Friday, September 28, 2012

Haiku Friday: Restaurants we miss


I read with some alarm the news that two restaurants I knew in Waco, the Lake Brazos Steakhouse and Samarai Japanese Steakhouse, were permanently shut down for health code violations. As to the latter, the Waco Tribune Herald reported the following:

... local health officials closed the restaurant Aug. 9 for violations that included a roach infestation, blocked sinks, unclean food equipment and indications employees were living there, including the presence of a clothesline over a sink, a health official said. “It was pretty bad,” said David Litke, a spokesman for the Waco-McLennan County Health District.

Yikes!

As for the Lake Brazos Steakhouse (again, from Mike Copeland's story in the Waco Tribune Herald):

Litke said inspectors closed the waterfront Lake Brazos Bar & Grill on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard after completing a routine inspection early Tuesday afternoon.

“It was determined to have multiple and repeat violations,” said Litke, who declined to release the health department’s full report on what inspectors found, but did summarize the violations.

He said that:

* Food was not consistently kept at a safe temperature;
* Equipment and surfaces that came in contact with food were not being kept clean and equipment was not in good repair;
* Employees were not following good hand-washing practices; and,
* Managers did not show adequate knowledge of food safety.

“All of that, rolled up, led to the temporary closure,” Litke said. “Their permit to operate is up for renewal and the inspection was part of that process.


I ate at that place! I'm a little surprised that the "Managers did not show adequate knowledge of food safety," given that we are talking about things like hand-washing and heating food.

My favorite restaurants, though, closed (if they did) for reasons other than health law. Let's remember them today, in haiku. Here is mine:

Sparky Herberts, gone.
Grosse Pointe's clubhouse for riff-raff,
Secret world writ small.

Now, you write one! Just make it about 5/7/5 syllables. The winner gets their bio here on Monday.

18 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Little Harrry's, Oh....
    My parents reminisced oft'
    Dirty Martinis

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sartin’s, Sabine Pass.
    BBQ crabs, seasoned right.
    Leaves lips spice-swollen.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jill,

    Sartin's has a place now on I-10 in Beaumont. Not sure if it is as good, but the bbq crabs is still the reason to go.

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  5. The sauce was the thing.
    Would that it were still
    Miss you, Chuck(wagon).

    ReplyDelete
  6. Honey's Cafe was
    the jewel of Magnolia.
    Everything was fried.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous2:32 PM

    “The K & [Dubya]”
    Knollwood Street, Winston-Salem,
    served cheese grits and such.

    1970s
    Daddy used to take me there
    for breakfast sometimes.

    1986
    I used to take myself there
    now and then until . . .

    1988
    a gas explosion flattened
    it like a pancake.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Tiedwithbleach2:43 PM

    OMG! The exact same thing happened to me!!!! I made cheese grits for several years, and then my house exploded. This was in Canby. Which is in Oregon.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Seraphim3:24 PM

    That comment is possibly my favorite one that I have ever read.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Boardroom Barbecue
    and Otto's Malt Shop, K.C.
    Miss you hungrily

    ReplyDelete
  11. Cudda's Bar and Grill,
    Two Harbours Minnesota,
    Pizza, Chili, Beer.

    ReplyDelete
  12. diadelkendall, thanks for letting me know! I have family in the Beaumont area so will try it the next time we visit there. Although it won't be the same without the drive down to Sabine Pass thru all the refineries in Port Arthur....

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  13. Warm tables blest us
    Eggs,bacon,hashed browns comfort.
    Ancient waitresses.

    Mother's casserole
    Perfect Reubens,chicken noodle.
    Fireplaced dining.

    You could,but didn't
    Order lutefisk. Elder singles
    Came for every meal.

    Pearsons' faith showed with
    Every morsel,Graham cracker
    Pie,pumpkin,signed: Love.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous7:51 PM

    Snow’s on Main Street was
    tiny — 900 square feet
    and just nine feet wide.

    Menu: “Kernersville —
    the Biggest Little Town in
    North Carolina.”

    We used to enter
    by the back door and order
    hamburger steak. Hmmm.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous8:01 PM

    Make that "Mmmm" instead of "Hmmm" in the last line!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Freddie's Chinese Food
    Dinner for 6,Cantonese
    Mrs.Ng cooked heaven.

    Bar-be-que pork,dipped
    In hot mustard,then sesame
    Seeds,Almond chicken.

    Summers, sis and I
    Had waitress jobs.She flirted
    With Fong,lobbed salt at me.

    Chopsticks not forks flew
    Clicked like castanets,shrimp
    Bread goldyellow,hot.

    Exotic fare for kids
    Whose father stood on Great Wall
    He would not return.

    ReplyDelete
  17. NAW-- "Hmmmm" kind of worked, too!

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  18. I had my graduation dinner at Lake Brazos Steakhouse!! I took my whole family, Cody's whole family, my PC partner, Cody's PC partner, their girlfriends, and Prof. Powell there. As far as I know, everyone survived, but still ...

    Embarassing. :(

    ReplyDelete