DAVIE, Fla. – A South Florida restaurant owner who went on a verbal tirade and lashed out at Local 10′s Jeff Weinsier is back in the news again -- this time for all the right reasons.
In January, Joe Lay, the owner of Esposito’s New York Coal Fired Pizza in Davie, didn’t appear too happy to be featured in Local 10’s Dirty Dining report.
But we promised we’d be back at the business if they got zero violations, and they did!
Weinsier pulled up to the business this week to hand Lay his Clean Plate award, but initially was told that Lay wasn’t in.
After confirming he was there to present Lay with the Clean Plate award, Lay finally came out.
“Thank you,” Lay told Weinsier.
It was a much different response than back in January when Lay told Weinsier he was a snake.
“We are snakes because you have roaches?” Weinsier asked.
“Like your mother -- your mother has roaches,” Lay said.
“My mother has roaches?” Weinsier asked. “My mother? What are you 6 years old? That’s the way you handle it instead of coming out and talking to us like a human being?”
“Go f*** yourself,” Lay responded.
That altercation occurred in January when Esposito’s was ordered shut for a roach and flying insect issue.
In addition to calling Weinsier a f***ing piece of s***, Lay went on social media and on an internet podcast, bashing Local 10 and saying it would never happen again.
But it did. Months later, his restaurant was ordered shut for a second time as there were more violations.
A roach and flying insect issue was found again and a stop sale was ordered on food items being held at an unsafe temperature.
And still, Lay didn’t seem to take accountability.
“I think you should do a better job,” Lay told Weinsier.
“Well, you were ordered shut,” Weinsier responded.
“I shouldn’t have been shut down the first time. I shouldn’t have been shut down the second time. It should have been a warning,” Lay said.
Lay now claims that back then he was in wheelchair for months recovering from a hamstring issue and wasn’t at the restaurant as often as he usually was to keep things in order, but he never said that to Local 10 at the time.
“I have been here every day, open to close, since that day,” he said. “We run a clean house, just like everything else.”
The bottom line is Esposito’s is clean, making a turn around with zero violations on its latest food safety inspection report.
“I’m a clean guy,” Esposito said. “I’m a clean guy and this is a clean restaurant.”