(Photo by Larry Sobczak)
BY LARRY SOBCZAK
EDITOR
The Macomb County Health Department issued an order shutting down The Rustic Bluebird restaurant on North Main Street in Romeo effective Sunday, April 9.
“Our inspector was driving around in her territory and discovered the restaurant’s doors were open last month,” said Celeste Barry, a supervisor at the health department. “They didn’t have a food service license and they didn’t have approval to be open.”
The window of the restaurant, which serves warm and cold sandwiches, soups and salads, was stickered the week of March 23 warning the owners not to reopen until they contacted the health department.
The owners, who are listed as Cortney Wyatt and Deana Hussey according to an Aug. 1 business registration at the Macomb County Clerk’s office, were on vacation but contacted the health department on March 26.
According to Barry, the restaurant was given a temporary 14-day permit to operate while the matter was sorted out. She said that the health department did not receive any complaints about the business.
Calls to the business were not returned before The Record went to press. An answering machine message said that the restaurant was closing at 3 p.m. on Thursday (April 6) and that it would reopen at 11 a.m. on Friday.
A visit to the restaurant Friday afternoon revealed locked front doors and no lights on inside the business. A knock to the front door went unanswered.
Barry said that it is not common for restaurants to open without a license but when it does happen it is because of an inexperienced owner or confusion over who issues food service licenses.
“Sometimes the breakdown is between the city and the health department. If the city issues a permit the owners sometimes assume it covers health inspection.”
Romeo Village Clerk Mike Lee said the building was compliant with building codes before The Rustic Bluebird moved in last August and no further building permits were needed.
“I have no comment. This is a health department matter. The village has no involvement whatsoever,” Lee said.
Barry said that the plans showing the layout of the restaurant would need to be approved and a site visit would be required.
She said that the earliest the restaurant could reopen would be three weeks due to a back log of other restaurants seeking food service licenses in the county.
“There are many businesses in line ahead of them,” Barry said.
“We’re waiting for them to tell us what they want to do. Are they going to reopen or are they going to close?”
