Food for Thought Report 10.4 - KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

The Gaslight at 5212 57th Street tops this week's list of Top Performers.

Open less than two weeks, La Kumbia at 5001 Ave. Q is our next top performer. Owners of the new sports bar and grill suggest sinking your teeth into the Kumbia Mix.

The restaurant and Starbucks inside Target at 6064 Brownfield Highway were right on target with a perfect score.

And the deli and meat market inside United Supermarket at 2703 82nd Street is our final top performer.

There are four shining stars in this week's school edition of Food for Thought.

Let's take a look: Ballenger Head Start, McWhorter Elementary, Wolffarth Elementary and Lubbock High School were all at the top of their class.

Food for Thought 10.4 Here is a complete list of the restaurants and their violations for the week ending on 10/4/07.

Inspectors found a dirty can opener at Overton Elementary.

And at Tubbs Elementary, several cold food items were not below the safe temperature of 41 degrees.

According to the reports, both schools corrected their violation at the time of the inspection.

A customer complained to the health department after becoming sick - so that sent inspectors to Grandy's at 4631 50th Street. They found seven critical violations.

• Multiple items, including: chicken tenders, liver, raw chicken and sausage, catfish and other items were above the safe temperature of 41 degrees.
• Chicken gizzards and tenders were thrown out after inspectors found them to be below 135 degrees.
• Employee's uncovered drinks were next to the grill and register.
• Cooked vegetables did not have an expiration date.
• There were no towels at a hand wash station.
• The thermometer inside the walk-in cooler was broken.
• The inside of the ice machine and soda nozzles were moldy.

Management says they have been re-inspected and everything was at 100 percent. According to the report, most of the violations were corrected at the time of the inspection.

Next we head to Gardski's at 2009 Broadway where inspectors found 10 critical violations.

• Ham, meat loaf, lasagna, fish and several other cold foods were above 41 degrees.
• Cold units were not holding at 41 degrees or below.
• Steamed broccoli, baked potatoes and cooked hamburgers were thrown out after inspectors found them below 135 degrees.
• Employee's uncovered drinks were above food surfaces.
• Several items were thrown out because of the potential for cross contamination.
• There was no back flow preventor on a hose in the dish wash area. This protects the water from contamination.
• A hand wash station did not have soap.
• Toxic items were stored above condiments and food contact surfaces.
• A mechanical dishwasher was not sanitizing.
• And there were multiple unclean food contact surfaces, including: a heavily soiled meat slicer and a heavily molded ice machine.

The report states all but two of the violations were corrected while the inspector was there. Management says, "For the last 30 years Gardski's strives every day to be perfect, and the health department expects us to be perfect every day. And at the end of the day, with the help of the health department, we both have achieved our goals."

Our final low performer is no stranger to the bottom of the Food for Thought list. Carneceria Sonora at 2837 Clovis Road has now been a low performer six times since the beginning of the year and was forced to close at one point.

This week they were cited for 12 critical violations.

• Several cold items, including a variety of meats were above 41 degrees.
• Multiple cooked meats were not at least 135 degrees.
• An employee had a bloody Band-Aid on his thumb.
• An employee did not wash their hands before putting on gloves.
• Employees were eating in the kitchen. Uncovered drinks were above food and food contact surfaces. An apron and dirty towels were in a soiled hand sink.
• A container of flour was thrown out because it had clumps of flour in it - indicating it had been wet.
• Another container of flour and powered sugar had black particles in it. They were discarded.
• Menudo did not have a date-mark.
• A hand sink did not have cold water.
• A towel dispenser in the bathroom was not working properly.
• The facility was not using the correct type of thermometer.
• Blood that had collected in the bottom on a reach-in cooler was dripping onto the floor.

Management says all violations have been corrected. The report shows most of the violations were corrected during the inspection.