Remember when Supervisor Janet Nguyen voted against letter grade health ratings for Orange County restaurants? We busted her for not revealing the fact that her husband, Tom Bonikowski, owns a Lee’s Sandwiches franchise in Stanton that has been busted repeatedly by the Orange County Health Department.
The O.C. Register picked up the story and found out that Bonikowski’s partner at that Lee’s franchise is Nguyen’s former Chief of Staff, Andrew Do, who got elected to the Garden Grove City Council with her help, in 2008.
I then found out that Nguyen had taken over twenty thousand dollars in campaign contributions from restaurant owners who have racked up multiple health violations, including the Azteca Restaurant in Garden Grove, where Nguyen likes to drink beer with her remaining supporters. Click here to see their latest violations, which occurred in August and October of this year.
Periodically I check in with the O.C. Health Department to see if Bonikowski has cleaned up his act. Well, he hasn’t. He got busted again this year, in August and in October. Check out these violations:
COMPLAINT INVESTIGATION, INITIAL
10/13/2010
The complaint stated that a costumer was served with a sandwich containing raw bacon.
The complaint was discussed with Frank Valenzuela, manager who was aware of this complaint. He stated that all sandwiches containing bacon are served with the bacon cooked at the required temperature and are not served raw. The boxes of raw bacon were observed to be stored in the walk-in freezer. According to the manager the bacon is transferred directly from the freezer to a bakery tray and baked at 350 F for 15 minutes in the oven. After it has been cooked, the bacon transferred to a container and stored in the cold top insert of the reach-in cooler located in the food preparation area. This date observed slices of cooked bacon stored in the cold top insert of the reach-in cooler in the food preparation area.
8/9/2010
- Inappropriate Sanitizer Level/ Lack of Test Strips
- Change Room Improper Use/Lack of
- Unsanitary Equipment/Utensil/Linen/Plumbing
- Improper Food Storage/Receiving
- Improper Holding Temperatures of PHF
- Evidence of Vermin Activity/Presence of Animals
What letter grade would this Lee’s Sandwiches have if not for Nguyen’s vote AGAINST letter grade health ratings for Orange County restaurants?
My advice? Stay home and eat turkey leftovers!
Maybe the Nguyens should get together with Roland Chi’s family.
Now that would be a putrid combo!
I predict this restaurant will fail in the near future. No one ever eats there for fear of contracting food poisoning or worse.
Art, I take exception with your comment:
“…….. not revealing the fact that her husband, Tom Bonikowski, owns a Lee’s Sandwiches franchise ”
Seriously, does anybody believe that “Tom” owns the business….not the family. What kind of family has a set up where the wife is seperate and immune from the decisions of the husband?
She dodged this on a technical claim. The truth is, she either is a shitty wife or a liar. Maybe both.