DES MOINES, Wash. — Restaurants ordered to close during a boil advisory in parts of Des Moines and Normandy Park are open again and want to make sure customers are aware.
Vietnamese cafe TeaCup says they're already seeing some heartwarming support from the local community after a challenging week during what's normally their busiest time of the year.
"I can feel the love from the community, from the customer, and that's why it gives me a lot of energy to serve the community too," owner Chloe Tran said. "I put a lot of love into the food and the drinks and I love to see the smile on their face."
Tran says when she first found out they needed to close, she was hoping for a timeline for reopening so she could plan for when to start buying supply materials and let her employees know what to expect. But a holiday and the need for multiple tests meant a full-week closure.
"During that time it was very tough for us and for our employees too," Tran said. "During the pandemic, we knew the timeline for when we would need to open and close but this time I had to call in day by day."
Tran says when they got the news they could reopen, they did a deep clean, threw out produce and started fresh. She's looking forward to seeing more of her regulars come back through their doors.
The Washington state Department of Health says E. coli bacteria doesn't typically live in protected groundwater supplies like King County Water District 54's wells, and in this case, they were sampled and the results were good. WADOH says rather, contamination can sometimes get into pipes through leaks when there is a loss of system pressure, which is suspected in this case.