Jose's Real Cuban Food, 8799 Cortez Road W., Bradenton, has been temporarily closed by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation for health violations. Owner Jose Baserva, pictured, invited the Herald-Tribune inside Thursday, April 9, 2015, for a tour of his kitchen. STAFF PHOTO / WADE TATANGELO
UPDATED: 4/14: Jose's Real Cuban Food will reopen for dinner this evening after being closed since March 26 by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation for violations mostly regarding to cockroaches.
"Met inspection standards during this visit," reads the report posted today by the state. "No violations were observed."
"I'm just happy to be able to serve my customers again," said owner Jose Baserva, in a hurry to get ready for the dinner crowd, when he called around 5 p.m. to inform Ticket he was reopening.
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UPDATED: 4/10: Jose's Real Cuban Food has failed its fifth straight health inspection. "Upon call back 04/10/15 observed approximately one live roach in dry storage area next to two door stainless steel Whirlpool reach in cooler and one live roach inside the freezer gaskets of the white Tappan reach in cooler located in the dry storage area," reads today's report from the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation.
Before the report was published, Jose Baserva, the restaurant's owner, called and said the inspector had found "two, tiny baby cockroaches."
Read all the state inspector's observations at myfloridalicense.com.
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He couldn’t let his restaurant fail its fourth health inspection in two weeks. Jose Baserva, who lives near his small but nationally celebrated diner, Jose’s Real Cuban Food on Cortez Road West, arrived to work early Wednesday morning joined by several employees. They spent the next couple hours sweeping, mopping and scrubbing coolers, counters and surfaces in anticipation of the next inspection by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation.
Their cleaning efforts, however, as well as a recent visit by a pest control company, failed to flush out the insects that have kept the restaurant closed since late March.
“Upon call back 04/08/15 observed approximately one live roach inside of the Sanyo reach-in cooler located on the cook line, one live roach on the side of the white Tappan reach-in cooler located in the dry storage area and one live roach inside of the two door stainless steel Whirlpool reach-in cooler located in the dry storage area,” reads Wednesday’s inspection report, which can be viewed in its entirety at myfloridalicense.com
“We’ve been here eight years, eight, never had a critical violation, in the last six weeks we’ve had three,” Baserva said this morning while offering a tour of his kitchen. “We’ve been closed for 9 days.”
Jose's Real Cuban Food in Bradenton has been temporarily closed by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation for health violations. STAFF PHOTO / WADE TATANGELO
Jose’s Real Cuban Food appeared on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” about four years ago. Spiky-haired host Guy Fieri raved about Baserva’s dishes made with family recipes. The two-minute segment still garners plenty of views in reruns and online.
For months after that episode first aired, getting a seat at Jose’s Real Cuban Food required a long wait and the restaurant remained popular through 2014 despite a few complaints to the state resulting in inspections.
Then, Baserva said, he was hospitalized. He temporarily turned over daily operations to a person who is no longer employed. In February, anonymous complaints prompted a visit by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. The restaurant was shut down for a day Feb. 24 due to violations that were largely corrected on a followup inspection the next day.
During an inspection March 26, the state shut down Jose’s again and the restaurant has failed three followup inspections.
Baserva has requested another visit from the inspector. Emergency closures are reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the Division of Hotels and Restaurants, and are dependent upon the specific violations observed by the inspector. Cockroaches found near food prep or handling areas is a serious factor in deciding whether to issue an emergency closure, or, in the case of Jose’s, allow a restaurant to reopen.
“Once the elevated risk is observed, the inspector will note the violation details and contact district management. Management then sends the report to the director’s office for review. Ultimately, the decision to issue an emergency closure is made by the director and is on average made within 30 minutes,” said Chelsea Eagle, deputy director of communications, Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
“Upon approval to issue the closure, an order is generated and given to the operator and the establishment remains closed until the conditions are corrected. The Division of Hotels and Restaurants has an overall goal of compliance and routinely works with licensees to reopen for operation under safe and healthy conditions.”
