Jon Ahagenson said the last week has been “a whole ordeal.”
As a bartender at Madre Oaxacan Restaurant & Mezcaleria in Valencia — the subject of an L.A. County Department of Public Health investigation that has yielded 40 cases of salmonella, as of Thursday, in an outbreak linked to the restaurant — he said it’s been a long eight days getting ready to reopen.
The restaurant was closed by Public Health last week following numerous reports of people experiencing symptoms of food poisoning after dining there earlier this month. A Public Health inspection conducted last week yielded a “C” rating, with 12 violations listed in the report.
Those violations have since been corrected, and a new inspection conducted Wednesday saw the restaurant earn an “A” rating.
On Thursday, owner Ivan Vasquez officially reopened his doors to the public.
“It’s been very difficult for the last eight days, but we finally decided to open safe and responsible with our team members,” Vasquez said. “We feel devastated for the people that went through this outbreak in the restaurant, but we also feel the support of the community, that they’ve been calling when we’re (going to) open. And I feel very grateful that, you know, we’re back in business.”
Employees could be seen wiping down tables while Vasquez was helping serve food to customers at a couple of tables.
Ahagenson was making a drink for a customer using new juices, as what the restaurant previously had available expired in the week it was closed. He said he spent 10 hours Wednesday night prepping to make sure he was ready to fill whatever order he was given.
“We have taken every precautionary step that we could,” Ahagenson said. “We’ve done meetings while we were closed and gone over what has been going on with the Health Department, with the (Centers for Disease Control), all of that good stuff. Went through another round of training on hand washing, making sure everything’s all sparkly clean.”
Vasquez said the source of the outbreak is still unknown, but everything in the restaurant has been sanitized per Public Health guidelines and new food supplies have been delivered.
“We’re following all the protocols, just like we did before, and also the assurance from the Health Department that gave us our ‘A’ grade back,” Vasquez said. “Very happy, but also very conscious about the responsibility that we have, as we always have before.”
