Mouse Shuts Down Schatzi in Arnold’s Building

Gathering Marbet
Special to The Lookout

August 24 -- The Governor’s former Santa Monica restaurant, Schatzi on Main, was shut down for a week by health inspectors when they discovered signs of more than one mouse in the house.

The high priced steak, martini and cigar lounge, previously owned by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, was closed from August 11 to August 17 for “vermin” infestations of the rat and cockroach variety along with “more minor” cleanliness issues, County Health officials said.

Schatzi, which is housed in a building that Schwarzenegger still owns, was one of four restaurants shut down on Main Street this month for rodent and other related reasons.

All four -- including Main Street Bagels, Rick’s Tavern and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf -- are now reopened with a B rating.

According to officials, Schatzi was closed the longest because it required recurrent inspections.

“Schatzi in particular was not reopened the first time” after a return inspection, said Terrance Powell, manager of Environmental Health Services for the County. “We still found (rodent) activity so we didn’t reopen them.”

Health officials returned to Schatzi on Main twice to find insufficient changes made to the “unsatisfactory health conditions” found in their initial surprise inspection, said Powell.

Besides bugs and rodents, there were a “number of cleaning issues” that Schatzi needed to address before business could resume as usual, Powell said.

“A cooler at the main line had standing water and mold accumulation,” Powell said. “And they needed to clean some of the shelving off from rodent droppings.”

Other noted violations were “shelled eggs” stored at unsafe temperatures, fans in the walk-in coolers that needed to be cleaned to keep from spewing accumulated debris onto refrigerated food stuffs, gnaw marks in the storage room and unsealed gaps, holes and openings that allowed vermin easy access, officials said.

Because Schatzi is a full-service restaurant with “more complex food handling,” it is subjected to at least three yearly inspections, Powell said.

Other food venues, such as The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Main Street Bagels, which offer limited food choices that require less handling, are usually inspected twice a year.

“It’s based on risk, which pertains to people getting sick or harmed,” Powell said.

Main Street business officials did not seem overly concerned by the recent restaurant closures.

“I understand that the businesses are open again,” said Gary Gordon, director of the Main Street Merchants Association. “So presumably the problem is taken care of.”

Gordon said that he is not aware of any ongoing difficulties with rodents on Main Street, nor has he received any complaints from business owners about the inspections.

“If they were doing something that created the problem, or if there was something that was making them vulnerable to the problem, I just don’t know,” Gordon said about the restaurant infestations.

“Nobody called on this one like they do if there’s a new health regulation that they feel is unfair,” Gordon said.

Even if there is a health problem, the association, which promotes Main Street businesses, would have no regulatory powers.

“The only thing we could do is acknowledge it or pretend it wasn’t there,” Gordon said. “But what could we do that would be more powerful than what the Health Department already does?”

The rating system which inspectors use to grade restaurants is based on the severity of conditions that might effect the public’s health.

Signs of rodent infestations are considered “high risk” and are a six point deduction from a restaurant’s initial 100 point allotment, otherwise known as an “A” rating, Powell said.

Other infractions receive one or four point deductions, and any restaurant receiving less than a “C” rating -- or 70 points -- will have an extra yearly inspection added to whatever minimum inspections their business level already requires, Powell said.

Besides the letter ratings, restaurants are required to display another sign -- a copy of their most recent inspection -- which includes a phone number where customers can ask more detailed questions about the health history of any restaurant they visit, Powell said.