Rats force closure of 3 Santa Rosa restaurants

<p>The Sonoma County Department of Health Services has temporarily closed three Santa Rosa restaurants because of a rat infestation in areas where food is stored and prepared, officials said Wednesday.</p><p>Such closures are rare, especially when they involve so many restaurants at once. Health officials said their action reflected concerns about the infestation possibly exposing the public to food-borne illness.</p><p>However, they stressed that they found no evidence of that potential threat with any of the restaurants in question.</p><p>"We haven't found any kind of contamination in the food," said David Mesagno, supervising environmental health specialist for the health department.</p><p>The three restaurants -- Annapurna, California Thai and Sapporo -- are in the Brickyard Center bordering Seventh and B streets in downtown Santa Rosa.</p><p>A fourth Brickyard establishment -- the Santa Rosa Junior College Culinary Arts Center -- also closed over the weekend because of the infestation but was open again for classes and lunch Wednesday.</p><p>Mesagno said the culinary academy dealt with the problems, which he said were less severe than those at the other restaurants.</p><p>The academy voluntarily closed Sept. 6 after notifying the health department that rat droppings had been discovered in two storage rooms.</p><p>Health inspectors subsequently discovered rats and rat droppings throughout the entire building. Mesagno said the rodents are roof rats, which typically are two to three times larger than a common mouse.</p><p>"They were all over -- in food storage areas, in food prep areas. That's what an active infestation means," Mesagno said.</p><p>The health department immediately issued temporary food license suspensions for the three restaurants, in effect closing them down.</p><p>Mesagno said the establishments will not be allowed to reopen until their owners have proved they have eradicated the rodents, sanitized the facilities and taken steps to keep the problems from recurring. As part of that, the department expects a pest control report, he said.</p><p>The building's owner, George Chang of San Francisco, also will have to seal doors, fix holes in ceiling tiles and make other repairs before the city will sign off on the reopenings, said Mike Reynolds, Santa Rosa's code enforcement officer.</p><p>The city inspected the Brickyard's retail businesses, which include a gym, music store and comics shop, and found no evidence of rats, said Reynolds, who met Monday with Chang's son, William.</p><p>"It's the city's stance that the owner is responsible for the building and that's what we communicated to William," Reynolds said.</p><p>William Chang did not return a call for comment Wednesday.</p><p>Some tenants said the Changs have not been responsive to their concerns about the rat problem.</p><p>Shorshen Wu, Sapporo's owner, said the pest control company he hired to deal with the problem had tried working with the Changs to no avail.</p><p>Wu said he's been aware of the rat problem for months and he had stepped up pest control efforts inside the Japanese restaurant to try and deal with it.</p><p>He also alerted his neighbors, including the culinary academy, in case they were having issues. The fact that led the academy to contact health officials -- and ultimately, to the closure of Wu's business -- frustrated the restaurateur Wednesday.</p><p>"I wish I could just fix my problem," said Wu, who has operated Sapporo at its current site for eight years.</p><p>Mesagno said the reason Sapporo and the other restaurants remain closed is because they have yet to correct the problems that allowed the rat infestation.</p><p>He also stressed that the permits to serve food are issued to the restaurants, not the landlord.</p><p>"They signed the agreement to follow all the rules and regulations that are in the law," Mesagno said.</p><p>Of particular concern is an alleyway of trash cans adjacent to the Seven nightclub, which was not found to have an infestation problem and remained open, Mesagno said.</p><p>He said inspectors also found an illegal food storage closet shared by Annapurna and California Thai and ordered the food to be tossed.</p><p>A man working inside Annapurna on Wednesday declined comment and said the owner was unavailable. California Thai owners could not be reached.</p><p>Annapurna, Sapporo and the culinary academy each received the health department's rating for outstanding commitment to food safety in 2007.</p><p>The designations were based on inspections conducted in 2006.</p><p>Mesagno said that suggests the rat infestation is a recent problem, and he speculated that it may have something to do with the displacement of rodents as a result of construction on Highway 101.</p><p>"They're like any animal," he said. "They're seeking food, shelter and warmth. They're very resourceful."</p><p>SRJC officials also complained Wednesday that the Changs have not moved quickly enough to take care of the infestation.</p><p>The 5,100-square-foot culinary center offers classroom instruction, a cafe, a retail bakery and pastry operation and catering services.</p><p>"When you've got something like this, you need to react immediately," said Paul Bielen, manager of building and equipment maintenance for SRJC. "Waiting 24 hours for something like this is critical."</p><p>Bielen said the college has spent $2,200 so far for a pest control company to set traps for the rats, not just in and near the academy but in common areas.</p><p>The school also brought in custodians and extra janitorial staff to clean the academy, which on Wednesday bustled with activity.</p><p>"We're safe. We're good to go," said Michael Salinger, who wore a chef's hat and is the department chairman for the culinary arts program.</p><p>Asked what was on the menu Wednesday, Salinger said, "No ratatouille. I can tell you that."</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer</p><p>Derek J. Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com.</p>