say it plain

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 11:38 p.m.

I accept what you say @DBH, and would expect those kinds of violations to be addressed. I just get more grossed out by improperly cooked/stored food violations than not enough sanitizer in the dishmachine (I thought the issue was more one of improper levels of chlorine in the machine, but i may have misread/misunderstood that), or an occasional error in handwashing procedures. Sometimes I don't ever want to eat out again when I look at those inspection reports lol...there are incredibly few places that don't have something nasty-looking in them at least some of the time! And gee, if you ever carefully watch your waitperson at any given restaurant in this town, yikes, you'd never want to eat what gets put in front of you if you care about 'germ transmission' lol! The amount of face touching, eye-rubbing, nose-twiddling, etc. that I sometimes witness among waitstaff between little breaks in their action and the actual food/silverware/drinks delivery, eek! :-) I've heard kitchen people say that fast food restaurants are often the 'cleanest' kitchens around, and that sometimes seems true on inspection reports, at least in part because they have very very precise procedures in place for how to touch/clean/store everydarnedthing. But when I chose to eat out I tend to avoid them anyway! And on restaurant inspection reports, I tend to worry lots more about improperly stored/expired/cooked food details than other stuff. Maybe that's in part because I've worked in kitchens before as well, and would take those kinds of violations as indicating less care than I'd like to see regarding the quality of the food itself...

DBH

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 11:35 p.m.

And Mike Folk, explain please what it is about my original comment you found "Libelous." You are accusing me of civilly criminal behavior with that word.

DBH

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 10:30 p.m.

And for my comment being libelous? Give me a break. I cite factual information in my comment and express a personal opinion. I have not defamed Café Japon in any way. Mike Folk, check the dictionary and you will see that "libelous" does not characterize my comment in any way.

DBH

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 10:02 p.m.

I am aware of what a critical (as well as a non critical) violation is. For those of you who are not, the Washtenaw County Public Health's Environmental Division states that "A critical violation is one that can directly lead to foodborne illness, such as an employee not washing his or her hands before preparing food or storing food at improper temperatures. ... A non critical violation is one that may not directly lead to foodborne illness but is important to the overall safety and sanitation of the facility. For example, a few cracked floor tiles will not cause an illness, but if they are not repaired and continually trap food and debris, these broken floor tiles may create a situation that attracts rodents, a much more serious concern." I do not serve anyone food other than myself, family or occasional guests. And no one pays me to do so. If I were being paid for serving food to others, I'd be darn sure to serve it in compliance with Health Department guidelines. It would be my responsibility to do so. One of the 3 most recent critical violations at Café Japon involved an employee rinsing off their gloves between food-handling tasks when, given what they had been doing and what were about to have done, they should have removed their gloves, washed their hands, and then regloved with clean ones. Specifics are not otherwise given, but it definitely looks like a situation in which I am glad I was not involved. They also were not using chemical sanitizer in the dishwashing machine. How hard is that? I prefer to eat from foodware that has been sanitized properly. There is a reason they have these rules in place. If I am going to give a restaurant my money, I expect them to follow the rules conscientiously.

Mike Folk

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 7:12 p.m.

They were very minor citations, and all corrected at the time of inspection. I wouldn't worry about this place. Seems like someone just wanted to write a bad review and had nothing but some inconsequential information to form their Libelous argument. Look for yourself before voting this person up. <a href="http://www.swordsolutions.com/inspections/pgeSearchRest.asp?Hit=DirectSearch&LastCty=28" rel='nofollow'>http://www.swordsolutions.com/inspections/pgeSearchRest.asp?Hit=DirectSearch&amp;LastCty=28</a>

say it plain

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 2:53 p.m.

yeah, and at least some of their violations seemed to be potentially related to the small space that made them consider looking for a different lease--stuff like storing things in ways the health dept doesn't want to see. My own tiny home kitchen makes it hard to fully satisfy code requirements, but somehow I manage to avoid getting sanitizer in my stir-fry ;-) Just to say...

bluetonguedlizard

Sat, May 28, 2011 : 2:38 p.m.

I would encourage you to look up what a critical violation can be. Also most people's home kitchens violate every rule in the book and yet most of us survive!