You might expect that a restaurant that deals with raw fish and cafeteria-style service would take care to stay sanitary. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case at Georgetown’s own Epicurean. Recently released inspection reports from the District of Columbia Health Regulations and Licensing Administration revealed four “critical violations,” as well as five violations deemed “non-critical.” Although the August report acknowledges that all nine violations were “corrected on site,” the careless nature of the violations is unnerving.
Epicurean was cited for storing food inside refrigeration units without a cover, storing eggs in a way that could contaminate sushi, having unclean food contact surfaces, and leaving refrigerated food undated. All of these constitute critical violations according to the D.C. Food Code. Sadly, this poor showing actually constituted an improvement from the previous inspection, conducted last February, which cited a whopping thirteen critical violations, including inadequate refrigerator temperatures, unlabeled food, and a report of a sushi chef washing his hands without removing his gloves.
Epicurean needs to clean up its act. The restaurant is considered a “high-risk” establishment by the HRLA, meaning that there is extensive handling of raw ingredients and advanced preparation of food items. It is highly irresponsible for any eating establishment to consistently use improper storage, preparation, and presentation methods, but it’s especially negligent when the restaurant is a high-risk establishment.
While the reduced number of critical violations in the most recent inspection does suggest improvement on Epicurean’s part, the restaurant still lags behind other Georgetown eateries. Leo’s was found to have only one critical violation, and a very minor one at that. (The bread counter lacked a sneeze guard, but that violation was quickly corrected.) The Tombs had only one critical violation, and only one violation was found at the Corp’s three on-campus establishments.
Considering that campus walls are still decked with instructions of proper hand washing techniques in the wake of last year’s Norovirus outbreak, it’s a travesty that Epicurean remains so nonchalant about the health of its customers. We’ve seen how quickly a food-borne illness can spread through a community living in such close quarters, and one would hope Georgetown’s eating establishments learned something from last year. Epicurean, it seems, has not. Until they can prove they’ve cleaned up their act it might just be better—and safer—to stay away.
