Food for Thought Report 3.29 - KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

3/29/07

Food for Thought Report 3.29

Atkins Junior High School and Wester Elementary School get an A++ this week. Both had flawless health inspections making them top performers.

This smokin' BBQ restaurant is now a Food for Thought 10-time top performer. Tom and Bingo's BBQ at 3006 34th does sandwiches, and sandwiches only, and they do it right. That's a good plan, since most days the line stretches out the door.

Smoothie King at 4210 82nd Street is no stranger to perfection either. For the sixth time they blended up a perfect score.  

Food for Thought 3.29
Here is a complete list of the restaurants and their violations for the week ending on 3/29/07.

Here's a look at the schools with critical violations.

At All Saints Episcopal School, inspectors found an unlabeled bottle of cleaner.

Bowie Elementary was also cited for one critical violation. Milk was 47 degrees. The safe temperature is 41 degrees or below. The reports show all school violations were corrected during the inspections.

Choochai Thai Cuisine 2330 19th Street proved they have nothing to hide and let us inside their kitchen to explain their eight critical violations.

  • Eggs were not holding at or below 41 degrees, and tomatoes and spouts were sitting out at room temperature.

"They came at lunch time, and of course we open and close the refrigerator quite a bit so the temperature is going to go up," owner and cook Tahn Rittiluechai says.

  • Rice noodles and soup were not holding at or above 135 degrees.
  • Multiple heads of cabbage and broccoli were molded.
  • There was the potential for cross contamination as raw meat was stored next to cabbage and a wet sponge was dripping onto rice noodles.
  • A hand wash sink in the employee's bathroom was leaking.

"This one we had replaced so it's nice and shiny," Rittiluechai says.

  • A cleaning solution was not properly sanitizing.
  • Multiple food contact surfaces were soiled including: a heavily soiled rice steamer, soiled utensils, bins, plates and drawers.
  • The restaurant did not have a the proper type of thermometer to measure the temperature of thin foods.

"I bought a new one that's up to code for the health department," Rittiluechai says. 

Rittiluechai says all violations have been taken care of, "Everything the health department wrote me up on has been corrected."

The report shows all but one violation were corrected during the inspection.