Eight Westport businesses cited for health violations

WESTPORT — Eight eateries received priority item health violations in the first round of health inspections of 2024, which is up from three in December 2023.

Priority item violations need to be corrected within 72 hours and are the most serious, according to health officials. Priority foundation violations and core violations must be addressed within 10 and 90 days, respectively.

Calise's Food Market had three priority item violations that were all corrected on site. They were for improper cold holding temperatures at the salad bar and deli meet cooler, as well as storing prepared sandwiches on top of a cooler.

Owner Carmine Cenatiempo said the inspection went well, the health inspector was professional and all issues were fixed the same day. Calise's did not have any priority violations at a follow-up inspection.

Dunkin' at 23 Bridge Square received two priority item violations for a side hand sink not having hot water and cheese that was left out of the refrigerator.

Manager Stephanie Themura said the health inspector was helpful and communicated what needed to be fixed. It was her first time dealing with an inspection, and she said he helped walk her through it. Dunkin' fixed all violations by the time the inspector came back, according to department records.

Le Rouge Chocolates and Cakes had two priority item violations at its inspection for a dish machine not sanitizing and refrigerators not reaching proper cold temperatures.

Owner Aarti Khosla said her fridges were set to old regulation temperatures, which have since been fixed. She also got the sanitizer levels fixed, she said.

Khosla added the health inspector was efficient and most of the violations had to do with new regulations.

Both of Tacombi's priority violations were corrected on site. The two were for improper cold holding temperatures and improper hot holding temperatures of items on a stove.

Tacombi did not respond to requests for comment.

The Cake Box received one priority item violation for sanitizer at a three-bay sink not releasing properly.

Owner Jordan Gregory said they immediately fixed everything the inspector noted, and pointed out none of the violations were directly related to their food.

The Inn at Longshore had three priority item violations. One was for the improper cold holding temperature of a refrigerator, another was for sanitizing water being too hot and the last was for a vacuum-sealing machine that is no longer allowed approved for use, which was thrown away, according to the report.

Managing partner Michael Ryan said this was the building's first inspection under the new health inspection regulations.

He said each of the three violations were fixed within 36 hours, with the refrigerator taking the longest to repair.

The Organic Market received one priority item violation during its inspection for dressings being located outside the walk-in refrigerator.

Owner Charles Vosg said the staff has since fixed all of their violations and overall the inspection went well.

There were four priority item violations given out at Winfield Street Coffee's inspection, but all were corrected on site. These were for improper hot holding temperature for grilled chicken, Brussels sprouts that needed to be properly dated, mayonnaise that needed to be colder and an improper temperature of a cooler.

Culinary Director Chris Gonzalez said the inspection went well and they fixed all the violations. He said some of these involved new regulations, but the department worked with him to correct the violations.