According to the FBI affidavit of the comet ping pong 'shooter' there is a 'rear door into the restaurant' (6) leading to 'a freezer in an alley behind the restaurant' (20).
Where is the rear door, and where is the freezer? If the freezer is to the left of Comet in these pictures, it must be the cubic structure at the back of Little Red Fox. But where is the door? If the freezer is to the right of Comet there, the rear door must be on the short side (hard to see whether there is one). But there's no freezer in the parking lot on McCullough's side.
So if the rear entrance is indeed on the short side, the freezer can really only be inside McCullough, entered through its back door.
We can see that, at least as far as the DC Health Department is concerned, there is no localized walk-in freezer being inspected, meaning it's not on the plans the DoH has. Any walk-in freezer would be discovered by a routine inspection unless well-hidden (tough due to evaporators and ventilation needed, but not impossible).
So it does follow that if there is a walk-in freezer, it being inside a different building explains why the Health Department never records inspecting it (as they never see it).
I want to also note that Buck's Fishing and Camping DOES have a noted walk-in freezer being inspected:
So they're just using wall-unit refrigerators at Comet? That's odd, since MIXING PIZZA DOUGH all but requires a walk-in cooler, due to the AMOUNT of dough that must be mixed... you basically fill large garbage-can-sized containers (white, sanitary) with the fresh dough, cover it with a damp cloth, let it rise, "punch it down" (after the first rise), let it rise again, and then you'll start breaking it out for individual crusts.
But that all needs to be done AHEAD of time, because it requires HOURS for the dough to rise... and that amount of dough? One day's worth for a pizza joint? Would EASILY fill 3 industrial sized reach-in coolers, not to mention those are expensive to run on that scale, so yeah. my guess is they have at minimum one walk-in cooler, available on premises or very very near. They'd almost have to.
Worked at rocky ricocos in my teen years. Specifically came in on weekends to make dough. Your estimations on how much dough is needed for a single day does not line up with my experience. I would make less than what you describe and it would be a week's worth of dough at rockys. So unless comet is LIKE WAY WAY WAY WAAAAY BUSY ALL THE TIME, I am gonna have to disagree with your assessment. BUT I will say that it was still a lot of dough and we definitely let it rise in the walk in cooler.
When I used to work at Little Caesars we cut the dough right out of the Hobart and roll them into balls and put them on oiled large cookie sheets in rolling racks that were then rolled into the walk in fridge, we were the busiest in Tucson and it was only one large walk in, the racks hold a lot. A small place like Comet could do it with one walk in, maybe that is why Buck's has a walk-in, it may hold food for Comet.
I know that some places use a dough pre-mix that is incredibly fast-rising and can be prepped more frequently than daily in smaller batches -- though these are usually larger chains trying to save on costs. I checked Besta's DoH record as well; no walk-in inspected/found onsite:
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anolegion ago
According to the FBI affidavit of the comet ping pong 'shooter' there is a 'rear door into the restaurant' (6) leading to 'a freezer in an alley behind the restaurant' (20).
Where is the rear door, and where is the freezer? If the freezer is to the left of Comet in these pictures, it must be the cubic structure at the back of Little Red Fox. But where is the door? If the freezer is to the right of Comet there, the rear door must be on the short side (hard to see whether there is one). But there's no freezer in the parking lot on McCullough's side.
So if the rear entrance is indeed on the short side, the freezer can really only be inside McCullough, entered through its back door.
Spindle ago
This is posted elsewhere in this thread (buried), but here are links to the most recent DoH inspections:
Routine: http://dc.healthinspections.us/webadmin/DHD_431/lib/mod/inspection/paper/_paper_food_inspection_report.cfm?inspectionID=830960&wguid=1367&wgunm=sysact&wgdmn=431
Followup: http://dc.healthinspections.us/webadmin/DHD_431/lib/mod/inspection/paper/_paper_food_inspection_report.cfm?inspectionID=831396&wguid=1367&wgunm=sysact&wgdmn=431
We can see that, at least as far as the DC Health Department is concerned, there is no localized walk-in freezer being inspected, meaning it's not on the plans the DoH has. Any walk-in freezer would be discovered by a routine inspection unless well-hidden (tough due to evaporators and ventilation needed, but not impossible).
So it does follow that if there is a walk-in freezer, it being inside a different building explains why the Health Department never records inspecting it (as they never see it).
I want to also note that Buck's Fishing and Camping DOES have a noted walk-in freezer being inspected:
http://dc.healthinspections.us/webadmin/DHD_431/lib/mod/inspection/paper/_paper_food_inspection_report.cfm?inspectionID=831015&wguid=1367&wgunm=sysact&wgdmn=431
yabbadoody ago
So they're just using wall-unit refrigerators at Comet? That's odd, since MIXING PIZZA DOUGH all but requires a walk-in cooler, due to the AMOUNT of dough that must be mixed... you basically fill large garbage-can-sized containers (white, sanitary) with the fresh dough, cover it with a damp cloth, let it rise, "punch it down" (after the first rise), let it rise again, and then you'll start breaking it out for individual crusts.
But that all needs to be done AHEAD of time, because it requires HOURS for the dough to rise... and that amount of dough? One day's worth for a pizza joint? Would EASILY fill 3 industrial sized reach-in coolers, not to mention those are expensive to run on that scale, so yeah. my guess is they have at minimum one walk-in cooler, available on premises or very very near. They'd almost have to.
ALDO_NOVA ago
the guy fieri video shows the dough cooler - it is a small fridge
https://youtu.be/l1IMUT5B7wA?t=91
soooooo.....yeah
ZalesMcMuffin ago
Yep, right at the start of the video.
markrod420 ago
Worked at rocky ricocos in my teen years. Specifically came in on weekends to make dough. Your estimations on how much dough is needed for a single day does not line up with my experience. I would make less than what you describe and it would be a week's worth of dough at rockys. So unless comet is LIKE WAY WAY WAY WAAAAY BUSY ALL THE TIME, I am gonna have to disagree with your assessment. BUT I will say that it was still a lot of dough and we definitely let it rise in the walk in cooler.
JastheMace ago
When I used to work at Little Caesars we cut the dough right out of the Hobart and roll them into balls and put them on oiled large cookie sheets in rolling racks that were then rolled into the walk in fridge, we were the busiest in Tucson and it was only one large walk in, the racks hold a lot. A small place like Comet could do it with one walk in, maybe that is why Buck's has a walk-in, it may hold food for Comet.
Spindle ago
I know that some places use a dough pre-mix that is incredibly fast-rising and can be prepped more frequently than daily in smaller batches -- though these are usually larger chains trying to save on costs. I checked Besta's DoH record as well; no walk-in inspected/found onsite:
http://dc.healthinspections.us/webadmin/DHD_431/lib/mod/inspection/paper/_paper_food_inspection_report.cfm?inspectionID=813894&wguid=1367&wgunm=sysact&wgdmn=431