As this week started, anyone looking at the Facebook page of downtown Mobile restaurant Spot of Tea would have seen something remarkably cheeky: An AI-generated image of a cartoonish rodent at a table in front of the restaurant, raising a toast. The caption: “Mimosas $8, Eggs Benedict $15, Mardi Gras with friends – Priceless.”

The big rodent, and the smaller ones on the tabletop, looked more like mice than rats and had a cute, cartoony vibe. But for a restaurant that only recently reopened after a prolonged shutdown over health inspection issues, it was eye-catching. The first commenter quoted the 2004 movie “Dodgeball:” “It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off for him.”

Several hundred comments followed, with many expressing support for the restaurant and taking the post as a note of self-deprecating defiance, while others saw it as delusional. Spot of Tea’s owner, Tony Moore, responded playfully to both. Either way, it appeared to represent an end – or at least the end of a chapter – in a dispute between Moore and the Mobile County Health Department. After flaring up last summer, hostilities erupted into public view in early January, when Moore aired some grievances on Facebook, raging at the MCHD over alleged unfair treatment and persecution.

At the peak, the public saw Moore announce that the restaurant would never reopen. But, aside from the Facebook furor, there was a lot the public didn’t see – including a July shutdown that drew relatively little public attention and a 50-minute standoff between a combative Moore and a phalanx of MCHD personnel behind the restaurant that on Jan. 11 that led to the big one.

Forming a perfectly clear picture of the situation is difficult: Moore has spoken to AL.com at length, detailing grievances that range from disputed procedural points to allegations of malfeasance and conspiracy, and he has provided a variety of supporting documents. MCHD has made minimal comment, saying it “does not report on active investigations or inspections.”

Mobile County Health Officer Dr. Kevin P. Michaels has added that the department does not comment on personnel actions but that “we do take all allegations, complaints and comments seriously.” The MCHD was formed before the state of Alabama existed, so it predates the Alabama Department of Public Health and has an extraordinary degree of autonomy, compared to most county health departments.

Spot of Tea, at 310 Dauphin St., was opened in December 1994 by Moore and his mother, Ruby Moore. Offering a hearty breakfast-and-brunch menu in a prominent spot on the north side of Cathedral Square, it tended to enjoy heavy traffic and at one time expanded to include a comedy club, L’Estrade, on the back side of the building.

June 28 arguably serves as a starting point for the recent festivities. MCHD’s website reports that Spot of Tea received a score of 87 on that day. That’s a passing grade that does not require re-inspection. However, on July 6, it was again inspected and received a 60. That requires a re-inspection within 48 hours; in this case, the restaurant was closed for about a week before it got a passing grade and reopened.

One quirk is that the June 28 inspection is listed among the inspections that can be found on the MCHD website, but the July 6 one isn’t. The online archive known as the Internet Wayback Machine shows that for a time in late summer, the Alabama Department of Public Health website reported that Spot of Tea had been closed on July 6 due to a rodent infestation. Other than that, there’s no trace of it unless you purchase a copy from MCHD.

The July 6 report includes a complaint from someone claiming to be an employee, who says the inspectors missed a few things. The complainant alleges there’s a pervasive rat and roach problem. The new inspection’s findings agree: “Fresh rat droppings were found in storage rooms, near ware washing sinks, and throughout the unused upstairs bar/lounge areas. Multiple holes were found in wall throughout the building. Previously active rodent sites were concealed with laundry bags, boxes and equipment. Evidence of rats getting into sauce packets was found. Dead roaches were also found throughout the building. Many of the issues found today were related to unaddressed issues from 2022.”

Moore says there was no problem. He shared emails and inspection reports from a pest-control company, Ecolab, which apparently conducted a routine service on July 5, checking bait stations and so on. The report indicates that no pest activity, structural concerns or sanitation issues were found. Another report from July 7 shows the same.

To Moore’s mind, the July 6 inspection was a sham, and the fact that it wasn’t listed on the MCHD site is evidence of a cover-up. In keeping with its stance of not commenting on investigations, the MCHD has declined an invitation to comment specifically on that point.

At any rate, the restaurant reopened and carried on until Jan. 5, a Friday, when Spot of Tea once again scored a 60. This report didn’t say anything about rodents or roaches. The score was based on a list of about 30 things that seemed eminently fixable: Repairing holes, replacing stained ceiling tiles, sanitizing equipment, making sure all sinks had hot water, showing that all employees had valid food handler cards, and so on. The report concluded with the statement, “Establishment is closed. Will reinspect on Monday 01/08/24.”

Moore is not a man known for an even temper. In March 2021 he created a social-media stir with a furious memo he posted to chastise employees for alleged dishonesty, laziness and thievery. “This staff needs an enema,” read one section title. Within a few days of the Jan. 5 shutdown, his communications with MCHD would go from conciliatory and private to accusatory and public. With a series of eruptions on Facebook he would create a social media furor that brought the conflict to wider public attention. By Jan. 17 he had posted that he couldn’t reopen and that the business and the building housing it were “now officially for sale.” Moore later modified that somewhat, posting that he still hoped to reopen and later that he thought the business would reopen under new ownership.

Moore has a few gripes about the Jan. 9 visit, but whatever might have happened there, it’s overshadowed by the standoff on the morning of Jan. 11. Moore recently allowed an AL.com reporter to review his cell-phone video of the Jan. 11 meeting; based on his video, it appears MCHD personnel also recorded at least part of it.

The scene is a parking lot. Moore stands at the back door of the restaurant, flanked by a couple of employees who remain out of view. Eight or so MCHD personnel stand 10 to 15 feet away, their backs to Claiborne Street and the Temple Downtown, a large puddle occupying part of the space in between.

Stephanie Woods-Crawford, the MCHD’s Executive Director of Prevention & Wellness, does almost all the speaking for the department. Over the course of the next 50 minutes, she will say more than once that she’s not present as an inspector, but rather is accompanying inspectors because allegations have been made against the department.

She begins by introducing the staff to Moore, who seems impatient with the small talk. She then says that she’d previously told Moore by email that the building was going to be closed until MCHD had an opening inspection, “but we were on the front side of the building and from being on the front side of the building, we noticed that you’re open and serving clients.”

“Wide open,” affirms Moore. “That’s not what your letter said to me.”

This leads to a prolonged wrangle. Moore disputes that he was supposed to be closed. Woods-Crawford produces a copy of her email, which she says is dated Jan. 9, a Tuesday. It cites an inspector’s report from that morning, in which the inspector said Moore’s team had not been ready for an inspection. (Moore agrees they weren’t ready, and has characterized the visit as a sneak attack). Crawford, reading the email, says that “Many of the items that you refer to as being completed in the email document sent to us on Jan. 7 have not been addressed and were not corrected.” She reads to its conclusion: “… please be advised that the original closure stands. You will need to contact MCHD’s Inspection Services department for an inspection and approval to reopen the facility.”

An irate Moore asks her to read a key part again. When she gets to the part about the original closure, he cuts her off.

“There was no original closure!” he shouts. “You opened me Friday the fifth! This is the bullshit that I go through with y’all!”

“Sir, this is not,” says Woods-Crawford. As Moore shouts over her, she says “I’m not trying to argue with you, I’m not going to stand here and –”

“Yes it is!” continues Moore. He yells, “I wasn’t closed!”

The MCHD position is that the fixes had never been verified by a completed inspection as required. Moore’s argument is that he had an understanding that when the problems were corrected, he could open – and he argues that because he emailed a list of corrections he’d made, describing everything he’d done to fix the issues, he was in the clear. Woods-Crawford says Moore didn’t complete all the fixes he described, so that was never the case.

With that issue unresolved, the question of whether an inspection will now take place comes to the forefront. There’s a point in the video where Woods-Crawford repeatedly asks Moore if he will allow inspectors to come in; while she’s asking the question, Moore is yelling over her, finishing up his thoughts on other points. It’s clear that Woods-Crawford never hears a “yes.”

To Moore, listening to the recording play out, the key point is that he’s never heard to say “no.” To call it a failure to communicate is putting it mildly.

There’s another point in the video where Woods-Crawford steps away to take a call. Moore begins to suggest to District Manager of Inspection Services Brad Philips that the inspectors go on in and do their thing, while he and the higher-ups hash out their differences separately.

“Brad, with all due respect, I’m not gonna stay here all day,” Moore says. “I’ve got other things to do, like try to figure out a way to pay my employees this week. If y’all would like to inspect, do whatever you like, I’m willing to take our business up in private without a camera on me or anything. I didn’t want it that way, but if y’all want to inspect, y’all do it, but I’m not gonna stay here all day, wherever she’s at on her phone, and just wait. I’ll come to y’all’s office or whatever. But I want my 98 or 100 for what we’ve done and I want my permit.”

Before that line of discussion has a chance to go anywhere, Woods-Crawford steps back in and Moore continues airing his grievances about the permit he hasn’t been able to get. At one point Philips says he can’t get the permit if he doesn’t have a current inspection grade or if he has outstanding violations. Moore argues that he’s been trying to get his hands on that permit since fall, when he did have a passing grade and didn’t have any outstanding violations.

Moore’s suggestion to Philips that the inspection can proceed while the other disagreements are handled separately might be workable, or it might not be. But it falls by the wayside, undiscussed.

As the tone of the encounter heads steadily southward, Moore begins throwing out allegations of possibly criminal behavior against at least two MCHD employees (who, to be clear, are neither Woods-Crawford nor Philips). He says one of the people in question pressured him to hire a relative and keep her on the payroll.

Somewhere around 50 minutes in, Woods-Crawford has had enough. “Mr. Moore, we’re going to issue an illegal operations for you being open today. We’re going to come back –”

“I’ve already told your people to go in and inspect,” he says.

“Mr. Moore, you stopped us,” she says, as he continues talking. “Mr. Moore, you stopped us from being able to go in –”

“No I did not! That’s wrong, too!”

“We have been here since 10 o’clock,” she says, as Moore talks over her, repeatedly saying “Brad, tell her!”

“And now it is 10:47,” she continues. “We still haven’t been able to go in. We’re issuing a notice of closure … We’ll let our attorneys handle it.”

He says that while she was on the phone, he’d offered to Philips “that if they would like to go in and do the inspection, it’s fine with me, and we can do our business privately if you want without a camera on and all that.”

“I don’t think we don’t need a camera,” says Woods-Crawford, summing up the state of play.

In the next major tangent, Moore raises a new allegation of misconduct against MCHD employees. He says the same one who allegedly pressured him to hire a relative also made a practice of hitting up the restaurant for free lunches, often joined by a co-worker.

Woods-Crawford, exasperated and incredulous, says all of this is new to her and presses Moore for details. Moore depicts himself as an owner who manages the restaurant from off-site and is rarely on the scene, and says the free meals went on for months but that he didn’t know about them until recently, when he just happened to hear about them from his son and his kitchen manager.

Both of the accused employees appear to be on hand. Woods-Crawford asks the kitchen manager some questions; his answers are hard to distinguish. Woods-Crawford tells one of the accused MCHD employees to walk away after the employee appears to try to engage with the kitchen manager. Moore says his son also can testify.

Finally, Woods-Crawford tells Philips, “Go ahead and issue.” Philips prepares to hand Moore a shutdown order and says, “Get everything done –”

“Everything is done,” says Moore.

“… give us a call back,” continues Philips. “We’re not going to –”

“I’m calling, what’s you number? I’ll call you right now,” says Moore. “I’ll call you right now.”

“Mr. Moore, can you sign it please,” asks Woods-Crawford. “No,” he says. “I’m not signing nothing. I sure ain’t. I sit here an answer every one of your questions, never stopped y’all from coming in and inspecting, what’s your number, I’m calling you right now for an inspection.”

“I did mark it ‘refused to sign,’” says Philips, as Moore continues to ask for the number. “The number is on the sheet,” says Woods-Crawford. As the MCHD contingent walks away, Moore laments the amount of business he’s losing. “So I’m officially shut down?” he asks.

Moore finds the number and calls it to see if he can get an inspection done that day. He gets no immediate satisfaction.

Showing the video to a reporter two weeks afterward, Moore said the prolonged shutdown had just about broken him financially.

“Financially it’s completely wiped me out,” he said, more recently. “Nothing can undo the damage, the financial damage. Because, you can quote me on this, I pay on average $5,000 – Well, it’s more than that – I pay on average $6,000 worth of bills a day, every day of the year. And I went the whole month of January with only $17,000 worth of revenue. Last January, I think I did $187,000. This January I did $17,000.”

The drama didn’t end with the shutdown. As a reporter visited him at home on Wednesday, Jan. 24, Moore said he had reason to think state inspectors were coming the next morning. He began discussions with employees on what they needed to do before the inspectors arrived, such as getting rid of produce that might have spoiled during the shutdown.

At the appointed time on Thursday, Jan. 25, two inspectors arrived at the back door of the restaurant, one of them wearing a lab coat and carrying a clipboard. No one met them to open the door. They waited there for about 20 minutes, at which point it started raining and they moved around to the front door. All told, they waited outside the restaurant for an hour and 10 minutes before leaving.

Moore said later that he refused to let the inspectors enter because there weren’t any ground rules. They did later return, however, and that apparently led the state health department to make a recommendation to the MCHD.

By Feb. 1, Moore had gotten a message from the MCHD sent on behalf of county health officer Dr. Kevin Michaels, which he shared with AL.com:

“Mr. Moore, After review of Spot of Tea file and the most recent inspection performed by ADPH, the management has corrected numerous findings. Some of the additional findings can be corrected with attention to detail on providing hand drying towels at the handwashing sink and cleaning can opener and pans. The Spot of Tea must procure the services of a licensed Pest Control Operator to develop an integrated pest control plan for the facility. It can’t be over emphasized that the presence of a competent and certified food manager, within 120 days, should be able with owner support to maintain and improve the sanitary practices in this facility. I recommend that the suspension be lifted once all unpaid fees in the sum of $410.00 (see attached.) are paid.”

Moore said later Feb. 1 that he was paying the fees under protest and might later appeal them. That evening, he reinstated the Spot of Tea Facebook page, which he had shut down, and posted that the restaurant would be open Friday morning, “under same management.”

And it did. A visit late that morning found business proceeding more or less as usual, though only a handful of tables were occupied during a reporter’s visit. The service was attentive. The beverage of choice was the signature strawberry sweet tea. The Eggs Cathedral with loaded hash browns was the same as always, with English muffin halves buried under so much egg, seafood and cream sauce that they were hard to find. It wasn’t a particularly refined dish, but it was overwhelmingly rich and hearty and hit the table with surprising speed.

No rodents, cartoon or otherwise, were sighted.

Whether the current status quo represents a lasting peace or a brief interlude remains to be seen. Moore said his “Mardi Gras with friends” post represents his decision to “join in on the fun of making fun of me.”

“This has knocked me down a bunch of notches,” Moore said. “My emotions are, I love downtown Mobile. I love it. As much as I want to get mad at it and not love it, I do. And the same goes to my restaurant. I’ve come to realize that I literally have a toxic relationship with my restaurant. I mean, anyone who’s had a toxic relationship knows what I’m talking about. No matter how much I hate it sometimes, I want it back, no matter how much I leave it, I come back to it … This has been the hardest saga of my 30 years’ experience there.”

With regard to Moore’s allegations against MCHD personnel, Dr. Michaels said, in a statement provided to AL.com on Feb. 8, “Allegations are taken seriously and are investigated through appropriate personnel board procedures.”

Michaels’ statement also said: “The Spot of Tea was re-inspected on January 29, 2024, and met the minimum sanitary requirements to receive a Mobile County Health Department Health Permit and open to provide services to customers. The owner has been notified that another health department inspection would occur soon to ensure sanitary requirements are met.” According to MCHD’s website, the restaurant received an 80 in that Jan. 29 inspection, meaning it will be re-inspected within 30 days.

Between now and then, you might see Moore leaning into the “Mardi Gras with friends” post.

“I bought a mouse outfit for me to wear and I bought one for a girl to wear,” he said. “And so I’m thinking about coming downtown near Mardi Gras dressed as a mouse. I’m holding it in my hand right now.”