Food for Thought Report 7.9 - KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

7/9/09

Food for Thought Report 7.9

By Christy Moreland  - bio | email

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - "Great food, cold beer and you know it's a clean kitchen."

Caprock Cafe at 3405 34th is no stranger to the Food for Thought list. "It's great! You're competing with everyone in Lubbock and it always does your business well to let people know they can get food from a clean kitchen," says Manager Andres Villarreal.

Even during their rush hours, cleanliness is a top priority. "Work extra hard. It gets busy from time to time and we do what we can to keep up, but it's never busy for long and clean up after the rush."

But that's only part of what keeps the customers coming back. "The burgers are great. Any of the Tex-Mex stuff is great. We just put a flat iron steak sandwich on the menu that's going really well."

Next, we head to another repeat Top Performer. Samburger's at 4447 34th Street grills up a perfect score. "We work really hard trying to be clean, cook good food, fresh everyday. Just do our best to stay clean and provide good service."

Papa John's at 2420 9th Street also delivers a Top Performance. "It feels great. Actually we work hard. We really do. We maintain everything we do every single day to stay on top of things."

You most likely know their name, but you may not know about their newest top performing location. Pedro's Tamales, The Restaurant at 6023 82nd, wraps up this list as a newcomer. "It takes a lot of hard work and we have a pretty good staff to be able to do everything that we do today, to make it a top performer."

get more>> Web Enhanced 7/9/09
Food for Thought 7.9
Here is a complete list of the restaurants and their violations for the week ending on 7/9/09.

Now to our Low Performers. At Lujan's at 10101 Slide Road

  • Several items were not 41 degrees or below.
  • Beans were not cooled properly.
  • Employee drinks were above ready to eat foods.
  • The inspector cited the risk for cross contamination because a styrofoam cup was being used to scoop chili powder.
  • The dish washer was not properly sanitizing.
  • Several items were dirty or broken.

According to the report, most of the violations were corrected during the inspection. Management at Lujan's says everything has been corrected.

Health inspectors cited Popeye's at 5102 Slide Road with five critical violations.

  • Tomatoes above the safe cold temperature of 41 degrees were thrown out.
  • Chicken was not at least 135 degrees.
  • Several uncovered drinks were on or near food contact surfaces.
  • A toxic item was not labeled.
  • A rubber spatula was chipped.

The manager says a small cooler and a heat lamp were not working properly, but have since been fixed. The report shows all other violations were corrected during the inspection.

©2009 KCBD NewsChannel 11. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.