Bryce's Cafeteria passed a health safety inspection and reopened Thursday, a day after Texarkana, Texas, city officials shut down the local restaurant for failing three inspections within 10 days.
Bryce's scored a B grade on Thursday morning's re-inspection, good enough to lift the suspension of its operating license, city Public Information Director Lisa Thompson said. The cafeteria resumed serving diners at 11 a.m., its normal opening hour.
The Texas-side Inspection and Code Division suspended the restaurant's license at about 5 p.m. Wednesday, citing multiple unaddressed health code violations. Printed on red paper and posted on the door, an official notice of the cafeteria's closure greeted customers arriving for dinner service.
Lydia Lawrence, wife of Bryce's co-owner Bryce Lawrence Jr., said the process was fair and the health inspectors had been cooperative in helping the restaurant comply with regulations.
"They worked with us and gave us the opportunity to do what we needed to do to get back in compliance," she said. She added that officials are keeping the restaurant aware of any new regulations that may affect its operations.
"We do take food safety seriously," she said, "and we're working diligently to make sure everything is up to code."
The restaurant's inspection score improved from 54 on Wednesday to 89 on Thursday.
Wednesday's inspection report, prepared by inspector Jennifer Plant, listed numerous failures to keep the premises clean and food at safe temperatures, including to-go orders not kept hot enough, dirty wiping cloths on surfaces food contacts, and trash spilled out of lidless garbage cans.
By Thursday morning, all but one of those issues had been resolved to Plant's satisfaction, her report shows. The sole remaining problem is a food cooler in need of repair.
Lawrence said the cooler cannot be repaired until new parts arrive, but in the meantime, all prepared food has been moved to a different, fully operable cooler to keep it safe to eat. She expects inspectors to return within a few days to verify that the broken cooler has been fixed.
Thompson said the cafeteria's license suspension Wednesday puts it on a schedule of more frequent health safety inspections in the near future. Inspectors will return within 7 days, 30 days and 60 days. In the absence of any code-compliance problems, Texarkana, Texas, inspectors normally visit restaurants twice a year.
Started by Bryce Lawrence Sr., the cafeteria has been open since 1931, according to its website, brycescafeteria.com. Its current owners are Lawrence's sons, Bryce Lawrence Jr. and Richard Lawrence.