Joseph Paul

jpaul@jconline.com

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Harbor City Restaurant was shuttered after health inspectors found cockroaches and maggots in the kitchen, among dozens of other violations, a county official said Wednesday.

The bugs — alive and dead — accounted for several of the 50 total violations, including 21 critical, uncovered during a Tuesday inspection, said Craig Rich, administrator for the Tippecanoe County Health Department.

"That’s extremely high for a one-time inspection," he said.

The restaurant owner also was cited with a $50 ticket for racking up three consecutive critical violations for cockroaches and maggots in the same calendar year, Rich said. A $200 fine also was assessed in October because the dish machine was "registering zero during the final rinse cycle," according to online inspection reports.

During the October inspection, health department staff found 36 violations, including 19 critical, prompting a November follow-up in which 19 violations were documented. The inspections prompted an informal meeting that month in which the health department attempted to intervene and create an action plan to improve conditions.

"We offered to do some in-house training, help with translation, that sort of thing," Rich said. "It's obviously not our goal to close anyone down."

The owner was "less than enthusiastic" during the meeting, Rich said, although he promised to resolve the issues. Health inspectors determined during a visit on Tuesday that the situation had worsened, constituting "an imminent health hazard" and requiring an immediate closure, according to a news release.

Recent customers shouldn't be concerned unless they have experienced gastrointestinal problems, Rich said.

The health department monitors more than 700 restaurants in Tippecanoe County, most of which choose to voluntarily close to address any issues, Rich said. Although rare, some establishments — such as the former New City Grill near Indiana 38 — refuse to close voluntarily and must be shuttered on an order by the county.

Harbor City has been open for roughly three years, Rich said, noting that he couldn't recall any serious violations by Tomates, a Mexican grill that preceded the Chinese eatery.

The health department has given Harbor City a list of the most important violations it must address before the restaurant can reopen.

"When those are corrected, we will be more than happy to obviously keeping a very close eye on this," Rich said.

Harbor City staff said the restaurant's owner declined to comment when reached by phone.

Jiayi Zhang, who is listed as the owner in health inspection records, said in an email that he sold all his stock in May 2014 to Xuecun and Xuekai Wang, who continued to fill in Zhang's name on the health department's annual permit renewals.

Stacie Rees, a health department spokesperson, confirmed that Zhang submitted the proper paperwork Tuesday to prove the change of ownership after media reports of the closure.

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