A health inspection at a Vancouver restaurant that shut down following a customer complaining about a rat in the food reveals further problems: cockroaches, unsafe storage, and “a thick accumulation of rodent excrement.”
Late last December, a woman posted to social media a video of a rat over a bowl of Manhattan clam chowder while at Crab Park Chowdery on Abbott Street. The photo went viral. The owner said their chowder is not prepared at the restaurant, but in a kitchen facility they lease in the basement of a restaurant in Chinatown called Mamie Taylor’s. Despite the defense, the business closed weeks later.
The recently released report of the inspection conducted by Vancouver Coastal Health identified several problems at the facility at Mamie Taylor’s.
“A thick accumulation of rodent excrement” was found on plumbing lines directly above the cooking equipment, the report says.
Plastic containers of chowder in the walk-in cooler were not covered, and one of the prep tables was directly under a sewer line.
During the visit, the inspector notes a cockroach running over owner Donald Ashton Phillips’ head.
Phillips was instructed to discard all chowder and any food prepared in the Mamie Taylor’s basement, and to get approval before using any facility to prepare food in the future.
The inspector also ordered Mamie Taylor’s owner Ron Oliver to immediately shut down his restaurant after finding rodent droppings on the floor, shelving and equipment. It re-opened days later, after health officials’ authorization.
joti.grewal@bpdigital.ca
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