Redondo Eateries Must Post Grades

Starting next month, Redondo Beach restaurants must post their inspection grades as the city finally joins the county system designed to prevent food-related illness.

The City Council, which had put off the issue since Los Angeles County health officials devised the system five years ago, voted last week to require the postings.

Originally, Mayor Greg Hill said, “We were concerned restaurants would get a B just for having a bad day, if a cockroach happened to run across the floor. And then [the issue] just fell off the radar screen. We had more important things on our plate.”

County health inspectors have long assigned grades to all restaurants, but it has been left to cities to decide whether they must be posted.

Fewer than 10 cities still do not require the postings, said John Schunhoff, chief of operations for the Los Angeles County Office of Public Health Programs and Services. They include Azusa, Avalon, Montebello and San Marino. Pasadena and Long Beach, which both operate their own local health departments, do not require grade postings.

In Redondo Beach, restaurants receiving A ratings typically have posted them, while those with lower scores have not.

Tina Gonzalez, who manages Ruby’s Diner in the city, said that although her restaurant routinely receives an A, she understands why other restaurateurs might be dismayed by the new requirement.

“The inspectors always come at peak hours, when you’re busy and things don’t get put away,” she said. “Restaurants might get a lower rating because of that, even though first thing in the morning they’re spotless.”

Schunhoff said that’s the point. “We want to see a place when it’s busy, because that’s when there’s a great risk of things going wrong,” he said.

Inspectors deduct points for violations, depending on how much risk they could pose to consumers. Major infractions include leaving perishable food out or the presence of vermin.

“We’re not just hitting people up for tick-tacky things,” Schunhoff said.

Redondo Beach restaurants that are clean “should welcome the change,” he said. “The ones who complain will have a reason to be complaining.”

County officials have refined the system since its inception, trying to prevent minor infractions that were low-risk and easily fixed from tarnishing a restaurant’s grade.

Both officials and some restaurant owners said they consider it rare for a deserving restaurant to receive less than an A grade.

“I have no problem with it at all,” said the manager of the Happy Clam in Redondo Beach. “If you’re an A restaurant, you’re an A restaurant. If you’re a C, that’s a different story.”