February 3, 2007: China Star Super Buffet Revisited
The Original Story | The Diesel | The Aftermath
February 24, 2006: Buffet shut down several days
for violations
By ARI COHN - Staff Writer
Brianna
Seligman was celebrating her 12th birthday with a plate of chow mein at the
China Star Super Buffet Feb. 3 when she made a disturbing discovery -- a dead
cockroach buried under a piece of cabbage.
"She pushed her plate away and said, 'Oh my God, Mom, there's a roach in my plate'," said Brianna's mother, Jeanne Pawledge. "It was awful and the hardest part of it was it ruined her birthday. I took my daughter outside because she was crying."
Pawledge, a legal secretary in the Butte County District Attorney's Office, said she talked to the restaurant employees, but they seemed belligerent. So she called the county's Department of Public Health.
Coincidentally, that night at 11:42 p.m., Chico police responded to a burglar alarm at the restaurant, situated on the northwest corner of East Avenue and The Esplanade, said Chico Police Sgt. Dave Barrow.
Although it was a false alarm, police discovered rotting rodent corpses, fouled food and a host of other health code nightmares that nearly made one officer gag.
The Health Department and the Chico Fire Department were called in immediately to investigate. The next day, the agencies shut China Star down.
Six days later, health inspectors certified that the buffet had been cleaned up sufficiently to reopen. And on Thursday at about noon, more than a dozen people had stopped in for lunch.
Tragically, the health inspector who conducted the investigation, 42-year-old Sharon Roney, died in a traffic accident Tuesday in Paradise.
But according to the initial Feb. 4 inspection report for China Star, just about everything from raw eggs to a brown liquid thought to be soup was outside the required temperature ranges -- conditions that quickly can lead to the development of food-borne illnesses.
Other highlights from the report include:
-- Dead rodents in the stove/wok area.
-- "Copious amounts" of rodent droppings on the floor, on countertops, in the walk-in cooler, on cooking equipment, in food storage containers and at the wait station.
-- Dead cockroaches on countertops, on the floor and in floor drains.
-- Sour-smelling white and pink growth on the floor under the dishwashing area, and black, furry growth on the walls around the sink and in the floor drain.
-- Chocolate soft-serve ice cream mix placed on the floor next to a full mop bucket. Mop buckets were full of black water at the time of the inspection.
-- Egg rolls and potstickers stored uncovered and loosely strewn in a soiled freezer chest.
-- Raw food stored directly on top of cooked food.
-- Three uncovered buckets of soy sauce stored on the floor near the dishwashing area.
-- Clean utensils stored up against buckets of "very turbid, foul-smelling water."
-- Heavily soiled, sticky trash cans being used as bulk food containers.
-- Many food storage container lids encrusted with a thick, brown, sticky substance.
Additionally, cleanliness among the food handlers did not appear to be a high priority. None of the employees was observed washing their hands. Some preferred to wipe their hands on aprons soiled with various substances, including beef blood.
They also used soiled utensils and cutting boards and dirty wiping rags. The inspector did not see any sanitizing solution around.
One food handler was observed wiping his nose, and then continuing to make egg rolls. There was no soap at the kitchen hand sinks anyway.
Health officials returned for three additional inspections before China Star was allowed to reopen on Feb. 9. Those subsequent inspections uncovered frozen fish in a Styrofoam container that appeared to have been gnawed by rodents; rodent dropping on potatoes, on a slicer and in a bowl near the food preparation area; a wiping rag in a rice cooker along with old cooked rice; rodent urine in a pan; dead cockroaches and algae in the ice machine; and more dead roaches in the buffet line equipment, among other things.
On Feb. 8, inspectors still found 16 major violations and 16 minor ones, but another inspection the next day cleared the restaurant to reopen. Boian said China Star had corrected a "substantial amount of violations."
Pawledge said she was puzzled as to how the restaurant could have cleaned up so many serious violations so quickly.
"I can't even imagine how many people got sick off this," she said. "They could have killed somebody."
Mike Boian, the Health Department's supervising environmental health specialist, said it's rare for a restaurant to be so outside the law that it has to be shut down. He said it hasn't happened in at least a year.
"We have some restaurants that are good and some not so good. It varies daily," Boian said. "Most people take care of (violations) by the first or second reinspections."
He said the department aims to inspect each restaurant in the county about twice a year. China Star was inspected four times in the course of five days this month.
The restaurant also ran into trouble with Chico Fire Department regulations. Fire prevention inspector Rick Doane said the fire extinguishing system over the cooking range was overdue for service, there was significant grease buildup on cooking appliances, and there was a heavy buildup of grease in the ventilation system.
When the Enterprise-Record called China Star on Thursday, a man who identified himself as a cook answered but declined to comment or identify himself. He said he was the only person there who spoke English.
The building's property manager, Erv Alves, said the restaurant is now up to code.
"This is all cleaned up. We've resolved all the issues," Alves said. "Believe me, they're going to be watched like a hawk from now on."
The incident report
Officer Melody Davidson of the Chico Police Department filed this incident report after officers responded to a false alarm at the China Star Super Buffet restaurant Feb. 3:
"The condition of the interior of the business was deplorable and horrid. It is impossible for me to find the words to describe what I saw, smelled and touched. The stench was so fetid upon entering the back door of the restaurant, I was forced to hold my breath to keep from becoming sickened.
"The tile floor was covered with grease and it was nearly impossible to keep from sliding even when attempting to stand still. It was of no utility to grab onto the countertop to maintain balance as they were just as greasy and sordid.
"All food containers and respective contents were open and exposed. About 20 mouse traps were in the kitchen; half were full of dead mice. About five traps were on the stove and grill. A trap on the open grill had a dead mouse in it. Mouse and rat feces was everywhere. The kitchen counters and floor area had numerous open pans of food including fish, chicken, crab, etc. All were surrounded by mouse traps. Huge tubs of filleted meat had been left uncovered.
"Three 50-gallon garbage cans containing flour and sugar were open and exposed. Large opened vats of butter were on the counter next to the grill. The grease was so thick, it literally dripped from the exhaust fans. Three large uncovered tubs of shredded lettuce were on the floor.
"Each of the walk-in refrigerators were open. Inside the refrigerators, racks of fresh fish, red meat, chicken and pork lay out uncovered. Mouse feces was inside of the refrigerators. The door handles to the refrigerators were begrimed with grease and slime to such a degree I used my baton to open the doors rather than touch the handles with my bare hands.
"Large pots containing foul water and cooking utensils were stacked on the counters in the kitchen next to mouse traps. Cockroaches were everywhere.
"I noticed that the south most refrigerator contained numerous boxes and cartons of alcoholic beverages. The containers did not appear as if they had been purchased from an alcohol distributor but rather retail stores such as Costco, a misdemeanor violation of the ABC Act.
"The sink to floor drains were open. One open drain was clogged with rat or mouse deteriorated carcasses. The sink area was covered with mouse feces, the soap dispenser was empty and inoperable, no towels or cleaning supplies were present.
"Hoses, electrical lines, water lines and beverage lines were slimmed and went directly through the floor with no insulation or protective covers. The hot water heater was rusted and cluttered with boxes, etc. No fire extinguishers or first aid kits were preset. No temperature control systems were present and nothing prevented cross-contamination of food products.
"A 50-gallon garbage can was next to the stove. It was full of spoiled and foul food byproducts and did not have a lid on it.
"The hostess area in the middle of the restaurant was cluttered with coffee pots and associated items. Mouse droppings were in each corner next to the coffee pots.
"The ice cream dispenser top was open, uncovered and full of liquid ice cream mixture. Uncovered ice cream cones were next to the dispenser. The cones were uncovered and exposed. The water in the hot buffet tables was foul and brown.
"Mouse glue traps had been placed around the dining room floor. A live mouse had been trapped in one of the glue traps. As I looked at the live mouse struggling to free himself, a live mouse ran across my shoe.
"After regaining composure, I photographed the interior of the restaurant with a 35mm cameras as well as a digital camera. I left the restaurant in such a dismayed state, I failed to obtain the ABC liquor license, business license or Health Department certificate.
"The digital prints are attached to this report. I will submit the film for development.
"CPD dispatch was unable to contact the responsible or owner of the business.
"This restaurant is currently open to the public and serves food products on a daily basis. The conditions are of such evidence that it poses an immediate and great health risk to the general public and demands immediate action. Nothing in the entire building had any resemblance of safe or sanitary food preparation.
"The physical contamination of the food present, whether contaminated or vermin or micro-organisms due to lack of refrigeration time and temperature control, can be associated as major contributing factors for food-borne illnesses."
Staff writer Ari Cohn can be reached at 896-7767 or acohn@chicoer.com.
From the Chico Enterprise-Record
February 27, 2006: E-Mail contact from The Diesel to Ari Cohn
Ari Cohn,
Your recent article on ChicoER.com "Buffet shut down several days for violations" was over the top. Not only was it excessive in length (1,700 words) but your description of the "crime scene" is that of urban legend. I saw a similar story several years ago when I lived in Virginia, only the restaurant was Mexican and the dead animals were squirrels. I don't recall who wrote that story but I wouldn't be surprised if you and I had somehow crossed paths even back then. Small world. The China Star Super Buffet is where I have taken friends and family many times and every time we were treated with courtesy and served tasty Asian delicacies. Shame on you for exaggerating this non story. The real story you should of written about was how a small business owner is getting kicked down at every opportunity by a system built on subsidising corporations. I will not hesitate to eat at the CSSB when I get my hunger pains and I hope you can join me, I'll even buy you an egg roll .
February 28, 2006: Response from Ari Cohn:
You're certainly welcome to check out the health inspection reports and the police incident report for yourself at Chico city hall, first floor. They're public record. It will become evident to you that there was no exaggeration involved in the news story. I have never worked in Virginia, and your name doesn't ring any bells, but I'm sure you're a perfectly nice man and it's certainly your right to continue to eat at whatever restaurant you like. You'll pardon me if I decline your invitation to join you, though.
Thank you for reading,
Ari Cohn
March 15, 2006: Buffet to reopen with new
name and ownership
New owners are, according to this story, transforming the beleaguered China
Star Super Buffet into a new all-you-can-eat restaurant.
China Star closed permanently recently. The restaurant's former manager attributed the closure to a decline in business after the Enterprise-Record published an article about health inspectors shutting the restaurant down for unsanitary conditions.
Wei Li and Gao Guobao of San Jose have acquired the restaurant and will reopen it as King's Super Buffet. Eddie Tong translated for Li and Guobao. Tong said they have 10 to 20 years of restaurant experience and are confident they will resolve the restaurant's health problems.
Li and Guobao said there will be some changes at the restaurant and expect to have a menu today. They anticipate serving American and Western food entrees along with Chinese cuisine and seafood.
Tong said Li and Guobao have a San Jose restaurant. They know the old owners through friends and came to Chico because they are always looking for space to do business.
Jamie Chang, China Star's former manager, was cited as saying the former owner was forced to close the restaurant when business dropped off after the E-R published a story about the facility, adding, "It was very, very busy all the time."
The Feb. 24 story detailed the sordid conditions discovered by a Chico police officer responding to a false burglar alarm on Feb. 3 and a subsequent inspection by the Butte County Department of Public Health.
Health inspectors shut the restaurant down on Feb. 4 after discovering dead cockroaches, rodents and rat droppings throughout the food preparation area, according to the inspection report. Inspectors also found other unsanitary conditions, including improperly stored food and soiled cleaning materials and cooking surfaces.
China Star was able to reopen six days later after addressing the issues in the original inspection and three subsequent probes by health officials.
Chang tied many of the restaurant's health problems to a leaky roof. The winter rains penetrated the roof and brought pieces of the ceiling down into the kitchen. Walking through the kitchen, he pointed to parts of the ceiling that had clearly been patched.
Chang claimed the officer checking the burglar alarm discovered water on the floor that he said was mistaken for grease.
From the Chico Enterprise-Record