UPDATE: Stickie just alerted me that the Sac Bee is reporting that La Bonne Soupe owner Daniel Pont collapsed and was hospitalized today while working to get his restaurant re-opened. So was the restaurant really ever put up for sale? I am confused. Poor guy, we wish him luck. UPDATE: On Friday October 9 the restaurant passed its reinspection.
I know CoolDMZ is probably the last person you look to at this here Web log for restaurant advice, but since nobody else was touching the news that the beloved and world-renowned La Bonne Soupe was summarily shut down this week after a health inspection turned up a “mild to moderate” cockroach infestation I thought I’d chime in. The report can be viewed here.
My “favorite” item on the report: “Observed one dying cockroach on shelf below register.” How’s that now? Did they have a roach doctor do a little checkup? Did he have emphysema? Maybe cancer of the thorax? The report also shows that there were several roach traps with dead roaches in them.
Most La Bonne fans interviewed on TV news said they’d be faithful to the restaurant if it were to reopen. I’m just saying I’m very glad I never ate there. Those roaches can be resilient little suckers, but on the other hand if I ran a restaurant I don’t know how I could prepare and serve food knowing I had several roach traps going! But I’m no foodie — what do you all think?
The Sac Rag 
Roaches happen. If they were not throwing away contaminated food I would have a problem, but if the roaches were just picking up scraps then so what. Guess what…Nearly every restaurant within a mile of a river has a rat problem, especially if they have ivy. Just be clean and keep my food stored in proper infestation proof containers.
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I would eat there even if there were cockroaches in the sandwiches. Delicious.
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i’d eat there. human mouths and the money he handled have more bacteria than a roach anyway.
if an outbreak of food poisoning were traced back to him, that’d be something to think about.
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Moe – I think it’s probably better to try to prevent outbreaks of disease than to wait until the disease breaks out and then retrace its steps.
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I agree, but as long as people eat ground “angus” beef, nobody has any business criticising this guy over a coupla roaches: http://bit.ly/WOq7T
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I think the FDA should be responsible for quality control at “megacorp” beef suppliers, and the County of Sacramento can be responsible for vermin infestations control at local restaurants, and we can do all of that at the same time. Assuming the FDA is actually doing its part … yeouch
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Of course–no question. There are many other joints with wayyy worse issues (any and perhaps every “fast food” outlet) and his creme brulee is the best I’ve ever tried–tops even the ones I’ve had in France. And roaches are probably “cleaner” than dollar bills anyway…
That front page article in my Times yesterday just goes to show you how lax and idiotic the FDA is–esp’ly since Shrub eviscerated the food oversight departments so his rancher friends could profit.
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Daniel Pont collapsed and was hospitalized today while working to get his restaurant re-opened.
Sounds to me like someone had a nutrient deficiency. Roaches are fortified with vitamins, minerals and Omega 3 fatty acids.
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Really? People add vitamins, minerals and Omega 3 fatty acids to cockroaches?
I figured that those things occurred naturally in roaches, eliminating the need for them to be fortified.
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HURR!
That aside, you’d be hard-pressed to find a restaurant that DOESN’T have cockroaches. Le Bonne Soupe is situated in an old-ass building where much construction has been happening lately. Msr. Pont is an award-winning chef who has worked at many prestigious eateries (Scandia, for one) and there’s a reason a line forms outside LBS at lunchtime. His French Onion soup was voted #1 in the world by Zagat. His food is phenomenal, and he puts love and care into each and every order. He adores his guests, and they adore him back. Soups are made with fresh seasonable vegetables he selects himself. I’ve eaten at LBS many times and have yet to find bad food there. If you’re afraid of roaches you probably should forget about dining out. Make your own soup at home, though it wouldn’t be remotely as good as Msr. Pont’s. Msr. Pont is 70 years old and all this fuss over a couple of roaches is disgraceful.
And if you’re not a foodie, why are you commenting? If you ran a restaurant it would be a miracle if you didn’t find a roach somewhere. So STFU and GBTW.
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Bosnia: Thank you for your input. I understand that the food at LBS is phenomenal and that La Cucaracha, he is everywhere. Like most people who can function in public, I ignore stuff like the fact that there could be cockroaches everywhere until the county inspects and finds them, and then I am grossed out. I don’t see a problem with that. It is not 100% rational but it is human. Shutting down a restaurant for a week to prevent infections caused by vermin infestations is not disgraceful.
I will now GBTW (actually I think I’ll take lunch if that’s OK) but I think it is you who should do the other thing.
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Cockroaches are omnipresent and gross, no argument there. But to put a 70-year old man with a vast culinary background who knows food better than the vast majority of us ever will, through all that BS, is pretty bad. Mayor Johnson isn’t right about many things, but he was accurate in calling Pont “a treasure in our community.” The Dept of Environmental Health Services’ phones have been ringing off the hook with angry phone calls from people pissed off about LBS. The inspectors there likely wouldn’t know quality cooking if it crawled up their ass and died. Oh, and your mom can STFU…
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The EMD does not inspect the quality of cooking. It inspects the cleanliness of the facilities. And by the way, it looks like La Bonne passed the reinspection on Friday.
http://www.foodinspect.saccounty.net/ASP%20Pages/FacilityInfo.asp?FacID=FA0001339
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No doi! At any rate I’m most pleased to see LBS will be back in business soon. More soup for you, and me, and everyone, and good health and good cooking for and from Msr. Pont.
And the EMD can suck it.
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This is why we need to stop big government! First, they won’t let me own an AK-47 assault rifle, now pro-big-government Kevin Johnson won’t let me enjoy a side of roach with my French onion soup.
Our founding fathers must be spinning in their graves!
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La Bonnne Soup Cafe Closes
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