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Thursday, March 17, 2011

Shut Down!

Posted by on Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 11:36 AM

By the health department: 663 Bistro in the I.D.

The MSG150 people gave it a 4.3 out of 5 chopsticks rating back in 2008, but it sounds like things have gone downhill...

663 Bistro located at 663 Weller, Seattle, WA 98104 was closed by a Public Health food inspector on March 16, 2011 at 3:30 for the following violations:

· Potentially hazardous foods (PHF) at unsafe temperatures
· Inadequate facilities to control temperature of PHF
· Foods not protected from cross contamination
· Handwashing sinks unavailable
· Toxic chemicals improperly stored/labeled

Gah! You can check for 663's reopening (if you want to) over here.

UPDATE! Not only is it Goldy's favorite I.D. bbq spot, 663 Bistro made Seattle Metropolitan's list of 1,001 best Asian restaurants in town last month—and apparently Tom Douglas, a.k.a. T-Doug, loves it, too.

 

Comments (12) RSS

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Will in Seattle 1
The handwashing sinks is what bothers me the most.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on March 17, 2011 at 11:39 AM
2
Oh no! It's my favorite barbecue place in the ID. I've eaten there dozens of time.
Posted by Goldy on March 17, 2011 at 11:42 AM
AmyC 3
meh. it sounds bad, but you never know just based on how the form gets written up. could be dumb stuff like the cooler was two degrees too warm and the windex label had come off the bottle.
Posted by AmyC on March 17, 2011 at 11:57 AM
Dougsf 4
Danger is always delicious. No, no, no, wait; deliciousness is best served... at room temperature? These aren't working, but there's something here, I know it.
Posted by Dougsf on March 17, 2011 at 12:05 PM
Summerisle 5
Hopefully they will get their shit together and make the health department happy.
Posted by Summerisle http://www.facebook.com/biggieJ?ref=name on March 17, 2011 at 12:09 PM
6
Big deal -- Saigon Deli at Rainier and Jackson has been cited a bunch of times. I, along with thousands of others, have been eating there for years with no consequences. I'm enjoying the best $2.50 banh mi in the city right now.

Can't remember who wrote the article (Stranger or SW?), but someone did an analysis of KC Health Dept citations a few years back. The frequency of inspections and sanctions is not consistent across the inspection areas across the county. Even adjusted for the fact that businesses that are cited are under closer followup scrutiny, restaurants in the ID/CD were far more likely to be inspected. If I remember correctly, one of the conclusions of the article was that the inspector responsible for this area is a lot more zealous than others.

Of course, I don't want salmonella or a tapeworm so I appreciate the efforts, but I also want reasonable regs. Just sayin'...
Posted by Mr. Happy Sunshine on March 17, 2011 at 12:24 PM
7
For some reason the best ethnic restaurants always seem to have the scariest/dirtiest kitchens.

That said, I don't worry too much about it. Saigon Deli is one of my favorite places in the ID and I've never gotten sick from the food there.
Posted by Chris Stefan on March 17, 2011 at 12:37 PM
Kinison 8
Having worked at MANY restaurants when I was 20, lets see how this can be deciphered in a general/common way.

"Foods not protected from cross contamination"
Lets slice onions, then green bell peppers and not wash the blade and hope that people who might be allergic to onions, dont have a reaction.

"Inadequate facilities to control temperature of PHF"
Hey lets store meat or diary products at room temps, ignoring the fact that this is what allows bacteria to thrive.

"Toxic chemicals improperly stored/labeled"
Hey lets store dishwasher bleach ABOVE pre-processed foods, be they canned or in an re-usable container.

" Handwashing sinks unavailable"
This is not to be confused with the dishwashing sink.

My Brothers Pizza (still sold in QFCs, Safeways, in Wallingford, its now known as Wallingford Pizza) was probably the worst restaurant I ever worked at. People would occasionally go home due to carbon monoxide poisoning because the kitchen didnt have proper ventilation. Pre-cook pizza crusts, drop it on the floor, pick it back up, shrink wrap and ship. No fire detectors or extinguishers. Fresh produce was NEVER dated when it arrived on the loading dock. Had a living cat running around the kitchen, mostly to take car of the rat problem. Some hippy decided it was cool to create a compost pile for food waste, which attracted the rats and the run off went down a hill, under the exterior walk-in cooler, which became a cesspool for insects. Delivery driver, had no drivers license. 90% of the employees didnt have a food handlers permit. The lone hand washing sink, was hanging off the wall, with a coat hanger used as a paper towel dispenser. The dough roller was only cleaned out once a month, by a professional because nobody knew how to do it. The list actually goes on a bit more. It only took a week working there to realize they honestly had no idea how to run a kitchen.
More...
Posted by Kinison http://www.holgatehawks.com on March 17, 2011 at 1:01 PM
9
I've had some good meals at 663. That's too bad.
Posted by j-lon on March 17, 2011 at 1:26 PM
OuterCow 10
The Seattle Mteropolitan can make a list of the 1,001 BEST Asian restaurants? How many fucking asian restaurants do we have in this city?
Posted by OuterCow on March 17, 2011 at 1:58 PM
11
@8,

The interior of the restaurant was also pretty gross looking, and full of fruit flies. Too bad I didn't know about the kitchen before I ate there.
Posted by keshmeshi on March 17, 2011 at 2:04 PM
Kinison 12
@11

Yeah I havent worked there in a while. It was obscene how some people would go home due to carbon monoxide poisoning, they would be working, then suddenly get a nose bleed. I had originally gone to the owner with these health concerns, but was told "Give me some time to fix these", a month later, no change. I complained again, they didnt like it, one day I was late for work (due to the bus) and was promptly fired. I called the fire dept on them the next day. The owner had previously worked for the King County court house, so she knew people there and had the fines issued by the fire dept dropped. Health Inspector issued warnings. I found out about this from people I knew who still worked there.
Posted by Kinison http://www.holgatehawks.com on March 17, 2011 at 2:44 PM

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