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Dirty Dining finds roaches and more at Golden Phoenix

Posted at 10:45 PM, May 24, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-26 20:05:04-04

Get ready for a Dirty Dining combo platter with five locations including two repeat offenders. 

Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears dishes up a heaping helping with a double dose of roach.

"I can say 100-percent guaranteed my food is safe."

That's the message from Harvey Cao, the manager of Golden Phoenix. 

The restaurant on Centennial Parkway and Losee Road tops this week's Dirty Dining list with a 40-demerit C grade.

"Your health grade that used to be right there. That's it right there, yeah. You can't keep that hidden behind stuff," Spears pointed out as Cao removed what was blocking the grade from public view.

Golden Phoenix is taking Dirty Dining back into roach territory.

Darcy Spears: There's notations in the health report about cockroaches in the kitchen under the wok stations.
Harvey Cao: We just did the service. I can show you.

He pulls out the pest control records and points to the date, which was a week before the health inspection.

Darcy: On the third. Apparently they didn't do a very good job.

But Cao doesn't see it that way.

Harvey: I just see one dead.
Darcy: You just saw one dead one?
Harvey: Yeah.
Darcy: Inspectors saw a bunch of live ones.
Harvey: No, no, no. What he says, what he see, but I see.

Inspectors also saw flies in the back prep area. 

Temperature abused food in a malfunctioning cooler had to be thrown out, including a pan of chicken, sheet pans of spring rolls and a bowl of crab rangoon. 

There was old food debris on the meat slicer and heavily soiled drip pans.

"We just make the food! You know, the food, cook the food, running down on there and after that we clean it, but only that time, you know, really unfortunate."

Harvey says things went awry because he wasn't there when the inspector arrived to find raw chicken and ground beef stored over raw eggs, food with no date labels, dirty floors and a dish machine that wasn't sanitizing.

Harvey: If I were here I check that! But you know, just really unfortunate.
Darcy: Well, your employees should understand how to do things right when you're not here.
Harvey: I train them, I put this (instructions) on the wall -- you see that.

After a tour of the kitchen, he takes us back out front and asks us to talk to one of their regular customers.

"Everything's been great!" said Paul Conceio. "So I was quite surprised, actually, when I saw you here."

"Does the fact that they got a 40-demerit C grade -- one short of being shut down -- surprise you?" Spears asked.

"It does, yeah, absolutely does. I hope they take care of that."

Our imminent health hazard closures begin at Los Molcajetes, the first of two Dirty Dining repeat offenders that were recently shut down. 

At the restaurant on Eastern and Owens avenues, inspectors found gross, unsanitary conditions in the form of a multi-generational cockroach infestation. 

There were roaches around the sinks, the soap dispenser and clustered on leaky pipes. 

Also, shelving in the walk-in was excessively dirty and kitchen walls were coated with grease and food debris.

Taqueria El Buen Pastor is the other repeat offender. 

The outdoor seasonal set-up on Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue was shut down for inadequate refrigeration -- so just about all the food was at unsafe temperatures. 

There was also dirty water backing up into the only handsink.

At Albertsons on Flamingo Road and Maryland Parkway, both the bakery and deli were shut down due to sewage backing up out of floor drains. Wastewater was pooling throughout the shared back prep area.

And Great Buns bakery on Tropicana Avenue near Pecos Road was shut down for inadequate handwashing facilities. 

Follow-up reports from the Health District also note live cockroaches and live flour beetles embedded in various pieces of equipment.

As of May 26, Golden Phoenix is back to an A grade.

Great Buns was only closed for four hours before re-opening with an A grade. 

All the rest have re-opened with A grades as well.