The Coconut Thai restaurant was closed for more than a week by county health inspectors as a result of multiple failed inspections that found "vermin and animal contamination" violations.

County of Sacramento health inspectors first closed the restaurant on Thursday, Nov. 12 for multiple violations, including vermin and animal contamination. It reinspected the restaurant on Friday, Nov. 13, and continued to find vermin and animal contamination.  (Note: I would link to the actual reports, but it appears that the county's Web site displaying these documents is down and has been broken for the last several days.)

A week later, inspectors again failed the restaurant on Friday, Nov. 20 after finding vermin and animal contamination. Finally, on Nov. 25 - nearly two weeks after it was initially closed - health inspectors allowed the restaurant to reopen.

This is the second high profile restaurant to be closed by health officials in the last month. Earlier this week, Cowtown Eats wrote about a downtown La Bou location that was forced to close for a day.

The Coconut has been lauded by critics for its bold flavors. Here's a snippet from Garrett McCord's January 2014 review in Sac News & Review:

Cream-cheese wontons aren’t the epitome of culinary Southeast Asian traditions, but damn it if they aren’t delightful. Soft cream cheese and chives in a crispy wrapper and served with a sweet chili sauce? There is nothing wrong with that, and The Coconut recognizes this...

Read the entire article in Sac News & Review.

As with other restaurants that have faced similar sanctions by the health department, I'll likely eat there again. In fact, since La Bou was closed last week, I've eaten there twice for lunch.

The Coconut is located at 2502 J Street, and can be found online at http://www.coconutmidtown.com/.

H/T CBS 13.

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Goldfield Trading Post was closed for three days due to a rodent infestation, reports Marin Austin on FOX 40.

Last Friday, officials with the county Environmental Management Department shut down the saloon-style restaurant after reportedly finding a dead rodent on the floor next to the ATM machine, seven rodent droppings on top of boxes of sugar and salt, 10 droppings beneath beer taps and two dead cockroaches beneath beer taps...

Goldfield's owner Bret Bair says Goldfield was only closed for three days.

"Rodents entered our [venue] after our landlord opened up the walls to do work on the second floor of the building. [We have since] fixed the problem by patching the walls so there are more no entry points for rodents," Bair said.

Watch the entire video below, or read the entire story on FOX 40.

According to the Sacramento County's Food Facility Inspection Web site, Goldfield was closed after it failed an inspection on Friday, Oct. 2. Among the findings were:

• Observed dead rodent on floor of room located next to ATM machine
• 7 rodent droppings on top of boxes of sugar and salt of dry storage shelf in back walk-in refrigerator area
• 1 dropping on top of container of dry food container in middle prep room
• 1 dropping on clean inverted hotel tray on shelf in middle prep room
• 2 droppings on shelf with clean hotel trays in middle prep room
• 15 droppings on floor of middle prep room, 2 droppings on top of kitchen dishwash machine
• 2 droppings on top of chemical containers near kitchen dishwash machine
• 20 droppings on floor of kitchen dishwash machine
• 4 dropping on floor next to small
• ice machine
• 4 droppings on floor beneath uniform storage area
• 4 droppings in breaker closet
• 10 droppings on floor of near soda syrup rack area
• 10 droppings in cabinet beneath beer dispensers.

The restaurant was reinspected the following day and failed again, per county reports.

• More than 20 rodent droppings in and on condiment rack (salt and pepper shakers, sugar and sweetener containers) under metro shelves in back room.
• More than 50 droppings on floor below rack 
• Partially consumed (gnawed open) sugar packet in condiment tray.
• More than 20 droppings on floor below dish machine drain board - back corner.
• 1 live adult cockroach found in dry storage room after moving condiment rack out from under metro shelf.

The restaurant was again inspected on Monday, Oct. 5 and passed. "No evidence of an active vermin infestation was found," said the report.

Honestly, it's not unusual to have restaurants closed due to vermin infestation. Obviously, you'd prefer that they not happen, but it happens to both good restaurants more often than you think. I've eaten at Goldfield, and despite their temporary closure, I'll eat and drink there again.

Goldfield is located at 1630 J Street, and can be found online at http://goldfieldtradingpost.com/.

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