Restaurant inspection reports up on philly mag

[mikerowley]

Don't know if anybody saw this in the newest Philly magazine issue but there's a blurb about how hard it is to get restaurant inspection reports from the city. They put some of the reports up on the web so you can see what restaurants have mice etc. at http://www.phillymag.com

if you have problems getting the reports, i can post there pdf here i guess

[sockii]

Maybe I'm blind, I can't find where the reports are on the phillymag website. Where on the site should I be looking?

[lancastermike]

Maybe I'm blind, I can't find where the reports are on the phillymag website. Where on the site should I be looking?

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Here's the link http://www.phillymag.com/documents/publica...ctionReport.pdf

[Dignan]

Gotta lotta mice, Philly!

And here's a good one:

"Philadelphia University

School House Ln 19144 14-Jul-05

9-01.1.1 Food handler with infectious/communicable disease is

present.Employee making strmboli with running nose"

Edited May 7, 2006 by Dignan (log)

[mrbigjas]

you know, i'm so much happier when i don't read these things. i have to wonder why i just looked through it...

[mrbigjas]

Gotta lotta mice, Philly!

And here's a good one:

"Philadelphia University

School House Ln 19144 14-Jul-05

9-01.1.1 Food handler with infectious/communicable disease is

present.Employee making strmboli with running nose"

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somebody get that stromboli some robitussin!

edited for alternate joke: that's nothing, one time i saw a chef make a quiche with appendicitis!

Edited May 7, 2006 by mrbigjas (log)

[rlibkind]

you know, i'm so much happier when i don't read these things.  i have to wonder why i just looked through it...

←

Did you ever go to a sausage factory? Or the public galleries at the House of Representatives?

The former reminds me of an old joke:

This "greenhorn", a recent immigrant to the U.S. in the first half of the 20th century, gets a job in a sausage factory. The foreman patiently shows him his job and demonstrates how to do it: using string to separate the encased meat blend coming out of the sausage-making machine into individiual links. Try as he might, however, the greenhorn just didn't get it: it was like Lucy on the chocolate production line, unable to do it right or keep up; the few links he managed to create were of highly uneven lengths. The foreman, recognizing the problem and with even more patience, re-instructed the newcomer on how to wrap and secure the string around the sausage as it emerges from the machine, explaning: "If at wurst you don't succeed, tie, tie again."

[Mummer]

If they inspekt the way they spel, we're luckee 2 B a live.

[Vadouvan]

I just spent about 2 hrs reading the report in detail.

It's quite devastating for some of the Starr restaurants.

People have always theorized that the Starr restaurants had a cozy relationship with Philly mag, clearly that isnt the case after you read the report.

I wonder if this will affect the magazine's restaurant advertising revenue.

The Continental, Washington Square and Striped Bass reports make me never want to eat there again

[Dignan]

Gotta lotta mice, Philly!

And here's a good one:

"Philadelphia University

School House Ln 19144 14-Jul-05

9-01.1.1 Food handler with infectious/communicable disease is

present.Employee making strmboli with running nose"

←

somebody get that stromboli some robitussin!

edited for alternate joke: that's nothing, one time i saw a chef make a quiche with appendicitis!

←

I purposely passed on puns with prehensile proboscises....

[KatieLoeb]

I just spent about 2 hrs reading the report in detail.

It's quite devastating for some of the Starr restaurants.

People have always theorized that the Starr restaurants had a cozy relationship with Philly mag, clearly that isnt the case after you read the report.

I wonder if this will affect the magazine's restaurant advertising revenue.

The Continental, Washington Square and Striped Bass reports make me never want to eat there again 

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Now you're scaring me. I'll go give it a good read also and report back.

edited to add:

[mikerowley]

I don't know, I mean, I read this thing and it does not sound all that damning to me. FOr those of us whove worked in kitchens before we know it is nearly not possible to keep a perfectly clean kitchen. I for one eat at those starr restaurants on a regular basis and will not stop any tme soon.

[philadining]

It depends. I'm largely in agreement with Mike, of course we'd all hope all areas of restaurants are perfectly clean, but to some degree, mice in the storage room seems pretty hard to avoid in the big city... And a quick scroll through that list makes it look like it's a pretty common thing. One would hope the citation spurs the restaurant to do something about it.

The ones that creep me out are places that don't have their refrigerators at the right temp or don't provide any hot water throughout the facility for employee handwashing, yikes! What's really weird is that some fairly major restaurants were cited for stuff like that.

The part that amuses me is that the Restaurant School got a few citations: you'd think if there were ONE place that would be hyper about sanitation and food safety, it would be an institution teaching people about that!

[mikerowley]

it is also surprising that certain places arent on the list - i can think of more than a few places that are obviously dirty - think of all those bars serving food. you just know some are dirty.

[mikerowley]

okay so here's a question for you. if your favorite restaurant is on this list as having some sort of pest infestation last June say roaches or mice would you still go to it? i cant imagine that most of the people here wouln't go back.

[Vadouvan]

okay so here's a question for you. if your favorite restaurant is on this list as having some sort of pest infestation last June say roaches or mice would you still go to it? i cant imagine that most of the people here wouln't go back.

You see mike, I would agree with you except after reading between the lines, one can establish the difference between an isolated incident and systematic lack of training or proper food storage.

Its one thing to say ther are mice droppings in the basement but in the case of a place like Washington Square with mice droppings in the actual dry stored food (according to the report)...then No I would absolutely not eat there again.

I dont buy that "all restaurants have mice" theory therefore it's ok.

I realise it's difficult but for the amount of money these restaurants make, there really is no excuse for not having an exterminator come over once a week for about $50.

That is 4.5 drinks in the average Starr Restaurant which would happen if the Continental was open for 45 seconds.

I cant blame restaurants for being nonchalant if diners dont care.

If we can put human beings on the moon and bring them back, we can keep mice out of restaurants ...that is IF we want to.

Edited May 9, 2006 by Vadouvan (log)

[serpentine]

Anyone know how comprehensive this report is? It states the time period, but I don't know enough about restaurant inspections to know what percentage of Philly restaurants would generally have been inspected during that time.

(I would be surprised if this report was meant to be comprehensive of all restaurants in Philly.)

I agree with some of the others -- occasional infractions happen, but ongoing major infestations (um, the roach report at Striped Bass) are not acceptable.

[VictorFiorillo]

Hi, I just wanted to provide some clarity. The document published on the web site is a report generated by the Health Department of all restaurants in Philadelphia inspected in 2005 (and the first part of 06) that had "critical violations" (a term they use).

Edited May 10, 2006 by VictorFiorillo (log)

[Buckethead]

Hi, I just wanted to provide some clarity.  The document published on the web site is a report generated by the Health Department of all restaurants in Philadelphia inspected in 2005 (and the first part of 06) that had "critical violations" (a term they use).

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Hi Victor:

So would it be safe to say that if a place is not on this list, they didn't have any 'critical violations' during 2005?

[VictorFiorillo]

I would say it's a pretty safe bet that if a restaurant is not on this report, either they were never inspected during the time period (which should not be the case) or they are not recorded by the health department as having received "critical violations".

[Vadouvan]

I would say it's a pretty safe bet that if a restaurant is not on this report, either they were never inspected during the time period (which should not be the case) or they are not recorded by the health department as having received "critical violations".

The "CRITICAL VIOLATIONS" are the particularly egregious violations which may "directly and imminently" make customers succeptible to FBI's that is why they are given highest priority.

In fact, it is absolutely possible that most restaurants were not inspected due to simple mathematical analysis.

Lets say philadelphia has 10 food inspectors (for a fact I know philadelphia has less)

If each inspector visits 5 restaurants per day which is completely implausible since you could not do a thorough inspection in under 3 hrs (assuming they work an 8 hr day).

Also keep in mind that the phrase "municipal/city employee" and the word "expediency" are rarely used in the same sentence.

The most any inspector can do is 2 restaurants per day that means 20 inspections per day.

5 day week equals 100 inspections per week.

51 week year equals 5100 inspections per year.

5100 hypothetical inspections per year.

compare the number of establishments that serve food in philadelphia to 5100 and you will quickly conclude that clearly not every food serving establishment in any city is inspected every year.

[serpentine]

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't get how the citations at many establishments for not having hot water at handwashing stations or in restrooms is a critical violation. It's not the temperature of the water that's killing the germs, it's the soap + water and the friction of your hands.

(Temperature of dishwashers is a whole other story, as the dishes are actually being sanitized. But hot-to-human-skin water does not "sanitize" your hands.)

[Vadouvan]

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't get how the citations at many establishments for not having hot water at handwashing stations or in restrooms is a critical violation.

um......

Hot water or at least warmer than cold water tends to dislodge soils much better than cold water especially since a lot of hand contamination in restaurants may involve viscous components such as residual oil and oily substances.

Certainly the soap and vigorousness of hand washing is important but heat, (while not up to sanitizing temperature which would clearly burn your hands) at lower than boiling temp also dislodges dirt better.

[Holly Moore]

Also possible that employees would be less likely to wash hands if no hot water is present.

[Jeff L]

Maybe I'm blind, I can't find where the reports are on the phillymag website. Where on the site should I be looking?

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Here's the link http://www.phillymag.com/documents/publica...ctionReport.pdf

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Mike, I can't locate the inspection report from your link. I get to the Philly Mag home page, where to go from here?? Do I need to be a subscriber?