Inspection Violation

Premises Information


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Name

ESSEX BAR AND BISTRO

Address

101 S TRYON ST

City/State/ZIP

CHARLOTTE

28202

Premise Type

1 - Restaurant

County

Mecklenburg

Inspection Date

6/4/2024

Final Score @ Grade

88.50

General Comments

Observed facility was cooking and cooling several items that are not permitted based on facility not having a blast chiller. These items include fingerling potatoes, short rib, tomato soup, potatoes au gratin, and chicken. Observed fingerling potatoes and short rib ravioli are on the menu. Facility has agreed to offer a limited menu based on the stipulations below from 12/22/23 visit. Future visits without a blast chiller or other approved cooling equipment that are working outside of these stipulations or failure to properly cool TCS items safely will result in permit action. Original permit states “ FAILURE TO EFFECTIVELY PREPARE, COLD HOLD AND COOL TCS FOODS AS EVIDENCED BY CONSISITENT VIOLATIONS OF COMPLIANCE UNDER NUMBERS 1, 13(now 15), 18(now 20), 20(now 22), 31(now 33) AND 45(now 47) WILL REQUIRE THE FACILITY TO PROVIDE A RISK CONTROL PLAN(RCP) ON HOW TO ACHIEVE COMPLIANCE. RCP COULD INCLUDE NEW PROCEDURES, SERVICE MODEL CHANGE AND ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT” The 12/22/23 Visit: “On site visit to facility due to ITS expiring. Facility blast chiller has not been repaired. Facility will move to a more limited menu, preparing items in smaller batches and holding them hot for each service, and cooling only approved, smaller amounts of certain products on sheet pans in the reach in freezer or by placing food directly in ice baths. Some items will now be purchased in a ready to use form from the purveyor, US Foods. The following items will be prepared and held hot: Lunch: Chicken shawarma, tomato sauce, butter chicken, grits, tomato soup, short rib Dinner: Sauce for cauliflower, short rib, grits, parsnip puree These items shall be discarded at the end of the day. NO COOLING IS PERMITTED. All items that will be cooled will be properly documented on the cooling log. The following items will be cooled in specific amounts at the following frequencies: Chickpeas for hummus: 1 sheet pan daily in the freezer Quinoa: 2 sheet pans daily in the freezer Bulgar wheat: 1 sheet pan daily in the freezer Butternut squash cream: 1qt daily (2qt on Friday and Saturday only) and cool in an ice bath with stirring. Grilled octopus: 1 batch 2x per week cooling directly in ice bath Broccolini: 1 batch daily and cool directly in an ice bath White rice: 1 sheet pan daily in the freezer The following items will now be purchased from US Foods: Garlic cream sauce, marinara sauce, Gorgonzola cream sauce The purchased items must be pre-chilled within their hermetic environment prior to opening to ensure that product is held at 41F. NO COOLING ONCE PRODUCT IS OPENED IS PERMITTED. The following items will be removed from the menu: Oysters Rockefeller, fingerling potatoes, short rib ravioli, beet salad Facility has some items frozen on hand (see attached list) for several items on the menu. Facility is permitted to use what they have on hand, however no further product will be prepared outside of the approved items listed above. The menu items will then be removed or altered according to the plan documented above.” 1 third pan of garlic cream sauce every few days is also permitted based on visit from 1/11/24.

Violations

CDI=Corrected During Inspection

R=Repeat Violation

VR=Verification Required

Violation Item	Demerits	Violation Description	CDI	R	VR	Comments
1	1	PIC Present, demonstrates knowledge, & performs duties	Yes	Yes	No	2-103.11(A-P) PIC shall ensure rules in the code for food safety and handling are met. -Pf Observed lack of control of cooling processes and temperature monitoring as evidenced by items not cooling properly, products not held at proper temperatures, and sanitizer not at the proper concentration. CDI: PIC checklist provided via handout today. EHS and PIC discussed frequent monitoring of food temperatures. REPEAT VIOLATION A Food Safety Checklist can be found at: https://health.mecknc.gov/envhealth/food-and-facilities-sanitation along with more food safety information related to PIC Duties, Training, and managing food safety.
15	0	Food separated & protected	Yes	Yes	No	3-302.11(A)(1) Separate raw animal foods from ready-to-eat foods and washed/unwashed fruits and vegetables. -P Observed frozen raw mahi stored over bag of ready to eat biscuits in reach in freezer. Items were out of hermetic packaging. CDI: Items reorganized. REPEAT VIOLATION Previous violation corrected. For more information on food storage order please visit: https://health.mecknc.gov/envhealth/food-and-facilities-sanitation
20	3	Proper cooling time & temperatures	Yes	Yes	No	3-501.14(A) Quickly cool cooked foods within 2 hours from 135F to 70F; and within a total of 6 hours from 135F to 41F. -P. Observed rice cooked at 11am at 65F at 530pm. CDI: Product voluntarily discarded. Observed tomato soup cooling in a deep container in the freezer still at 96F after more than 2 hours. CDI: Product voluntarily discarded. Observed chicken cooling in reach in cooler in a sealed bag from 1hr 40 min prior at 116F. CDI: product moved to a sheet pan and placed in reach in freezer and cooled below 70F with remaining 20 min. Observed chicken shawarma and bulgar wheat cooling in cooler drawer from lunch. Products also did not meet cooling rate. Facility is not permitted to cool the items held hot after lunch service due to not having a blast chiller. CDI: Items voluntarily discarded. REPEAT VIOLATION Long term compliance visit to be made regarding current cooling practices in place. Failure to comply with approved list will result in permit action. For more information please visit: https://health.mecknc.gov/envhealth/food-and-facilities-sanitation or view our training videos at the following weblinks: What are TCS Foods https://youtu.be/bRvqAETDjQU and Cooling Food Safely https://youtu.be/P6x8b1ZVOxU . 3-501.14(B) Quickly cool TCS foods that are prepared from room temperature ingredients. Food must be to 41F within 4 hours. -P. Observed raw chicken that was cut and marinated cooling at 0F/min in reach in cooler. CDI: Chicken was moved to a sheet pan and placed in the reach in freezer to rapidly cool. REPEAT VIOLATION For more information, please visit: https://health.mecknc.gov/envhealth/food-and-facilities-sanitation or view our training videos at the following weblinks: What are TCS Foods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0iLZb7v0UM and Cooling Food Safely https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6x8b1ZVOxU .
21	1.50	Proper hot holding temperatures	Yes	No	No	3-501.16(A)(1) Maintain TCS foods in hot holding at 135F or above. -P Observed lamb kefta, chicken skewers, and potatoes hot holding below 135F. CDI: Items rapidly reheated to over 165F. For more information, please visit: https://health.mecknc.gov/envhealth/food-and-facilities-sanitation or view our training videos at the following weblinks: What are TCS Foods https://youtu.be/bRvqAETDjQU and Safe Food Temperatures https://youtu.be/tXP09IK-1TQ .
22	1.50	Proper cold holding temperatures	Yes	Yes	No	3-501.16(A)(2) Maintain TCS foods in cold holding at 41F or less. -P Observed one pan of raw lamb in reach in cooler holding above 41F. Product was below 45F and therefore cooled to 41F. Cooler had a sheet pan in it blocking the air flow. All other items above the sheet pan were holding at 41F and below. REPEAT VIOLATION Significant improvements made from previous inspection as all coolers with food items were properly holding temperatures. For more information, please visit: https://health.mecknc.gov/envhealth/food-and-facilities-sanitation or view our training videos at the following weblinks: What are TCS Foods https://youtu.be/bRvqAETDjQU and Safe Food Temperatures https://youtu.be/tXP09IK-1TQ .
23	0	Proper date marking & disposition	Yes	No	No	3-501.18 Discard the food requiring date labels once time/temperature window has expired, if it is not been labeled, or if the label is incorrect. -P Observed pickled cabbage from 5/27 held past 7 days. Product was also in prep top units date marked for the day when it was brought to the unit, not the original date of prep. CDI: All product voluntarily discarded. For more information, please visit: https://health.mecknc.gov/envhealth/food-and-facilities-sanitation or view our training videos at the following weblinks: What are TCS Foods https://youtu.be/bRvqAETDjQU and Date Marking Food Safely https://youtu.be/BOPsSNUajYs . 3-501.17 Date mark/label all TCS foods that are ready-to-eat once opened or prepared and held more than 24hrs. -Pf Observed no date mark on pickled cabbage or broccolini in prep cooler. CDI: Cabbage voluntarily discarded. Broccolini date marked for prep date of today. For more information, please visit: https://health.mecknc.gov/envhealth/food-and-facilities-sanitation or view our training videos at the following weblinks: What are TCS Foods https://youtu.be/bRvqAETDjQU and Date Marking Food Safely https://youtu.be/BOPsSNUajYs .
28	1	Toxic substances properly identified stored & used	Yes	No	No	7-204.11 Provide sanitizer at correct concentrations, diluting as required.-P observed sink and surface sanitizer is not being diluted from the dispenser. Observed test strip turned yellow immediately after placing it in the solution both at the 3-comp sink set up for sanitizing and in the wiping cloth buckets. CDI: Product properly diluted.
33	1	Proper cooling methods used; adequate equipment for temperature control	No	Yes	No	3-501.15 Quickly cool foods. Use methods such as open/vented shallow pans, large ice baths and active stirring. Cold air must flow around product to remove the heat. -Pf Observed chicken cooling in reach in part of prep top cooler at salad station and in cooler drawers on the line. Observed raw chicken cooling in a deep covered pan in reach in cooler. Observed tomato soup cooling in a deep container in the reach in freezer. Observed rice cooling in reach in cooler in ziploc bags tightly closed and stacked together. REPEAT VIOLATION Facility is to be cooling only limited items per visit sheet on 12/22/23 and a 1/3 pan of garlic puree that was added after a visit made 1/11/24. All product is to be documented on cooling logs. Cooling logs have not been kept since 5/30/24. For more information, please visit: https://health.mecknc.gov/envhealth/food-and-facilities-sanitation or view our training videos at the following weblinks: What are TCS Foods https://youtu.be/bRvqAETDjQU and Cooling Food Safely https://youtu.be/P6x8b1ZVOxU . 4-301.11 Provide equipment in number and capacity so that cooling, heating, and holding temperatures are achieved. -Pf Facility has heavy process 3 foods and has no active cooling equipment. Working blast chiller is required per permit conditions for cooling of food items. REPEAT VIOLATION VERIFICATION REQUIRED to ensure that the agreed upon menu and items are being served.
38	0	Insects & rodents not present; no unauthorized animals	Yes	No	No	6-501.111 Keep the premises free of insects, rodents, and other pests. Observed 2 cockroaches crawling on floor in prep area and on the line. CDI: Insect removed. EHS recommends increasing pest control frequency which is currently 1x/month. 6-501.112 Remove dead or trapped birds, insects, rodents, and other pests. Observed dead cockroach on dish machine. CDI: Insect removed.
44	0	Utensils, equipment & linens: properly stored, dried & handled	No	No	No	4-901.11(A) Air dry equipment and utensils after cleaning and sanitizing. Observed many wet stacked quart containers and pans stored as clean.
47	1	Equipment, food & non-food contact surfaces approved, cleanable, properly designed, constructed & used	No	Yes	No	4-501.11 Maintain equipment in good repair. Observed blast chiller not currently functioning. Observed gaskets on salad cooler in severe disrepair. Replace gaskets. Observed charcuterie/dip prep cooler not functioning. PIC stated that they have a work order placed from last Friday when it broke. REPEAT VIOLATION Facility has had several parts ordered, received, and installed in blast chiller, however it is still not functioning. PIC stated that the owner is looking at replacing the blast chiller with a different one. EHS discussed with PIC that the blast chiller must be at least the same size as the current one, but larger would be better based on the volume of food and varieties of food they have. 4-202.11 Multiuse food contact surfaces shall be smooth, free of open seams, cracks, chips, pits, sharp internal angles, crevices and assembled to allow access to clean. -Pf Observed cracked wooden boards for bread and sliders. CDI: Boards voluntarily discarded. Observed minor scratches starting on boards used for charcuterie. Replace boards as they become damaged.
48	0.50	Warewashing facilities: installed, maintained & used; test strips	No	No	No	4-302.14 Provide a test kit that accurately measures sanitizer concentrations. -Pf Observed no test strips for chlorine at the dish machine or for sink and surface sanitizer at the 3-comp. VERIFICATION REQUIRED
49	0.50	Non-food contact surfaces clean	No	Yes	No	4-601.11(C ) Keep non food contact surfaces of equipment clean to avoid build up of dust, food residue or debris.4-602.13 Non food contact surfaces of equipment shall be cleaned frequently to preclude accumulation of soil residues. Observed food debris and build up on gaskets of prep coolers and cooler drawers throughout. REPEAT VIOLATION
55	0.50	Physical facilities installed, maintained & clean	No	Yes	No	6-101.11/6-201.11 Floors, walls and ceilings shall be designed, constructed, and installed so they are smooth and easily cleanable. Floors shall be non-absorbent in areas subject to moisture. Observed flooring throughout facility is damaged and peeling. Observed some flooring is chipped and missing on cook line and near blast chiller. Area near dry good bins and prep sinks is peeling up and there are holes in the flooring. Observed wall in room where pans are stored is severely damaged and not smooth and easily cleanable. REPEAT VIOLATION