Early Thursday, the Cowboyz Web site said the restaurant was closed because of "a dangerous gas leak" and would reopen at 4 p.m. today. The restaurant's answering machine also said the closure was the result of a gas leak in the building. 

 There was no such gas leak, according to Gold Coast Mall management.

By Thursday afternoon, the phone message simply said Cowboyz was closed and the Web site notice was changed to "Cowboyz has been temporarily closed to bureaucracy beyond our control. More info soon."

Initial violations logged by health officials during a surprise Aug. 19 inspection included a lack of soap at hand sinks, a dishwasher without sanitizer and ground beef stored at room temperature instead of the required 45 degrees.

Restaurant owner Johnny Brooks had 30 days to correct the violations, said Ed Potetz, the county's director of environmental health. Brooks also was asked, but not required, to send a letter back to health inspectors detailing the corrections. Potetz said he received no such letter.

Brooks, who also goes by DJ Longhorn, did not return calls for comment.

This week's reinspection yielded more critical sanitary violations, such as unclean floors and air vents, the presence of fruit flies, mold inside an ice machine chute, and prime rib and hamburger meat measured at 63 degrees, Potetz said.

Other violations included knives being stored between prep tables, food stored in plastic grocery bags and a meat slicer that was not able to be disassembled for cleaning.

Potetz also said Wednesday's reinspection found the restaurant did not have hot water. The inspection report noted how that singular violation was the reason Cowboyz was shut down.

When Potetz put his hands on the hot water tank, "it was stone-cold," he said.

"That tells me nobody's washing their hands," Potetz said. "Management simply says, 'My employees didn't tell me' (there was no hot water). You know what? Don't tell me that. Hand-washing is a management issue. If the employees in the kitchen are instructed to wash their hands properly, they'll know there's no hot water. That was the crux right there -- that's an automatic closure."

The closure comes prior to what is expected to be a busy weekend in Ocean City, with thousands of motorcyclists visiting for Delmarva Bike Week. It also means some scheduled musical acts won't play at Cowboyz -- which billed itself on its Web site as "OCMD Bike Week HQ" -- including a breast cancer benefit concert set for Thursday and a sold-out Saturday night show by rock band Molly Hatchet.

Contacted Thursday, Molly Hatchet manager Steven Green said he'd heard the show might not go on but because of problems with a live performance permit, not because of the health department. He said band members, who are already in Ocean City, have been paid with a deposit but not in full.

"We held that date for a long, long time," Green said. "We didn't have any knowledge of this. I just want to make sure my people get our money back, or we'll give him another date. We have nowhere to go with it. As long as we're paid, I don't care where we play. There's 170-plus ticket holders, and we will do what we have to do to make those people happy with the tickets they bought.

"We did have a warning sign -- (Brooks') first check bounced and that never happens," Green added. "We never do clubs, just festivals and fairs, and this is exactly the reason."

The health department's Potetz said all violations must be resolved before Cowboyz can reopen -- which won't be anytime soon, he said.

"I will not cancel any appointments I have for today and tomorrow," he said. "This is the busiest two weeks we have. He's got to follow protocol. He's got to have everything corrected. I've got to go through it, I've got to have him in for a conference, go over some safety and handling procedure, then we'll set up a reinspection.

"I know it's a big weekend, but you know what? I can't have that weigh into my decision. I've got to make it on what I see," Potetz added.

Inside the Gold Coast Mall, beside the Cowboyz entrance, Ronnie Culver of Salisbury stood and stared at the posted health department closure notice. He and his wife had tickets to see Molly Hatchet and were looking forward to the show.

"Bad timing, I guess. Or good timing -- if I had eaten something from there, I wouldn't be too happy," he said.

bshane@dmg.gannett.com

410-213-9442, ext. 14