​COUNTY FILES COMPLAINT AGAINST TWO RESTAURANTS CONTINUING TO OPERATE WITHOUT VALID HEALTH PERMITS

(PLACERVILLE, CA) – El Dorado County filed a complaint in Superior Court against two local restaurants which continue to operate without required health permits in violation of the State's Health and Safety Code and County Environmental Health ordinances.  The lawsuit seeks an order from the Court requiring the restaurants to close until they obtain a health permit.

The complaint was filed more than a year after the County Environmental Management Department first suspended the health permits of Apple Bistro and Danette's Brick Oven Pub in Summer 2020 and revoked the permits in September 2020 for violations of state and county health codes, conducted administrative hearings to address the violations and ordered that they close.

The County issued a cease and desist letter to each establishment on October 21, 2021 stating the County would seek all applicable damages, fines and relief, including a closure order from the Court, if the restaurants continued to operate without a valid health permit by October 29, 2021.  The letters were ignored.    

"For more than a year, the County has tried to work cooperatively with these establishments to ensure the health and safety of their patrons and to ensure compliance with the health permit requirement," said County Counsel David Livingston. "For more than a year, the owners and managers of Apple Bistro and Danette's Brick Oven have ignored our efforts and allowed, by virtue of continuing to operate, patrons to assume that they have a valid health permit to operate and that the food they consume is safe when in fact there have been no health and safety inspections since the suspension of their permits.  Unpermitted restaurants are, by definition, operating illegally and are not subject to inspections.  An unsuspecting public may not know that."

County inspections are done twice a year at approximately six month intervals. Apple Bistro was last inspected by County on November 11, 2019. Danette's Brick Oven was last inspected January 1, 2020.

"The County has provided ample opportunity for the owners of these establishments to appeal the suspension of health permits prior to their revocation, to correct course, or cease operations for the health and safety of their patrons. They have defied state law, County ordinances, and administrative orders to close.  They have left the County no other course of action than to involve the Superior Court," Livingston added.

See the Complaint here. 

Cease and desist letters to Apple Bistro are here Jennette Waldow-International Farmers Kitchen.10-22-2021.pdf and here Jennette Waldow-Apple Bistro.10-22-2021.pdf. 

Cease and desist letter to Danette's Brick Oven is here Inman-Danettes.10-22-21.pdf 

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