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Dirty Dining: Pot Liquor in Town Square

Posted at 10:45 PM, Sep 06, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-07 12:03:20-04

Pot Liquor calls itself the number one barbecue joint in Las Vegas.

But that can't keep them off Dirty Dining.  

When we first enter the restaurant in Town Square, we notice something is different on the wall above the hostess stand.

"See the A grade up there?" Darcy Spears says to her camera man. "In the Health District's picture, there was a B grade on one side of it and a C on the other side of it because they have three health permits. The difference now is that they've only got their A displayed."

The health grade is one of the first things you should see when entering a restaurant.  

At Pot Liquor, the bar has an A grade, the restaurant a B and the kitchen--33 demerits and a C.

"Where is that C grade posted?" Spears asked Scott Wrubel, who identified himself as one of the partners at Pot Liquor.

"It's right around the corner," Wrubel answered.

"Is there a reason why it got moved?" Spears asked.

"I don't know," said Wrubel. "Um, actually, none of them were posted up there."

Actually, all of them were posted there, as you can clearly see in the Health District's photo.  

Now, the B and C grades are off the wall and on the counter at the back of the bar.  

We ask Wrubel how they got to that C grade.

"It was just some chicken that wasn't cooled down properly."

"Ok, but obviously that doesn't get you up to 33 demerits," Spears pointed out.

Inspectors found two-week-old hummus and pot pies in the fridge. Wrubel says the labels were old, but the food was fresh.  

In any case, they threw it out, along with penne pasta, spaghetti squash, a rack of chickens and chicken broth that were all improperly cooled.

"We were just doing a party that day and it just, they just came in while we were just cooling down and that's just what happened," Wrubel explained. "Our kitchen is completely clean."

There was a lot of food in the fridge uncovered and subject to contamination, excessive food debris on the can opener blade, chicken left to thaw in standing water and excessive black and pink microbial growth in the ice machine.

"I don't know anything about that, but I'll check on that," said Wrubel when we asked him about the ice machine.

He takes us into the kitchen where inspectors found the back door leading to the prep area propped open, letting flies inside.

"That is firmly closed right now," Spears noted. "It's too hot to prop your door open anyway, right?" 

And as for that C grade they took down off the wall...

"How did you feel when you saw that?" Spears asked. "No one likes to see it. It's almost like a fail."

"I was quite upset," said Wrubel.

"And did you have any conversations with your staff about that?"

"Oh yes!"

"Do you want to tell us what you told them?"

"No," he said. "But they knew I was upset," he added with a chuckle.

Pot Liquor's kitchen still has a C grade.  

They're hoping to get reinspected before the end of this week.