Delaware

Delaware County restaurant inspections: Rampant problems with lack of labeling food, expirations; ton of food tossed

Published

2 years ago

April 29, 2024

Delaware County restaurant inspections: Rampant problems with lack of labeling food, expirations; ton of food tossed

Violations and comments on food-safety inspections conducted last week by the Delaware County Health Department of establishments with liquor licenses, which contained 16 with violations in 23 visits, meaning seven clean bills of health, likely most in a week:

Pat’s Pizzeria, 2900 Township Line Road, Drexel Hill:

• Hand washing sink blocked by rice pot.

Buena Onda, 226 N. Radnor Chester Road, Wayne:

• Bulk food storage container and margaritas mix bottles are not labeled.

• In-Use scoop is stored with handle touching flour.

Estia Taverna, 222 N. Radnor Chester Road, Radnor:

• Food storage containers are not labeled.

La Porta Ristorante, 1192 N. Middletown Road, Media:

• Cutting boards are severely scratched and pitted, which prevents proper cleaning and sanitizing to prevent pathogenic microorganism transmission.

• A sign or poster that notifies food employees to wash their hands is not provided at all handwashing sinks used by food employees.

• Ice machine is not clean to sight and touch.

• Date marking is not on all open food.

• Food is not marked with a use-by date.

• Food storage containers are not labeled.

Pietro’s, 236 N. Radnor Chester Road, Radnor:

• An employee beverage is uncovered cup in the food preparation area.

• Squid is thawing at room temperature in the prep sink.

• Food storage containers are not labeled.

• In-use utensils scoop is stored with the handle in the ice at the bar ice tray.

• Cardboard being utilized as a floor liner near the prep table area is not removable or easily cleanable.

Cristoforo Colombo Lodge 109, 8503 Lansdowne Ave., Upper Darby:

• Food on Refrigerator is not marked with a use-by date.

• Food-Contact surface at ice machine is no longer smooth and easily cleanable.

La Locanda Ristorante, 4989 West Chester Pike, Edgmont:

• Food storage containers are not labeled.

Rey Azteca Mexican Restaurant, 4755 West Chester Pike, Newtown Square:

• Date marking is not on all open food.

• Food is not marked with a use-by date.

• Disposable paper towels not provided at the hand washing sink

Brick & Brew, 26 W. State St., Media:

• Exterior door allows access for pests.

• Can opener can no longer be cleaned and sanitized and/or is damaged beyond repair.

• Soil residue present on air vents in the refrigeration units.

Charlotte’s Restaurant, 3207 West Chester Pike, Newtown Square:

• Food employee washed hands in the food prep sink.

• Food employee improperly washed hands.

• Food employee was thawing food at hand washing sink.

• A sign or poster that notifies food employees to wash their hands is not provided at all handwashing sinks used by food employees.

• Disposable paper towels not provided at the hand washing sink.

• Observed molluscan shellfish without shellstock tag.

• Owner could not show an invoice for molluscan shellfish, therefore shellfish is not from an approved source.

• Food establishment is not maintaining an approved record keeping system for shellstock tags.

• Container of shellstock located in (reach in/walk in cooler) without proper shellstock tag identification.

• Raw eggs stored above pots of ready to eat food items in walk-in cooler.

• Date marking is not on all food items.

• Working container of cleaner not properly labeled.

• Medication found on counter in kitchen area.

• Employees personal items (shoes & clothing) found in food storage area of facility.

• Observed frozen food items thawing at room temperature in handwash sink area of kitchen.

• Molluscan Shellfish have been removed from their original container.

• Observed bulk food storage containers (sugar, flour, breadcrumbs etc.) are not labeled.

• Linens are in direct contact with food in the reach in refrigerator.

• In-use wiping cloths are not stored properly.

• In-Use Utensils are stored incorrectly wedged between prep tables.

New Chester Deli, 60 W. Ninth St., Chester:

• Base coving was not found on the floor and wall junctures.

• Floors, Walls and Ceilings in the throughout facility were found in a state of disrepair, or not to be smooth and easily cleanable.

The Happy Inn, 11 Main St., Darby:

• Chicken wings 45.9F in Bain Marie on cook line. Time/Temperature Control for Safety Food is not maintained at 41°, or less.

• Comment: Send invoice/ work order from licensed repair company.

UNO Chicago Grill, 3910 West Chester Pike, Newtown Square:

• Date marking is not on all food items.

• Food storage containers are not labeled. Identify food storage containers with common name of the food.

• Observed an old fly trap in the food prep area.

• Soil residue present on the floor of both walk-in coolers and walk-in freezer.

• The unisex restroom lacks a covered receptacle for disposal of feminine hygiene products.

• Multiple light fixtures in the hood system are out and need to be replaced.

• Make-up air / Exhaust vents in the food prep area were found with accumulation of dust and rust on them.

Chadds Ford Tavern, 1400 Baltimore Pike, Chadds Ford:

• Food storage containers are not labeled. Identify food storage containers with common name of the food.

• Date marking is not on all open food.

• PIC did not demonstrate knowledge of licensing requirements.

Shere-E-Punjab Indian Restaurant, 210 W. State St., Media:

• A sign or poster that notifies food employees to wash their hands is not provided at all handwashing sinks used by food employees.

• Date marking is not on all food items.

• A thermometer is not provided in the all refrigeration units.

• Smoothie mix stored in milk containers.

• Food stored in an unapproved location on the floor in the walk in refrigeration units.

• The unisex restroom lacks a covered receptacle for disposal of feminine hygiene products.

Texas Roadhouse, 1051 Baltimore Pike, Glen Mills:

• Baked potatoes not marked with a use-by date.

• Food is not protected from contamination in walk in refrigerator.

• Eggs stored below fresh vegetables.

• Date of 4/21/2024 marked on Au Jus exceeds the time limit.

• Date of 4/20/2024 marked on marinara sauce exceeds the time limit.

• All open food is not marked with a use-by date.

A la carte

Most of the violations are handled on the spot — usually by moving or discarding any food in question and cleaning what was found to be dirty — and a few require follow-up visits.

Delaware County presents the inspections with no further comment than above.

The inspections this week were 18 routine and five follow-ups. However, it was also the fourth time in a month Pat’s Pizzeria has been listed, and second time in a month that UNO has been listed.

There were also five businesses with repeat violations, including UNO.

Clean bills of health this week (no violations):

• Artillery Brewing Co., 4221 Ferne Blvd., Drexel Hill.

• Paddy Rooney’s Pub, 449 West Chester Pike, Havertown.

• Hilldale Kitchen, 190 S. MacDade Blvd., Darby Town Center, Darby.

• The Manoa Tavern, 8 N. Manoa Road, Havertown.

• Callahan’s Tavern, 7403 West Chester Pike, Upper Darby.

• Trophy Tavern, 4214 Woodland Ave., Drexel Hill.

• Jamey’s House of Music, 32 S. Lansdowne Ave., Lansdowne.

The Daily Times corrects only overtly improper spelling, capitalization, abbreviation and punctuation from the reports.

There are many more inspections performed by the county than those listed above. Those inspections are in food-serving locations that do not have liquor licenses.

Tinicum Township reports through the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture website. There were no inspections for the week.

Tinicum is the only one of the seven Delaware County townships that doesn’t rely on the county health department for inspections that reports through the state.

Governmental entities are not obligated to report the results of food-safety inspections to the public.

Here are the previous inspections in Delaware County.

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Delaware

New Castle County Council finally votes on data center regulations

Published

11 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

New Castle County Council finally votes on data center regulations

New Castle County approved data center rules that will not apply to Project Washington.
It came after hours of public comment and council compromise.
The ordinance restricts water usage and creates buffers between data centers and residential areas.

New Castle County Council approved regulations on the development of data centers Tuesday night.

They won’t apply to the massive proposed data center complex of Project Washington, which continues to fight through state-level objections.

The County Council meeting was standing room only. The crowd of both construction workers supporting the legislation and community members opposing it spread into the lobby of the Louis Redding City/County Building.

The ordinance requires data centers to have a closed-loop water cooling system to limit its water use and creates a 1,000-foot buffer between data centers and residential areas, with an exception for 500-foot buffers if a development can follow noise regulations. It also defaults to existing county limits on noise and lighting levels.

A unanimously approved amendment from Pike Creek representative Timothy Sheldon clarified that these new regulations count for applications submitted after this gets adopted and approved by County Executive Marcus Henry, unless an existing applicant requests to follow these new regulations.

It passed with 12 ‘yes’ votes, with Councilmember Jea P. Street absent from the vote itself.

This was the only amendment left standing. An amendment from Janet Kilpatrick, representing Hockessin, would have grandfathered existing data centers from the ordinance, clarifying that any pending proposal in the county wouldn’t be affected. Another amendment, from Claymont representative John Cartier, would’ve made the ordinance retroactive to count for Project Washington and others. Both were withdrawn at the meeting in a council compromise.

Project Washington’s plans north of Delaware City kicked local data center dialogue into high gear in 2025. The data center project would include 11 two-story data center buildings surrounded by electrical fields on two large land parcels accessible by Hamburg Road, Governor Lea Road and River Road.

It would be 6 million square feet of data center running 24 hours a day, seven days week.

The project’s developer, Starwood Digital Ventures, pledges job creation and and a colossal injection of tax revenue into the coffers of the county and Colonial School District. They said this will bring about 3,500 construction jobs and retain 700 permanent jobs to keep the facility up and running.

County Council member Dave Carter has spent months drafting the regulations that were voted on during this meeting. This is substitute number three on the original bill from August 2025, including compromises on noise and lighting restrictions. Carter wants sensible data center regulation in the county, and he told Delaware Online/The News Journal in March he thinks Project Washington is a “bad deal” for the state.

He thinks the potential demand on the state’s already strained electrical bid will hurt residents’ bills. He also disputes the developers’ promises on permanent jobs and tax revenue.

“We just have to really be cognizant and thoughtful and make sure that we are ensuring that we protect our communities, and that we manage these things well if they are coming,” Carter said at the meeting.

It hasn’t been an easy sell to the rest of County Council. Council member Janet Kilpatrick, who represents Hockessin, wanted consistent regulations on lighting and noise levels to avoid scaring off potential business. Data centers have sprung up across the country as the highly demanding AI industry exploded in popularity.

“If we don’t have some stability, these people are not going to be able to go through a lender to get money, and so that means that they leave, and I’m sure that there’s a group of people in this room that would love to see them leave, but that’s not how we build economic development,” she said at the meeting. “Part of what we need, in my mind, in economic development is that we have a stable land use code.”

Although this doesn’t apply to the controversial Project Washington, County Council will still have a say on the re-zoning of half of the project’s land. The County Board of Adjustment will also have to approve its electrical switch station, Culver said.

At the meeting, residents showed up with mainly negative comments for Project Washington. But, members of trade unions showed up in support of the project’s potential to create construction jobs.

Starwood Digital Ventures will continue to move through the approval process with no changes to Project Washington, according to Jim Lamb, who is handling media for the project.

“We’re really happy there’s a consensus within the council and it’s a really great opportunity for the residents of New Castle County,” Lamb said Tuesday night.

Now this goes to County Executive Marcus Henry’s office, who can sign or veto these regulations.

Half of Project Washington’s proposed land still needs a re-zone, which requires council approval. The project was stifled by DNREC, who ruled the proposal’s size, use and backup diesel generators violate the decades-old Coastal Zone Act.

Starwood Digital Ventures disagrees, and filed and appeal, saying the state environmental agency didn’t classify the project correctly and said it “solely focuses on alleged environmental risk and worst-case emissions, and does not fairly weigh or explain these countervailing factors in light of regulating criteria.”

The appeal’s hearing is in Dover and begins on March 24.

Shane Brennan covers Wilmington and other Delaware issues. Reach out with ideas, tips or feedback at slbrennan@delawareonline.com.

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Delaware

Coast Guard Responding to Large Barge Fire in Delaware Bay

Published

23 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Coast Guard Responding to Large Barge Fire in Delaware Bay

The U.S. Coast Guard and multiple partner agencies are responding to a barge fire in Delaware Bay on Tuesday after a tug reported that the vessel it was towing had caught fire.

According to the Coast Guard, watchstanders at Sector Delaware Bay received a call at approximately 8:20 a.m. from the tug Douglas J, reporting that the barge under tow was on fire. The barge was reportedly carrying scrap metal.

Authorities are towing the burning barge to a position about two miles off Maurice River Cove, New Jersey, in an effort to move the incident away from the main shipping channel while firefighting operations continue.

The Coast Guard has established a safety zone and issued a Broadcast Notice to Mariners as crews work to contain the fire and reduce potential hazards to vessel traffic in the busy port complex. Multiple fire departments have deployed fireboats to assist with suppression efforts.

No injuries have been reported and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Responders from Coast Guard Station Philadelphia, Coast Guard Station Cape May, and Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City have been deployed to assist. Partner agencies on scene include the Wilmington Fire Department, Delaware City Fire Department, Philadelphia Fire Department, New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, and Delaware Emergency Management.

The incident follows another major barge fire in the Delaware Bay region in 2022, when a barge carrying scrap household appliances burned for approximately 26 hours in what officials described as the largest firefighting operation in Delaware state history.

Response operations for the current fire remain ongoing.

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Delaware

DMV in Minquadale, Delaware reopening months after trooper’s death

Published

1 day ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

DMV in Minquadale, Delaware reopening months after trooper’s death

Tuesday, March 10, 2026 9:34AM

MINQUADALE, Del. (WPVI) — The DMV in Wilmington, Delaware is reopening at 8a.m. Tuesday.

This comes after the deadly shooting of State Trooper Matthew “Ty” Snook, 34, in December 2025.

A man walked into the facility and shot and killed Snook.

The DMV said service at the Wilmington location will be by appointment only for now. The Delaware City, Dover, and Georgetown DMV locations will continue to offer walk-in service to customers.

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