Lawrence restaurant on video showing employee cutting meat on pavement

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- A Lawrence restaurant is responding to a video showing one of its workers with what some witnesses considered to be a questionable approach to food safety.

The video shows an employee cutting up or hammering meat on the sidewalk or drive-thru pavement area right outside Tryyaki. Owners of the Asian cuisine restaurant near West 23rd and Lousiana St. in Lawrence say customers shouldn't be alarmed.

Inspectors with the Kansas Department of Agriculture made a special Sunday trip to inspect the restaurant after the video was posted on Saturday.

Greg and Jennifer Watkins were driving by Tryyaki Saturday when they noticed a peculiar sight right outside the back door of the Lawrence restaurant that's been in business for 20 years.

"My wife is like, 'What is he doing?' and I looked behind me and I'm like, 'He's chopping meat!'" Greg Watkins exclaimed.

They started recording as he threw what appeared to be chopped-up pieces of meat from the drive-thru pavement into a container.

"It was gut-wrenching. I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. There was no cutting board or nothing to chop on. He was just cutting on concrete," an astonished Jennifer Watkins recalled.

Social media users shared Watkins' video thousands of times and got the attention of the Kansas Department of Agriculture. It prompted inspectors to return to the restaurant that received three violations in October. In one case, a tub of raw chicken was stored on a wire shelf directly above cooked chicken in a cooler.

However, no violations were found on Sunday. The owner explained to inspectors the same thing he told FOX4 when he arrived to drop off water at the restaurant on Monday when Tryyaki is regularly closed. He explained the meat in the video was raw pork which they don't serve on the menu.

"People should not worry that we are serving them pork cut from the ground," Sunny Liu said.

Liu also said the employee was breaking the meat up for personal use.

"They used the hammer to break it and today's a day off. They take it home to make soup," Liu explained.

"It's not clean it's not good to be chopping meat whether it's for personal consumption or they are going to do it to the public, they are still preparing it in that kitchen."

Tryyaki took to social media to explain the meat is cooked at the end of the night in a separate bowl from the ones used for customer's food.  

Health inspectors say they provided extensive education on unapproved foods and sources and due to the complaint the restaurant cleaned and sanitized all knives during the inspection... as well as the area around that door.

Tryyaki's owner says the worker will keep his job. But they've made it clear that his meat for home use on the pavement outside the restaurant is not acceptable.