MIAMI, FL. A Hialeah restaurant racked up 12 high-severity violations in a single inspection during the week of September 4, leading a sweep that turned up serious food safety failures at 15 South Florida restaurants across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.
The Week's Worst
Trigo on West 49th Street in Hialeah drew citations in eight distinct high-severity categories, including food from an unapproved or unknown source, food in poor condition or adulterated, no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, inadequate handwashing facilities, inadequate handwashing by food employees, improper handwashing technique, and no person in charge present or performing duties. That combination, management absent, illness reporting nonexistent, and food sourced outside the regulated supply chain, is among the most dangerous profiles an inspector can document in a single visit.
Surry Hills Coffee on NE 2nd Avenue in Miami was cited for 11 high-severity violations, including inadequate shell stock identification records, parasite destruction procedures not followed, and time as a public health control not properly used, in addition to no employee health policy and employees not reporting illness symptoms. A coffee shop with shellfish traceability failures and parasite protocol violations is not a routine finding.
Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine on North SR 7 in Hollywood drew 10 high-severity citations, including food not cooked to the required minimum temperature, inadequate shell stock records, and no person in charge. The cooking temperature violation alone carries direct risk of Salmonella survival in poultry.
Miami-Dade: The Bulk of the Week's Findings
Eleven of the 15 facilities cited this week were in Miami-Dade County. The violations were not concentrated in any one neighborhood.
El Turco at NE 39th Street in Miami accumulated 10 high-severity violations, including toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, food in poor condition, and no employee health policy. Improperly stored chemicals near a food preparation environment represent a direct contamination risk that has nothing to do with cooking technique or sourcing.
Mr Baker on NW 167th Street in Miami Gardens was cited for 10 high-severity violations, including parasite destruction procedures not followed, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. Inspectors also noted food in poor condition and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized.
Salumeria 104 on NE 1st Avenue in Miami drew 9 high-severity violations, including inadequate shell stock identification records, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. An Italian market selling cured meats and seafood without proper shellfish traceability records and without a consumer advisory for raw preparations is a layered problem.
Exxodo Gastro Bar on West 12th Avenue in Hialeah was cited for 9 high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved or unknown source, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, time as a public health control not properly used, and no consumer advisory. Inspectors also cited food in poor condition and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned.
La Boulangerie Boul'Mich on Sunset Drive in Coral Gables, one of the area's most trafficked retail bakeries, drew 9 high-severity violations, including food from an unapproved or unknown source, inadequate shell stock identification records, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. Inadequate handwashing facilities and improper handwashing technique were also cited.
Primo's Restaurant and Lounge on North Bayshore Drive in Miami was cited for 8 high-severity violations, including parasite destruction procedures not followed, inadequate shell stock records, time as a public health control not properly used, and food in poor condition.
Sabor Venezolano Kendall on SW 88th Street in Miami drew 8 high-severity violations, including toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. Inspectors also cited employees not reporting illness symptoms and inadequate handwashing facilities.
Graziano's Gourmet on West 49th Street in Hialeah, less than a mile from Trigo, was cited for 2 high-severity violations: no person in charge and employees not reporting illness symptoms.
Broward and Palm Beach
Broward County produced three facilities on this week's list. Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine in Hollywood was the most serious. The other two were at the same address.
Lago Mar Country Club Grill and Lago Mar Country Club Dining Room, both at 500 NW 127th Avenue in Plantation, were each cited for 9 high-severity violations in separate inspections. Both facilities drew citations for no person in charge, no employee health policy, inadequate handwashing by food employees, inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, food from an unapproved or unknown source, inadequate shell stock identification records, and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized. Two kitchens at the same country club, inspected separately, producing nearly identical violation profiles.
Palm Beach County's sole entry this week was Poppies Restaurant and Deli on Linton Boulevard in Delray Beach, with 3 high-severity violations: no person in charge, employees not reporting illness symptoms, and time as a public health control not properly used.
What These Violations Mean
The single most repeated violation cluster this week was the combination of no employee health policy, employees not reporting illness symptoms, and no person in charge performing duties. Trigo, Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine, Porterhouse Bar and Grill, and both Lago Mar Country Club facilities were all cited for this cluster in the same week. When a kitchen has no written policy requiring sick workers to stay home, no manager enforcing that policy, and workers who are not reporting symptoms, the result is a direct transmission route for Norovirus, which is responsible for roughly 20 million illnesses annually in the United States and spreads rapidly in food service environments.
Food from unapproved or unknown sources, documented at Trigo, Porterhouse Bar and Grill, Lago Mar Country Club Grill, Lago Mar Country Club Dining Room, Exxodo Gastro Bar, and La Boulangerie Boul'Mich this week, carries a specific danger that temperature violations do not: there is no traceability. If a customer gets sick, investigators cannot identify the farm, the processor, or the distribution chain. Listeria and Salmonella contamination events in uninspected supply chains have caused multi-state outbreaks precisely because the source could not be isolated quickly.
Shellfish traceability failures, cited at Surry Hills Coffee, Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine, Salumeria 104, Porterhouse Bar and Grill, Lago Mar Country Club Grill, Lago Mar Country Club Dining Room, and Primo's Restaurant and Lounge, carry a related risk. Oysters, clams, and mussels are consumed raw or lightly cooked, and without harvest tags and dealer records, there is no way to link a sick diner to a specific shellfish bed if illness follows.
Parasite destruction failures, documented at Surry Hills Coffee, Mr Baker, and Primo's Restaurant and Lounge, mean that fish or pork served at those locations may not have undergone the freezing or cooking protocols required to kill Anisakis, tapeworm, or Trichinella. These are not theoretical risks. They are the reason the protocols exist.
The Longer Record
The data does not include prior inspection counts for the facilities listed this week, which makes it impossible to rank chronic underperformers by inspection history. What the violation profiles themselves reveal, however, is a pattern worth noting.
The two Lago Mar Country Club facilities at the same Plantation address produced nine high-severity violations each, in separate inspections, with violation lists that are nearly identical. Both were cited for unapproved food sources, shellfish traceability failures, handwashing failures at every level, and absent management. Two kitchens at the same property, presumably operating under the same ownership and management structure, failing in the same categories simultaneously.
Hialeah produced three facilities on this week's list: Trigo, Exxodo Gastro Bar, and Graziano's Gourmet. Trigo, with 12 high-severity violations, was the week's worst performer in the tri-county area. Graziano's Gourmet sits less than a mile away on the same street.
Surry Hills Coffee on NE 2nd Avenue in Miami drew 11 high-severity violations that included parasite destruction failures and shellfish traceability gaps, violation types that are not typically associated with a coffee shop and suggest a food program operating well outside its documented safety protocols.
Porterhouse Bar and Grill on Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach, a tourist corridor with heavy foot traffic from hotel guests, was cited for food from an unapproved source, shellfish without proper identification records, food not cooked to required minimum temperature, and no employee health policy. Visitors to that stretch of Collins Avenue have no way of knowing that the kitchen serving them was operating without a verified supply chain the week of September 4.
