Those Are Bad Roaches, I Blame the Schools

Does it ever worry you when you head into the restaurant at a local restaurant and there’s a sign that reminds workers to be sure to wash their hands for a minimum amount of time or outlines the steps to proper hand washing? I do appreciate the friendly reminder for the staff but still… I also find it funny that things like that will creep me out but I won’t hesitate to grab a hot dog from a street meat vendor downtown at 11:00 on a Saturday night.

I wrote a post about Vancouver Coastal Health Restaurant inspections a few months ago called “The Dirty Banana Leaf“, so I thought I would follow up with VCH’s official list of restaurant closures that was release this past week (available here in pdf)

The main reasons for many of the closures are rodent infestations and unsanitary conditions. Some of the restaurants guilty of this include – Pink Pearl Restaurant on Hastings, Best Western Pizza on Main Street, Blenz Coffee on Robson as well as Ideal Bakery on Dunbar. [News 1130]

…Blenz Coffee on Robson forced to close for a day in March because of unsanitary conditions. The Cactus Club on Davie closed for a day in May because of a lack of potable water, and Tim Hortons on West Pender for a day in May due to pest infestation. [CKNW]

You can read more on the VCH site, as they have archives going back to 2002 as well as worksafe tips. Looking at past reports isn’t much fun, although I’m sure glad to see that Tanpopo has resolved that cockroach infestation that they had in 2002 and Pedro’s Organic Coffee only had “hazardous food” for 3 days in August of 2005. To be fair, most of these are one day closures, like that time in 2004 when Ricky’s had a sewer backup, they were up and running the next day without worry.

The two that hit close to home this time around are Blenz, and then Tim Hortons on Pender as I used to work in that building would often get coffee and a bagel on my way in to the office.

Me: “Ick, TimHo on Pender was closed for a day”

John: “Why?”

Me: “Pest infestation”

John: “What kind of pest?”

Me: “I unno” (continues to type blog post)

John: “Insects? Rodents? Rats?…. Evil Chipmunks?”

Me: “I’ve been looking for an excuse to post that on my blog, thanks!” (Click below…)

These kinds of reports always make me feel queasy and as I mention above, I start to reflect on where I’ve eaten over the past year. But ya know, it’s always better to know that these things are being watched, monitored and taken care of – and I am truly glad that Tanpopo, Blenz and TimHo are okay cause I won’t stop going there… you know, unless they get closed again.