The world is in chaos and the Santa Monica Erewhon apparently has roaches. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health found a “major” violation at Erewhon’s Wilshire Boulevard location, according to an April 8 inspection report posted to the agency website. The store was open on Thursday, with shoppers happily milling about, but its tonic bar had been closed. (“I thought they were just doing a deep clean,” one employee said.)
Erewhon’s corporate office confirmed the bug issue, writing in a statement that “We deeply regret that a roach was found in our tonic bar, and we sincerely apologize for this lapse in our standards.” A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health directed me to its website, “which provides you with all information that is available right now.” Per agency guidance, a cockroach infestation is “evidenced by one or more live cockroaches in the food preparation, food storage, warewashing, indoor customer dining area, or restrooms.”
The Los Angeles health-food mini-chain, notorious (beloved?) for stunts like selling single-packed strawberries flown directly from Japan ($20 each), a Hailey Bieber–branded smoothie for glazed skin (also $20), and a commitment to general expensiveness, justifies its prices in part by claiming impeccable sourcing and cleanliness. It apparently met its roach issue with the same vigor, according to the statement: “Upon receiving the report, we immediately took action.” The company added that its locations get weekly visits from pest control and that it employs a “third-party food safety facilities consultant.” Erewhon expects the health department back this afternoon and hopes to reopen its tonic bar promptly.
The general Los Angeles health-food community has endured other such health-related run-ins. In 2020, an image of a bucket of moldy jam at the macrobiotically inclined restaurant Sqirl in Virgil Village took over the city and internet and sparked a wave of investigative journalism into the restaurant’s practices. (Its owner, Jessica Koslow, admitted the mold issue at the time and cited the “guidance of preservation mentors and experts like Dr. Patrick Hickey,” a mycologist. Hickey said that he did not recall ever speaking with her and that he would not recommend mold use in this commercial-kitchen context.) Sqirl survived. Surely Erewhon will, too.