Health officials temporarily shutter 2 restaurants, fail 7 others during February inspections

By Dan Petrella/CU-CitizenAccess -- Inspectors temporarily shut down Chinese restaurant Cravings in February after the Campustown establishment failed its fourth straight public health inspection.

Cravings, 603 S. Wright St., Champaign, was one of nine eateries to fail a February inspection by the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District. (See the complete list of February inspection failures below.) Restaurants fail when they score 35 or lower on the district’s 100-point scale. The inspections are conducted on a routine basis because poor sanitary conditions can lead to food-borne illnesses.

During its Feb. 16 inspection, Cravings scored 31 out of 100, its fifth failure since January 2009. An inspector cited the restaurant for violations including employees not washing their hands properly, numerous soiled surfaces, and cooked chicken being stored at improper temperatures, according to an inspection report.

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Because the restaurant had failed its previous three routine inspections – on Oct. 19, 2010, May 3 and Nov. 16 – its health permit was suspended immediately following the Feb. 16 inspection. In a letter dated Nov. 21, the district had warned Cravings that its permit would be suspended if it failed a fourth consecutive inspection, according to district records.

A health inspector returned the next day, and Cravings improved its score to 93 out of 100 and was allowed to reopen, according to inspection records. “We appreciate your cooperation in this matter, and hope to see your facility continue to improve its sanitation level,” Jim Roberts, the district’s environmental health director, wrote in a letter dated Feb. 17.

Vietnamese restaurant Xinh Xinh Cafe, 114 N. Vine St., Urbana, also had its health permit suspended after receiving a score of negative 4 on its Feb. 22 inspection, according to district records. It was the restaurant's second failure in less than a year.

Xinh Xinh Cafe’s violations included numerous foods stored at improper temperatures, foods stored without proper date labeling, and soiled surfaces throughout the facility, including inside a microwave, according to district records.

The restaurant was allowed to reopen at 11 a.m. the next day after passing its reinspection with a score of 87.

The public health district currently does not publicize the results of health inspections in any form. For several years, the public health district has said it plans to post inspection results on its website.

The inspection records were obtained through a request filed under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

As a public service, CU-CitizenAccess obtains the reports on a monthly basis and adds restaurants that have failed inspections to an interactive map (see the sidebar for a link to the map).

February inspection failures

Click on the name of a restaurant to view its inspection report. For a complete listing of restaurants that have failed inspections since April 2007, see the map in the sidebar.

Correction: A previous version of this story listed the incorrect Li'l Porgy's BBQ location as having failed a February health inspection. The Urbana location, 101 W. University Ave., passed its most recent inspection on Jan. 30.