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SANDY — A popular Mexican food restaurant reopened Tuesday, nearly two weeks after it was shut down by health officials for having more than a dozen critical health code violations.
La Frontera, located at 61 W. 10600 South, closed Wednesday, April 18 after a health inspection turned up 17 critical and 31 noncritical violations. Lack of soap in certain hand sinks, as well as live and dead cockroaches found inside the establishment, were noted among the largest violations at the time.
However, the restaurant passed a follow-up inspection with just two noncritical violations Tuesday, according to the Salt Lake County Health Department. An online report of the restaurant states it went through five inspections within a two-week span of the closure.
It's all part of the process the department gives restaurants before they can reopen, Salt Lake County Health Department spokesman Nicholas Rupp explained.
"We provide (a restaurant) with a list of all the violations that have contributed to the closure and then they are required to call our office and set up a time to meet with the food protections supervisors to go over their plan for what they will do to fix the problems that we've observed and keep them from happening again," Rupp said.
There is no timetable for when a restaurant reopens after it is closed by the health department. It typically happens on the following business day, Rupp said.
Owners provide the department a written improvement plan and health department supervisors offer their points and tips to the business. If everything goes well, the business is allowed to reopen; otherwise, it remains suspended.
The department also charges $100 for each inspection after an initial follow-up.
Related:
Cockroaches, other health hazards close La Frontera Cafe in Sandy
Salt Lake Health Department officials closed a Mexican food restaurant April 18, citing several dozen health code violations “presenting an imminent health hazard.”While La Frontera reopened Tuesday, another restaurant in South Jordan closed because of critical violations. County health officials shut down Riced, located at 11428 S. Parkway Dr., Monday after more than 30 health code violations were discovered during an inspection.
Those violations included raw meat improperly stored on the floor of the kitchen, the business didn’t have a designated person in charge, an employee failed to show proper "cold and hot holding temperature knowledge of potentially hazardous food" and not all employees had a current food handler card.
The restaurant will remain closed until health officials deem it is safe, going through the same process as with La Frontera.
The Salt Lake County Health Department currently doesn't publish health code scores on the windowsills of restaurants like other cities do. Rupp said it's because those scores can be misleading.
However, he added the department is looking into implementing a system where a patron can use their smartphone to quickly view a restaurant's latest health report. He said he hoped that would be available for patrons by this summer.
"We prefer people looking at a full inspection report," he said, "so they can see for themselves what types of violations are there."
