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The week of Sept. 26 through 30, Brevardians had concerns: Hurricane Ian, with winds, flooding, power outages and the rest. 

They should not have been concerned about the cleanliness and proper, legal operation of the county’s restaurants however, because not one was shuttered by inspectors from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation Division of Hotels and Restaurants.

Five Guys Famous Burgers & Fries, 225 Palm Bay Road, West Melbourne; and Lucky's Craft Food & Drink, 1 Air Terminal Pkwy., Melbourne, were found with nary a violation of state regulations.

Only Maverick's 321, 1132 State Road A1A, Satellite Beach, received an administrative complaint, for operating with an expired Division of Hotels and Restaurants license. Maverick’s, which was found with only five violations overall, had only one other of high priority: “Container of medicine improperly stored. Stored with clean plates.”

A follow-up inspection is required.

Tied for most prolific violators of the storm-abbreviated week were Fiesta Azteca, 850 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne; and Oishii Hibachi Express & Poke Sushi Bowl, 3154 Lake Washington Road, Melbourne, with 16 infractions each.

Four high-priority violations were found at Fiesta Azteca:

Oishii was found with five high-priority offenses:

Coasters Taphouse, 5675 N Atlantic Ave. Cocoa Beach, which had 11 violations, including three of high priority:

Crafty Crab, 225 Palm Bay Road, West Melbourne, which also had 11 violations, three of which were of high priority:

Sometimes, state restaurant inspections are not about vermin, filth or poor food handling. Sometime violations come after employees leave pill bottles in the wrong places or when hose sprayers are not correctly set. Technicalities do play their roles. 

Still, it’s always much more informative to read the reports in full and go back through the records. Find them at data.floridatoday.com/restaurant-inspections/brevard.

Regardless, if you notice abuses of state standards, report them and DBPR will send inspectors. Call 1-850-487-1395.

What does all that terminology in state restaurant inspections mean?

Basic violations are those considered against best practices.

Intermediate violations are those which, if not addressed, could lead to factors that contribute to foodborne illness or injury, including insufficient personnel training, documentation or record keeping and labeling.

High-priority violations are those that could contribute directly to foodborne illness or injury, such as in cooking, reheating, cooling and handwashing. 

A warning is issued after an inspector documents a violation that must be corrected by a certain date or within a specified number of days from receipt of the inspection report.

An administrative complaint is a form of legal action taken by the division. Insufficient compliance after a warning, a pattern of repeat violations or existence of serious conditions that warrant immediate action may result in the division initiating an administrative complaint against the establishment. Administrative complaints may be issued for basic, intermediate or high-priority infractions. 

Says the division website, “Correcting the violations is important, but penalties may still result from violations corrected after the warning time was over.”

An emergency order — when a restaurant is closed by the inspector — is based on an immediate threat to the public. In this circumstance, the Division of Hotels and Restaurants director has determined that the establishment must stop doing business and any division license is suspended to protect the health, safety or welfare of the public. 

Twenty-four-hour call-back inspections are performed after emergency closures or suspensions of licenses and an establishment may reopen only after inspection shows that all high-priority violations that caused the suspension are corrected.

For additional information, go to myfloridalicense.com/DBPR/hotels-restaurants/inspections.

Join the conversation at facebook.com/groups/321flavorwherebrevardeats.