Longtime Orick Resturant gets Shutdown

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ORICK, CA (KIEM) – A longtime Orick restaurant is shutdown after county health inspectors found 23 violations.

The Palm Cafe in Orick is closed after Humboldt County Health Inspectors found 23 violations.  According to a restaurant employee, they told 93-Year-Old cafe owner Martha Peals that she had to close around noon Monday while customers were still eating.

“Yesterday they called me and said they’d come out here and shut us down.  And I said why? And they said, well they didn’t really know. They just come out here and said it was not fit for us to be open,” said Martha Peals owner of the Palm Café.

Peals has owned the Café for about 40 years. She tells us, inspectors usually tell her what she needs to fix. She’s had the same pie oven for the past 30 years. Before it wasn’t a problem until now.

“I think they should have been out here talking to me and telling me what I needed to do. Its just as simple as that,” said Peals.

Health inspectors reportedly found cockroaches in the dish wash area, some were dead adults. They also saw rodent holes throughout the facility.

“Nothing bad that was. We all been here for several years. We been okay,” said Peals.

One Orick resident has been coming to the Palm Cafe every day for the last 10 years for breakfast.. He doesn’t like to cook and relies on them for food.

“There’s a lot of people stopping here driving through. They might be only one-time customers, but they’re customers,” said Harold Stevens a Palm Café Regular.

He says, the food for him has not been an issue.

“And a little dirt might accumulate every now and then. Its not getting in the food. I haven’t heard anybody complain,” said Stevens.

Martha just wants to open her business back up. If it were up to her, she would open her doors today.

“I said I think these little people are trying to make themselves big. When they come out here and put poor people like us [out of work] that needs to work and have a job to live,” said Martha.

Its not known when the Palm Cafe will open back up. One thing is for sure, Martha will continue to fight to feed her hungry customers.