The Red Flower Chinese Restaurant in Williamsburg, Kentucky was shut down last Thursday. It seems a customer saw Hung Chow and Cat Fu Yung wheeling a dead deer into the kitchen that was stuffed in a garbage can. I kid you not.
The customer immediatly called the health department who....surprisingly...came out right away to investigate. The restaurant owner's son admitted to picking the carcass up off I-75 North just outside of Williamsburg. The health inspector...surprisingly...made a decision on the spot to shut down the eatery. I keep saying 'surprisingly' because we are talking about a government office and government official acting quickly and responsibly. That is almost unheard of in this country.
What is most disturbing in the story is that the people running the place told the inspector they didn't know they weren't allowed to pick up dead animals off the freaking street and carve 'em up for Aunt Bessie to eat when she felt like scarfing down some AUTHENTIC chinese food. Even though they didn't admit to doing this in the past....it BEGS THE QUESTION!!!!
Our hero health inspector, at the end of the story, said something that kind of made me want to hurl. He said they could reopen the restaurant after passing a secondary health inspection proving they had properly sanitized the place.
Now, we all know the stories we've heard in the past about Chinese restaurants. There are many stereotypical jokes about them serving cat, rat, mice, dog and what not. I rarely eat chinese food anymore...just in case. But, we also have stereotypical stories about Kentuckians. I don't know about your area, but in mine the Red Flower Chinese Restaurant could reopen whenever and it wouldn't do them any good. The place would be empty until they were forced to close from lack of funds. Yet, I have a feeling that the people in Kentucky will be forgiving and Aunt Bessie will be plunking down in one of their chairs in no time. After all, stereotypes have some truth in them...don't they? LOL.
That's all for today.