Coffee Pub has been on Sahara near Rancho for about 35 years. At their January 19 inspection, the long-time Las Vegas eatery was left with 37 demerits and a C grade, which was gone from the place on the wall where the Health District left it. In its place--an empty nail.

When we point that out, an employee finds it and puts it back on the wall as we wait for Owner Kyle Kuk.

"What's going on in your kitchen?" Darcy Spears asked.

"I think pretty much best we can do," Kuk answered.

The inspector found expired cooked onions and cooked mushrooms that were nine days old.

There were also expired potato cakes, chicken apple sausage and pasta salad.

"The chef always examines--is it sell-able, not sell-able. If not, you know, he throws it away."

"He should," said Spears, "but there were three heads of moldy cabbage that were all black on the outside."

"That's just the cover. Probably at that time he forgot to throw away. We're not using that, though."

An Ecolab pest control report from December 28 documented roaches in the kitchen area, which Kuk says came from a neighboring business.

There was also pink and brown mold in the ice machine and heavy grease build-up at the grill.

"Yeah, we didn't clean enough, probably," said Kuk. "But we do clean up every weekend. Every weekend heavy clean."

Though the inspector documented a history of non-compliance at Coffee Pub, Kuk called this recent experience "kind of a microscoping inspection."

He says things that were previously okay, suddenly resulted in violations.

"I don't agree, but I can't say anything because it's the inspector."

He says they've scheduled re-inspection for Monday.

At Dollar Tree on Jones and Cheyenne, rats caused an imminent health hazard closure on January 17.

From Easter decorations to lunch boxes in the warehouse, inspectors found rodent gnawing, feces and urine on floors and boxes throughout.

Dollar Tree sent this statement: "Please know that the safety of our associates and customers is our first priority. Upon its discovery, the problem was immediately addressed and we worked with the health inspector and pest control services to resolve the issue."

Dollar Tree was reinspected on January 19 and reopened with 0 demerits.

The main kitchen at Jerry's Nugget hotel casino was shut down on January 18 for multi-generational cockroaches directly contaminating food.

Inspectors saw a roach crawl inside a chef drawer containing pre-cooked onion rings and others on food contact surfaces.

They did not return a call for comment, but were back open the next day with a zero-demerit A grade.

Khoury's restaurant is the fourth in Village Square on Fort Apache and Sahara to be on Dirty Dining.

It was shut down after inspectors found them actively preparing food with no hot water to the entire facility.

The manager did not return our call for comment. Khoury's was closed on January 18 and reopened the same day with a 5-demerit A grade.

J & R Southern Fried Chicken near Desert Inn and Swenson was closed for the imminent health hazard of "sewage or liquid waste not disposed of in an approved manner."

Inspectors found floor drains backing up into the kitchen and employees unable to properly wash dishes.

There were also expired eggs in use, no sanitizer buckets set up and an employee's cell phone on the prep counter.

The Health District is requiring the operator to attend a food safety assessment meeting.

The restaurant owner did not want to comment.

J & R was closed on January 18 and was back open the next day with a zero-demerit A grade.



Documents from this week's Dirty Dining

Weekly restaurant inspection downgrade report for Jan 15-21, 2018

Jerry's Nugget inspection report

Khoury's Mediterranean Restaurant inspection report

J&R Southern Fried Chicken inspection report

Dollar Tree at 3053 N Jones inspection report

Coffee Pub inspection report