Report Card: Hard work key to keeping restaurants clean

BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) - While diners at Epi's restaurant in Meridian enjoy a relaxed meal of traditional basque food, cooks and servers are hard at work in the kitchen each a player in a culinary concert that culminates when the plates arrive at the table.

BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) - While diners at Epi's restaurant in Meridian enjoy a relaxed meal of traditional basque food, cooks and servers are hard at work in the kitchen each a player in a culinary concert that culminates when the plates arrive at the table.

"The reward comes when people are walking in your doors sitting at the tables and then they leave happy," said Chris Ansotegui, co-owner of Epis.

But the reward does not come easy, it requires constant attention to detail after critical detail to serve meals both delicious -- and safe.

As KBOI showed you last week, we visited one restaurant where several details were overlooked.

Caf Crane in Eagle received seven violations ranging from improper hand-washing to poor food protection. Managers corrected the problems within the required 10 day period. But it wasn't the only place with problems.

In our report, we examined 95 health inspections from May 23 to June 4 and found several places out of compliance. Grape Escape got a write up for getting food from a source not regulated by the feds or local health department. It also got a mark for not keeping some food hot enough.

KBOI found three violations at the Boise Stage Stop restaurant - food not stored hot or cold enough.

Inspectors also dinged the place for improper hand washing facilities. Twenty five of the establishments we looked at in that 11-day period had violations - the most frequent were improper cooling and heating temperatures. | Check Restaurant Inspections

Restaurants with top marks, such as Epi's say they take great care to ensure surfaces and counter tops are clean, the food properly separated and stored.

"Heating is very important, temperatures are so important to keeping everybody safe," Ansotegui said.

The hard work pays off. Epi's passed its recent annual health department inspection with flying colors - not a single major risk violation was found.

The restaurant is now one of many local establishments designated as a Gold Star restaurant by Central District Health.

"The way I look at it, the health department has really taken a lot of the load off our shoulders, they've done all the research, they know how to keep our customers safest," she said.

Ansotegui thinks Epi's has an advantage because it's a small family-owned restaurant where relatives have worked together for years.

"We all know exactly what that kitchen has to do from storage to preparation to putting it from there to the table."

And indeed the health department says staff turnover in the restaurant business plays a role in food safety as it requires establishments to constantly educate new employees about food safety - especially the FDA's 26 major risk violations that guide health department inspections.

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