Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Lauderdale-by-the-Sea’s Even Keel reopens after inspectors find roaches
Two South Florida restaurants — including a popular Lauderdaleby-the-Sea raw bar — were ordered shut by state inspectors last week for issues involving live and dead roaches, plus 50 live flies “landing on clean utensils.”
The South Florida Sun Sentinel typically highlights restaurant inspections in Broward and Palm Beach counties from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. We cull through hundreds of restaurant and bar inspections that happen weekly and spotlight places ordered shut for “high-priority violations,” such as improper food temperatures or dead cockroaches.
Sun Sentinel readers can browse full Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade county reports through our state inspection map, updated weekly (usually Mondays) with fresh data pulled from the Florida DBPR website.
Any restaurant that fails a state inspection must stay closed until it passes a follow-up. If you spotted a possible violation and wish to file a complaint, contact Florida DBPR here. (But please don’t contact us: The Sun Sentinel doesn’t inspect restaurants.)
Even Keel Fish Shack, Lauderdaleby-the-Sea
112 Commercial Blvd., Suite A Ordered shut: June 21; reopened June 22
Why: The state report highlights 13 violations (three high-priority), including five live cockroaches spotted crawling “under small prep table across from ice machine,” “next to water dispenser” across from the kitchen, and “on floor of inside bar next to raw bar cooler.” (Even Keel’s operator killed the vermin and sanitized the area.) The state found 11 dead roaches “under dry storage shelving,” “in empty sanitizing bucket” in the dishwashing area, near the kitchen sink, inside a hallway closet, as well as “approximately a dozen” inside a pest-control device near the public restrooms. Despite finding a trio of basic issues during inspectors’ visit on June 22, Even Keel was allowed to reopen.
El Balcon de las Americas IV, Deerfield Beach
246 S. Powerline Road Ordered shut: June 22; reopened June 23
Why: An inspection uncovered 16 violations (nine high-priority), led by 50 live flies “landing on clean utensils,” as well as on “cans, cups, to-go containers and on dishwasher area,” although the report noted food storage was separated by a wall from the kitchen cooking area. The restaurant also was ordered to stop selling and toss “dented/rusted cans” of mandarins and tomatoes, and trash its covered container of cooked pork “due to temperature abuse.” The state found zero new issues during its reinspection the next day, clearing El Balcon to reopen.