raw wood.
n Knives on the knife rack stored soiled with food debris.
n Interior of the reach-in freezer soiled with food debris.
Louis Li, owner of South Garden II, blamed the rodent droppings on insufficient attention in the past, prevalence of mice due to the cool weather and poorly timed technician visits by a pest control service. He said he has contacted the owner of the pest control service and arranged for a new technician to treat the kitchen.
Li said he had used the same pest-control company for about six years and wanted to give the company a chance to improve its performance.
The health department also began sending a supervisor with its regular inspector because Li expressed a concern the inspector was too strict, Li said.
"I've been in business 10 years and I've never seen one like this," he said of the health inspector.
The other violations found by Tri-County he described as "little things that everybody has."
Scott Smith, general manager of Jarre Creek Ranch Restaurant told the News-Press he has addressed all of the faults mentioned in the Dec. 15 report, which was confirmed by Tri-County Health in a follow-up inspection Dec. 21.
Before that, "We just let our guard down," Smith said. "I was disappointed. It's a constant battle and I expected to do better."
He said the inspector returned for a scheduled follow-up and gave the establishment a nearly perfect report. As of Monday the most recent report had not been posted to the Web site due to a computer error, said Bruce Wilson, Tri-County Health director.
Violations found at Jarre Creek on Dec. 15 and since corrected include:
n Employee drinking from uncovered beverage.
n Container of rice on top shelf at 116 degrees instead of 135 degrees or more.
n Potentially hazardous foods requiring refrigeration not at 41 degrees or below.
n Final rinse temperature of dish machine did not reach 160 degrees at the dish surface.
n Dish machine hand sink covered with a large tray.
n Evidence of insects or rodents. Numerous rodent droppings were present throughout downstairs dry storage area as well as on shelves containing food products.
Smith said he has taken numerous steps to correct problems, including establishing food-temperature checks three times a day. In addition, kitchen cleaning products and plant fertilizer have been stored away from possible food preparation areas and sanitizer bottles have been properly labeled.
Smith said he is trying to find a "Serve Safe" class taught in Spanish for his Spanish-speaking chefs and kitchen workers. Cooks have been taught to store cheeses in the refrigerated compartments near the cooking surfaces instead of in pans with ice.
There are three hand sinks in the kitchen and one was broken at the time of the inspections, Smith said. Since the faulty parts in question are discontinued, Smith has plans to replace the entire sink system. Workers were told not to use the hand sinks to dispose of beverage ice and to use a lid and a straw for personal beverages.
He said the presence of rodent droppings is due to the location of the restaurant.
"We're in an area with a lot of mice," Smith said, adding weather stripping has been installed to ground floor doors and more traps are being set. An exterminating company has been on duty since the restaurant opened.
"We want to be compliant," Smith said.
Reports on some 3,000 restaurants in Adams, Douglas and Arapahoe counties can be found at tri.co.gegov.com, an online database service that became available in November.
Contact Vicky Gits at vgits@ccnewspapers.net.
South Garden II of 4833 Front St. showed improvement in some areas since its last inspection and overall was judged satisfactory enough to be taken off the civil penalty list.
The China Café, 734 S. Briscoe St. in Castle Rock, which was on the health department's civil penalty list in November, was deleted as of December after correcting cleanliness issues.
While South Garden II cleaned up some flaws, it was cited for several old and new faults.
Jarre Creek Ranch Restaurant, 810 New Memphis Court, was cited for 14 critical violations in a regular, unannounced inspection Dec. 15. The violations concerned hygiene practices, food temperature and sanitation and most of them have been corrected.
Critical violations must be addressed in the follow-up visit or the restaurant is subject to inclusion on the civil penalty list, which means they are considered to be a risk for foodborne illness.
Violations noted on a regular inspection Dec. 15 for South Garden II include:
n Using hand sanitizer in place of proper hand-washing.
n Rodent droppings present on the floor and on the dry storage shelves in the rear of the kitchen.
n Buckets of soy sauce under the kitchen hand sink..
n Rice cooker covered with tin foil.
n Laminate on a shelf under rice cooker at the cook line was missing and exposing raw wood.
n Knives on the knife rack stored soiled with food debris.
n Interior of the reach-in freezer soiled with food debris.
Louis Li, owner of South Garden II, blamed the rodent droppings on insufficient attention in the past, prevalence of mice due to the cool weather and poorly timed technician visits by a pest control service. He said he has contacted the owner of the pest control service and arranged for a new technician to treat the kitchen.
Li said he had used the same pest-control company for about six years and wanted to give the company a chance to improve its performance.
The health department also began sending a supervisor with its regular inspector because Li expressed a concern the inspector was too strict, Li said.
"I've been in business 10 years and I've never seen one like this," he said of the health inspector.
The other violations found by Tri-County he described as "little things that everybody has."
Scott Smith, general manager of Jarre Creek Ranch Restaurant told the News-Press he has addressed all of the faults mentioned in the Dec. 15 report, which was confirmed by Tri-County Health in a follow-up inspection Dec. 21.
Before that, "We just let our guard down," Smith said. "I was disappointed. It's a constant battle and I expected to do better."
He said the inspector returned for a scheduled follow-up and gave the establishment a nearly perfect report. As of Monday the most recent report had not been posted to the Web site due to a computer error, said Bruce Wilson, Tri-County Health director.
Violations found at Jarre Creek on Dec. 15 and since corrected include:
n Employee drinking from uncovered beverage.
n Container of rice on top shelf at 116 degrees instead of 135 degrees or more.
n Potentially hazardous foods requiring refrigeration not at 41 degrees or below.
n Final rinse temperature of dish machine did not reach 160 degrees at the dish surface.
n Dish machine hand sink covered with a large tray.
n Evidence of insects or rodents. Numerous rodent droppings were present throughout downstairs dry storage area as well as on shelves containing food products.
Smith said he has taken numerous steps to correct problems, including establishing food-temperature checks three times a day. In addition, kitchen cleaning products and plant fertilizer have been stored away from possible food preparation areas and sanitizer bottles have been properly labeled.
Smith said he is trying to find a "Serve Safe" class taught in Spanish for his Spanish-speaking chefs and kitchen workers. Cooks have been taught to store cheeses in the refrigerated compartments near the cooking surfaces instead of in pans with ice.
There are three hand sinks in the kitchen and one was broken at the time of the inspections, Smith said. Since the faulty parts in question are discontinued, Smith has plans to replace the entire sink system. Workers were told not to use the hand sinks to dispose of beverage ice and to use a lid and a straw for personal beverages.
He said the presence of rodent droppings is due to the location of the restaurant.
"We're in an area with a lot of mice," Smith said, adding weather stripping has been installed to ground floor doors and more traps are being set. An exterminating company has been on duty since the restaurant opened.
"We want to be compliant," Smith said.
Reports on some 3,000 restaurants in Adams, Douglas and Arapahoe counties can be found at tri.co.gegov.com, an online database service that became available in November.
Contact Vicky Gits at vgits@ccnewspapers.net.
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