Contact 13

Dirty Dining: Beijing Noodle Cafe

CREATED Nov. 21, 2012

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  • Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- There's something the restaurant featured on this week's Dirty Dining doesn't want you to know. Video by ktnv.com

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Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- There's something the restaurant featured on this week's Dirty Dining doesn't want you to know.

It's what grade they got from the Health District.

Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears knows the grade and the reasons why they got it.

No one likes to get a "C." Especially when that's the worst grade you can get from the Southern Nevada Health District.

It means there's a lot wrong at your restaurant. And folks who see that "C" might choose to eat somewhere else.

Perhaps that's why Beijing Noodle Cafe on Sandhill and Flamingo kept their grade hidden from customers.  Contact 13 caught them in the act.

Darcy: You're required to display that for the public.  The public needs to know that you have a "C" grade right now.

They were actually trying to fool people into believing they have an "A" by displaying old, outdated grade cards. The one in the front window is from June of 2011. The one inside from September 6 of this year.

We just happened to spot the current grade card, although you can't see that it's a "C."  Restaurants are required to post those grade cards conspicuously.  It even says so on the card itself.  But theirs was in a place that hardly qualifies as conspicuous.

Darcy: Can you tell me why you have an A grade up there from September, and that C grade was hidden behind that wooden boat?

The manager didn't want to talk on camera about their 32-demerit "C" grade.

She says health inspectors came during a particularly hectic lunch rush, and they simply didn't have time to do everything right.

Darcy: They wrote you up for employees not washing their hands properly, for a bunch of food being at room temperature, which is not safe.

Beef, sprouts, cut tomato and fried rice were all in the temperature danger zone. And the person in charge wasn't knowledgeable about proper food temperatures.

Raw eggs were stored next to cut vegetables and raw beef and chicken were stored over ready to eat food and sauces, which health inspectors see as a recipe for disaster because of the potential for cross-contamination.

They were using Styrofoam containers for spices that were dirty with food build-up. And food containers were not properly dated and labeled.

Crispy noodles were kept in a cut water jug, cardboard pieces were being used for food contact, and the shelving was dirty with spill build-up.

Though the manger wouldn't do an on-camera interview, she did take us around the kitchen to show us how they moved the meat and vegetables away from each other, and even added another small fridge for the eggs.

No more Styrofoam and cardboard. Everything's in an approved food container now.

We asked about a strange set-up we found on the kitchen floor--food in a bucket being held down by jugs. She says it's sour cabbage, also called kim chee, and it's just for the employees.

We also saw that there are labels now, although they don't stay on very well. And they don't say what the food is.

She says they've cleaned the shelves and the rest of the kitchen, but have to wait until after the holiday weekend for an inspector to be available to come back out.