By Shayla Colon
In the latest Hamden restaurant inspection, the Quinnipiack Valley Health District graded 38 establishments, including Eli’s on Whitney, as less than acceptable for failing to comply with the Connecticut Public Health Code.
Among the 38 restaurants not meeting safety standards are some other Hamden favorites including: Droogie’s, Mickey’s restaurant and Wood-n-Tap.
Eli’s was docked four points for failing to keep foods at proper temperatures, not cleaning rags regularly enough and for having a “filthy” vacuum for the sous vide cooking process, the New Haven Register reported.
According to Eli’s general manager, Shawn Reilly, anything other than an A is a failure and “embarrassing.” He explained that a former employee turned up the temperature of the walk-in refrigerator from the standard 41 degrees to 45 degrees causing the violation. The employee was let go the week of the incident.
The Connecticut Public Health code outlines inspection violations can include anything regarding improper sanitization, improper food temperatures, or cross-contamination.
“You could have an A and have 10 different violations or get a C with just two violations, it just depends on the type of violation,” Reilly said.
Reilly further noted that the Eli’s staff does line checks daily, but was not able to catch these issues because the sanitarian arrived beforehand.
Going forward, Reilly looks to regain Eli’s A status. “I’m not going to change anything, this is a blip. We do things properly, this is human error that should of never happened. He (the sanitarian) is coming back next week, there will be an A on the door next week,” Reilly said.