Sir, there's a fly on my salad

I can't stand the idea of bugs, flies, spiders or any sort of insect near me, much less in my food. Fortunately or unfortunately, diners have no clue and no control of what goes on inside the kitchens of most restaurants. Who knows what the conditions are like behind the swinging doors. At a few establishments, however, the kitchen or prep area is out in the open. I'm referring to places like Subway, Quizno's, taco stands, and to some extent, Panda Express and El Pollo Loco.

For lunch the other day, I stopped at O Salads, a restaurant in Irwindale that's basically a large salad bar. The last thing I expected to see was flies buzzing around, but I saw at least three. One was a super plump fly resting on the counter. Another was flying wildly all over the restaurant. The third was crawling on the slices of carrots and cauliflower.

You might say that three flies is no big deal. I'm sure there are worse kitchens and more serious health violations at other restaurants. And really, O Salads seems like a very clean, well-run restaurant. But watching the flies buzz around made me lose my appetite for a salad.

I went next door to Xa Vietnamese Grill and ordered a plate of grilled beef over rice.