Comments

1
Proper temperature control is pretty damn important, too.
2
I went in a deli once, not to buy anything, just to ask directions. The server wiped his nose on the back of his hand and then his hand on his apron. I made a mental note never to buy anything there in future. I suspect that sort of thing happens far more than we want to know about.
3
@2: No doubt. But at the very least Veraci should have handwashing facilities available.
4
A farmers market [street food] is one place where we should be allowed to take a risk. In the future all restaurants will be subsidiaries of walmart cleverly disguised as small scale hipster joints. [see the fake boutique starbucks popping up everywhere]
5
@4: I at least want to know I'm taking a risk. Perhaps a sign that says, "We have no hot water so we never wash our hands!"

6
I know they have hand-washing facilities there normally, but it is a public market. I assume they came just as they were hauling out the old water or something. Veraci is the best pizza in the city.
7
Message from Errin Byrd (co-owner of Veraci) we apologize for this. We actually fixed each issue and reopened within minutes of being closed down. In 8 years this has never happened and we feel very disappointed by this...but we feel we should explain in detail what happened: We ran out of paper towels at our hand washing station. We had hot water and soap but no paper towels. We quickly fixed this. We also had our garlic olive oil out past the 2 hour time limit that we assign...by 20 minutes. The health department's standard for time as a control is 4 hours but we assign a shorter amount of time in order to guarantee it is safe. However, since it was past our guidelines, we were out of compliance. We also had two items on our pizza making line that were a few degrees higher than 41. We threw these items out. We will be getting a new permit and will be back next week. We are very sorry and want our fans to know that we take public health very seriously. Please call me direct if you have any questions. 206.898.0309. Errin
8
Message from Errin Byrd (co-owner of Veraci) we apologize for this. We actually fixed each issue and reopened within minutes of being closed down. In 8 years this has never happened and we feel very disappointed by this...but we feel we should explain in detail what happened: We ran out of paper towels at our hand washing station. We had hot water and soap but no paper towels. We quickly fixed this. We also had our garlic olive oil out past the 2 hour time limit that we assign...by 20 minutes. The health department's standard for time as a control is 4 hours but we assign a shorter amount of time in order to guarantee it is safe. However, since it was past our guidelines, we were out of compliance. We also had two items on our pizza making line that were a few degrees higher than 41. We threw these items out. We will be getting a new permit and will be back next week. We are very sorry and want our fans to know that we take public health very seriously and will be using this as a learning opportunity to further train our employees. Please call me direct if you have any questions. 206.898.0309. Errin
9
UPDATE: 12:20 p.m. Veraci Pizza was able to resolve the issues with the Health Department and will be open again next Sunday at the Ballard Farmers Market.

Turns out, it mostly just came down to workers running out of paper towels, co-owner Errin Byrd said in a phone interview. They had a handwashing station setup -- contrary to what the Public Health website states -- but just needed something to dry their hands with to fall within the proper guidelines. They were able to resolve the issues within minutes and in fact reopened a few minutes later.

Byrd also noted that they had left out olive oil for over two hours, which she said is a personal guideline that they failed. The health department's guideline is four hours, but inspectors still marked Veraci down for failing to fall within their own guidelines.
The health department also noted potentially hazardous food that were cooked at inadequate temperatures. Byrd said that there were indeed a few pizzas that fit the description, but they threw those out.

This is the first time Veraci has been closed down for health reasons in the eight years they have been open.

"We felt horrible about this ... we’ve been doing this for eight years and this has never happened," Byrd said. "But it has, and now we’re going to use this as a learning opportunity."

Now Byrd will be contacting the health department to get a permit, which means her business will need to be inspected again, she said.

"It’s surprising and disappointing to have something like this happen. But we did fix it and are back up.”
10
UPDATE: 12:20 p.m. Veraci Pizza was able to resolve the issues with the Health Department and will be open again next Sunday at the Ballard Farmers Market.

Turns out, it mostly just came down to workers running out of paper towels, co-owner Errin Byrd said in a phone interview. They had a handwashing station setup -- contrary to what the Public Health website states -- but just needed something to dry their hands with to fall within the proper guidelines. They were able to resolve the issues within minutes and in fact reopened a few minutes later.

Byrd also noted that they had left out olive oil for over two hours, which she said is a personal guideline that they failed. The health department's guideline is four hours, but inspectors still marked Veraci down for failing to fall within their own guidelines.
The health department also noted potentially hazardous food that were cooked at inadequate temperatures. Byrd said that there were indeed a few pizzas that fit the description, but they threw those out.

This is the first time Veraci has been closed down for health reasons in the eight years they have been open.

"We felt horrible about this ... we’ve been doing this for eight years and this has never happened," Byrd said. "But it has, and now we’re going to use this as a learning opportunity."

Now Byrd will be contacting the health department to get a permit, which means her business will need to be inspected again, she said.

"It’s surprising and disappointing to have something like this happen. But we did fix it and are back up.”
11
In a larger restaurant with multiple hand-sinks, even if you have even one (the one that literally is NEVER used as it is placed in an inconvenient location -- think behind the ice machine) that doesn't have paper towels the HD dings you. No matter that nobody uses THAT ONE, but that one over there instead. To this day, as soon as I see the inspector rolling up, I rush around and haphazardly put towels everywhere. And in all honesty, pizza being cooked at such temperatures makes me not give a shit if hands are being washed or that storage temperatures are a few degrees off. It's a farmers market for christ's sake. One must wonder how any of us got here (2012) at all with all these health dangers. There are filthy places and I fully understand the usefulness of the health department in cases like that. But what amounts to a street vendor? Come on. The world at large is inherently filthy. They set up on a street that someone the night before vomited.
12
@ 11, "One must wonder how any of us got here (2012) at all with all these health dangers."

The answer is that people used to die of illnesses caused by unsanitary conditions a lot more in the past. There's a reason why cholera and dysentery don't happen a whole lot in the USA.

Why, o why are people like @ 11 so stupid? You speak of the vomit on the street like it's coming into contact with your hands and the food instead of just the soles of your shoes.

Health code regulations can be a bit much, but I'd rather that American cities not resemble Port au Prince too closely, thank you very much.
13
Human nature being what it is, no regulations, or their enforcement, will ever be perfect. Given this reality, I'd rather that the inspectors err on the side of caution than the other way around. This is especially important if food trucks begin to become more common.

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