MIAMI, FL. An inspector visiting Crema Gourmet Espresso Bar on South Dixie Highway in September 2026 found that food was not being cooked to required minimum temperatures, a violation that state health data links directly to the survival of pathogens like Salmonella in poultry below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite that finding, and six other high-severity violations documented the same day, the restaurant was not closed.
The inspection, conducted September 16, 2026, at the 11515 S Dixie Hwy location in Miami-Dade County, produced seven high-severity citations and two intermediate ones. State records show the facility has accumulated 71 total violations across 11 inspections on record, and has never been emergency-closed.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooking violation was not the only finding with direct health consequences. Inspectors also cited employees for failing to report illness symptoms, a violation that public health officials identify as the leading driver of multi-victim outbreaks. Norovirus, in particular, spreads rapidly when a sick food worker handles food without triggering any internal reporting protocol.
Inspectors also found that the facility lacked adequate shell stock identification records. Shellfish, including oysters, clams, and mussels, are consumed raw or lightly cooked and carry elevated risk of bacterial and viral contamination. Without proper sourcing records, there is no traceability if a customer becomes ill.
Food contact surfaces were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Cutting boards, prep counters, and similar surfaces that are not adequately sanitized become direct transfer points for bacteria between raw and ready-to-eat foods.
The facility was also cited for not properly using time as a public health control. When restaurants use time rather than temperature to manage food safety, strict written procedures are required, and food held outside those parameters must be discarded. No consumer advisory was posted for raw or undercooked items, leaving elderly, pregnant, and immunocompromised customers without the information needed to make an informed choice. And no person in charge was present or performing supervisory duties during the inspection.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of undercooking and no illness reporting protocol is particularly significant. Salmonella survives in poultry held below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. If the employee preparing that food is also symptomatic and unreported, the facility has simultaneously failed two of the most fundamental barriers between contaminated food and a sick customer.
The missing shellfish traceability records compound the risk. If a customer who ate shellfish at Crema Gourmet became ill in the days following the September 16 inspection, investigators would have no supplier records to work from. That gap can turn a single case of illness into an unsolvable puzzle.
Improperly sanitized food contact surfaces are not a paperwork problem. Bacteria transferred from a raw protein to a cutting board, and then to a ready-to-eat item, does not require a second cooking step to reach a customer. The surface itself becomes the contamination vehicle.
The absence of a person in charge performing active supervisory duties is, according to CDC data, associated with facilities that accumulate three times more critical violations than those with engaged managerial oversight. At Crema Gourmet on September 16, that correlation had a specific, documented result: seven high-severity violations on a single inspection.
The Longer Record
The September 16 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Crema Gourmet has been inspected 11 times, accumulating 71 total violations. The facility has never been emergency-closed.
The pattern of high-severity citations stretches back through multiple inspection cycles. In August 2025, inspectors documented eight high-severity violations and two intermediate ones. In February 2026, the count was seven high-severity violations and one intermediate, a figure that matches the September 2026 inspection exactly. In November 2024, five high-severity violations were cited. The only clean inspection in the record was in November 2023, when inspectors found zero high or intermediate violations.
A follow-up inspection conducted September 17, 2026, the day after the nine-violation report, found one remaining high-severity violation. That rapid improvement from seven high-severity citations to one in a single day suggests the problems documented on September 16 were correctable, which raises a different question: why were they present in the first place, across inspection after inspection.
The facility has cycled through the same categories of serious violations repeatedly. High-severity counts of four, five, seven, eight, and seven have appeared in consecutive inspection periods going back to early 2024. No emergency closure has ever been ordered.
As of the September 17 follow-up, Crema Gourmet Espresso Bar on South Dixie Highway remained open.
