Audio By Carbonatix
By Amy Silverman Sure, everyone has a bad day now and then. But back to back “no award” inspection reports for a restaurant as tony as Chelsea’s Kitchen — the fun and funky casual dining spot on the north bank of the Arizona Canal? Yuck.
And even after the inspectors supposedly cleaned things up? Still yuck.
There are a couple lists in the inspection reports including repeated instances of dirty equipment — at one point, a long list: “slicer, potato slicer, pans and ice machine” all with “an accumulation of food debris.”
Now I get the part where the inspector asks the employees to clean the equipment on the spot. Good job. And I also understand that when you see an employee handling raw hamburger meat then touching ready-to-eat food without washing hands or changing gloves, it works to ask the employee to wash his hands right then, darn it.
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But it bugs me that when inspectors find food that’s not hot enough, they simply require that it be heated more — then allow it to be served. I’m glad I wasn’t there the day the roasts at Chelsea’s had to be heated from 95 to 165 degrees. Really, I would have preferred to skip them altogether. Ditto for the not-so-hot ribs another day.
I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for the next inspection — and for lukewarm meat.
