Eateries rewarded for healthy habits

DANNY GAWLOWSKI | DANNY GAWLOWSKI THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

• SILVER PLATTER WINNERS
  
  Here are the winners of Whatcom County’s first-ever Silver Platter Food Safety Awards, given to restaurants that had near-perfect health inspections in 2007.
  Acme Café Burger King (Telegraph Road)
  Camp Firwood Camp Horizon Camp Lutherwood
  Chocolate Necessities
  Denny’s (Telegraph Road)
  Dream Dinners
  Easy Entrée
  El Rinconcito 2
  Espinoza’s
  Gigi’s Café & Pastries
  Little Ceasar’s (Lakeway Drive and Northwest Avenue locations)
  Lynden Dutch Bakery
  Milt’s Pizza
  Morrie’s Drive-In
  Old Town Cafe
  Papa Murphy’s (Ferndale)
  Pizzazza
  Prospect Street Café
  Quizno’s (Samish Way and Ferndale locations)
  Sirena Gelato (Harris Avenue)
  Speak E-Z
  Subway (Lakeway Drive and Lynden locations)
  Taco Bell (Stuart Road and Sunset Drive locations)
  Taco Time (Bellis Fair)
  Teriyaki Bar
  Tino’s Pizza and Pasta
  Wheel House Tavern
  Western Washington University, Arntzen’s Atrium and Rock’s Edge
  

The results of restaurant inspections themselves are public documents, but are kept in paper files and are not available online. So unless a restaurant is closed because of health code violations, the public rarely sees the outcome.

“It’s nice to be recognized for what we’re doing right instead of what we’re doing wrong,” said Diane Brainard, owner of the Old Town Cafe.

Brainard said she already has posted her certificate at the restaurant. The cafe has a reputation as a “funky little place,” she said, but “it’s nice people realize we are tidy back there” in the kitchen, she said.

Brainard said inspectors have been fair, but the experience is still nerve-wracking.

“People get nervous,” she said. “It’s like having the boss watch you.”

Once, she said, a health inspector showed up on the day one of the refrigerators broke. But workers moved the food to other coolers and the restaurant still passed the inspection, she said.

The county has the equivalent of just under four full-time employees inspecting all retail food sellers at least once a year, Kunesh said.

Kunesh, who recently became supervisor after several years as an inspector, said he’s not surprised that less than 10 percent of the county’s restaurants made the list.

“It’s very difficult for an operator to get through an entire inspection and have zero violation points,” he said. “There’s almost always something that could be found to be in violation of health code requirements. It’s a pretty strong effort on the part of operators to make 10 or fewer (less-serious) blue points and no (serious) red points.”

He hopes owners of restaurants that win the award year after year will put up the certificates to show customers they’ve consistently adhered to state food codes. He also hopes the awards encourage restaurants to do better.

“We want them to be really motivated, ‘If we work harder, not only will we be serving safer food, but maybe get a little recognition that will help by being able to brag to our customers.’”

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