Part two: 'Dirty Restaurants'

TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) - There are more than 600 restaurants in Tippecanoe County. But not all are made equal or at least are equally clean.

Tuesday night in part one of our special series Dirty Restaurants, NewsChannel 18 exposed the restaurants with the most violations in the area.

Food officials have several tools at their disposal to force violators to clean up their acts.  You can only see so much from the dining area when you sit down to eat your meal.

How do you know what's going on in the kitchen behind closed doors?

That's the job of food inspectors, but oftentimes, the people with the most power may be the customers themselves.

In a NewsChannel 18 inspection of hundreds of pages of documents, when it comes to restaurants and inspections, it appears perfection is a tough standard.

So what separates the dirty ones from the clean ones?

The Tippecanoe County Health Department Chief of Food said the biggest factor is often management.  It goes from the top down.

"If he has a pro-health, pro-food safety attitude, it's going to be reflected in his help,” said David Drinan, Tippecanoe County Health Department Chief of Food.

Which means if he or she doesn't, diners may be fending for themselves.

David Drinan has 3 file cabinets for current food establishments in the county.  Nearby are 2 file cabinets full of places that didn't make it.

"So that tells you right there in a nutshell what the odds are of running a successful food service business,” said Drinan.

Food inspectors try to do a regular inspection at every establishment at least twice a year, plus follow-ups as needed, issuing non-critical and critical violations.

Critical means it can make you sick.

Get the same critical twice in a row and receive a warning.  Three times in a row and it's a $50 fine. 

Usually, that's enough to get anyone's attention.

"A lot of it is the adverse publicity,” said Drinan.

And a little badgering from their friends and regulars.

"They don't like that, no one likes to be harassed, that puts pressure on them,” said Drinan.

But a food inspection report is just a snapshot of the restaurant at any one time.  Drinan said it's almost impossible for even the best restaurants to not get a critical.

So should people stop going to the worst ones?

"That's a matter of choice. We're not here to dictate where people should go eat,” said Drinan.

Food inspectors issued 190 warnings and 37 fines in 2010 as compared to 98 warnings and 21 fines in 2011, a drop-off almost 50%.

But that doesn't necessarily mean restaurants were cleaner.  Drinan said several inspectors moved away, forcing the department to train new staff and falling behind the scheduled twice-a-year inspections.

After part one of Dan's series aired, management at "Bluefin Bistro" contacted NewsChannel 18.

They had the second most violations in 2011.

Owner Eddie Choe admits the inspections were a disaster and hurt business.

As a result, he said they revamped how they keep food cool, several employees lost their jobs, and management is now more involved.

"We have rules that we need to follow, and procedures and protocol that we need to take care of. We take that very seriously. It was a humbling experience..." said Alvaro Guillen, Bluefin Bistro general manager.

"We're not perfect. We've put ourselves in a better position to succeed,” said Guillen.

Tune in Thursday night for part three of Dirty Restaurants when NewsChannel 18 heads out with a food inspector to see how he does his job and what he finds.

Click here for the list of restaurants receiving warnings in fines from 2010 and 2011 .

Because the dirtiest restaurants over a two-year period look so different from just 2011 results, in addition to the photo gallery of the 'worst of the worst' from 2011 , we've posted a second photo gallery with results from 2010 and 2011 combined , including a restaurant that amassed 57 violations.