In the kitchen at Sanaa’s 8th Street Gourmet, chef and owner Sanaa Abourezk watches her three full-time and three-part employees to make sure they have washed their hands properly, and she raises an eyebrow to make sure they’re telling the truth.
“They know I’m watching them every second. … You have to be diligent,” she says.
Abourezk credits her hawkish attention to cleanliness in the kitchen for her restaurant’s high health score inspections. She’s not quite satisfied when the score dips below a perfect 100 – she landed a 97 during an inspection in early February – but she feels OK with the score since she didn’t have major mishaps.