Peking reopens, reaches deal with LDH

Ruston’s Peking Buffet is back in business.

Third Judicial District Judge Bruce Hampton on Friday signed a stipulated judgment allowing the restaurant to reopen as long as it eliminates its self-serve buffet line, shields the food from customers with a plexiglass barrier and takes several other steps aimed at stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Peking, located at 1300 North Vienna St., closed Aug. 14 when the Louisiana Department of Health obtained a temporary restraining order against it.

The order was issued after officials with both LDH and the state fire marshal’s office found repeated violations of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ coronavirus mitigation order banning selfserve buffets.

Peking’s attorney, Aaron Lawrence, of Ruston, said the restaurant would reopen as soon as the plexiglass shields were installed.

Restaurant manager Allen Wang said he was hoping to have the shields in place by the dinner hour Friday. The shields will prevent patrons from handselecting their food.

Instead, restaurant staff will fill plates. According to the order, customers must wear masks or face coverings and will travel the buffet line and indicate to restaurant staff what food they want.

The order also requires a one-way traffic flow through the buffet and markers at the 6-foot social distancing intervals.

“I think this all a reasonable resolution of this,” Hampton said.

Friday’s court session was originally set as a hearing on a temporary or permanent injunction against the restaurant.

But minutes after court convened at 9 a.m., LDH attorney Edward Brosette told Hampton the parties were close to a stipulated judgment.

“I believe at this point we are very close to a stipulated judgment. It’s just a matter of verbiage,” Brosette said.

Brosette said two other LDH lawyers in Baton Rouge were reviewing and tweaking the document. The court was in recess for almost 90 minutes while attorneys made changes and emailed them back and forth for concurrence by both sides.

The process that led to the stipulated judgment apparently began late Thursday afternoon. Lawrence said he began trying to contact LDH on Wednesday but to no avail.

On Thursday, he called every hour and finally received a return call about 4:30 p.m. By 6 p.m., “I had the makings of a stipulated judgment” on the way to LDH in Baton Rouge.

Lawrence said his clients never received a formal citation from either LDH or the fire marshal’s office prior to being served with the temporary restraining order.

“There was never a citation issued,” Lawrence said.

He said he learned Friday morning the fire marshal’s office wasn’t issuing citations, just educating businesses on what they should and shouldn’t do.

“They educated then closed my client,” Lawrence said.

The restaurant staff was told one of the reasons for the closure was that customers touched the same serving utensils at the buffet.

“I ask you, is the governor going to go after all door handles?” Lawrence asked.

Peking has been operating successfully as a buffet for approximately 30 years.

“When you can’t trace spread (of the coronavirus) to how they’ve been conducting themselves, I can’t find any reason to shut them down,” Lawrence said.

The restaurant was not reinspected prior to opening, though both LDH and fire marshal’s officials said they would resume their unannounced coronavirus mitigation compliance visits.