Restaurant Inspections: Follow-Up Report after El Maguey Sewage Back-Up

This article was written by Kurt Greenbaum.

Restaurant inspections are conducted by the St. Louis County Department of Health. Patch has a summary of the public reports affecting area eating and drinking establishments reviewed in late June. This particular report is devoted to the El Maguey incident involving a sewage backup that closed the restaurant for two weeks.

Grade rankings range from A (highest) to C (lowest). Report comments and explanations are provided in Patch's summary. Follow-up inspections are noted, other visits are routine.

El Maguey Mexican Restaurant, 14501 Manchester Road
Inspection Date: June 10
Grade: A (100)

Highlights excerpted from the comments:

Ellena Melton & Myself (Rita Wells) arrived at this facility at 9:00am and departed at 2:40pm. Met with fire department and manager of El Maguey. The fire dept. closed the facility on 5.28.13 due to fire code violations. Health Dept. closed the facility down on 5.29.13 due to sewage backup issues under the St. Louis County Food Code.

Sewage smell was present. Open food containers were found in the kitchen upstairs. All foods upstairs was thrown away. Downstairs fecal matter was visible in the storage room (referred to as the "Stinky" room).

All food product downstairs was thrown away. They were allowed to keep some food items that was stored on food racks that are sealed and could be sanitized properly. Mostly condiments (i.e. hot sauce, ketchup, mustard...).

Ben-Classic Plumbing-was cleaning the sewage lines. He was able to clear the lines. The water was clear and flowing freely before he left.

All food contact items throughout the entire restaurant must be washed, rinsed and sanitized before opening can be permitted. This is the responsibility of the Owner/Operator(s). Any items not being used by this restaurant must be removed from the premises. Basement floor, walls, ceilings, both walk in units and all storage areas must be washed and sanitized before opening is permitted.

Carrie Dickhans, Program Manager, Dept of Health will call the Owners for a meeting to discuss "how this happened" and "volunteer closure due to imminent health hazards" like sewage back up and "how to help prevent this from happening again."

Lab results came back negative for Coliform & E. Coli Analysis. Each surface was swabbed with three separate wet cotton swabs. Midwest Carpet Cleaning--Did upstairs and downstairs floors. Also did stairway leading downstairs. Upstairs bathroom floors done by Midwest Carpet Cleaning. All floor surfaces.

El Maguey--Prior to Midwest Carpet Cleaning and St. Louis Testing Lab, powerwashed the entire basement walk in units included and stairway. Sanitized entire basement including walk in units and stairway. Then El Maguey painted downstairs floor, walls and the two walk in units including all storage areas.

Walk-in cooler-has two (2) new racks; the others two were washed, rinsed and sanitized. WI Freezer--Two (2) new racks Hotwater is 128F. Dishmachine is at 50ppm chlorine. Large ice machine upstairs has no ice present. Machine has been washed, rinsed, and sanitized.

Water coming from the downstairs ceiling. We discovered there was major water condensation coming from the water lines. We did not allow them to re-open until this issue was resolved.

I revisited at 4:45pm-5:15pm. I met with Francisco and Moriah. I observed new installation around the water lines downstairs. There was no visible leaking at this time. All other violations have been corrected. Dept of Health allowed them to re-open at this time.