Food for Thought Report 3.20 - KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

It's a hefty serving of Food for Thought with five Top Performers and two Low Performers with more than 20 critical violations combined.

The Lubbock Health Department says this is one of the worst inspections they've ever seen. While most inspections take up about a page, five pages detail this hot spots critical violations. Repeat Low Performer Golden Corral at 5117 Southwest Loop 289 had 12 critical violations.

• Foods were not properly cooled.
• Foods were not properly reheated.

Both of these are important because bacteria can grow rapidly if food does not reach a safe temperature within a certain amount of time.

• Raw hamburger patties, ham, steak, grilled chicken, potato salad and beans were as high as 60 degrees. Cold foods must be 41 degrees or below.
• Sausage links, chopped sausage, chicken casserole, chicken fried steak and cooked veggies were as low as 95 degrees. Hot foods must be 135 degrees or hotter.
• Bread was sitting on a dirty surface. And very soiled wiping clothes were on food contact surfaces.
• Several hand sink were not accessible.
• One of them was dirty and a few of the sinks were used to store items. An uncovered cop of coffee was above food being prepared.
• Multiple cans were dented.
• Toxic items were near food contact surfaces.
• Several refrigerator thermometers were either missing or broken.
• Multiple plates were chipped, a can opener and knives were dirty and the oven was heavily soiled.
• According to the report the manager on duty at the time of the inspection did not demonstrate knowledge of proper food safety.

When I contacted management for Golden Corral he told me, "We have no comment what so ever."

According to the report, most of the violations were corrected at the time of the inspection.

Our other Low Performer this week is Slide Breakfast House at 2907 Slide Road. They had nine critical violations.

• According to the report, a repair man was called during the inspection after several items were above the safe cold temperature of 41 degrees.
• The thermometer in the walk-in cooler was not correctly calibrated.
• Employees put on gloves without first washing their hands.
• A trash can was blocking the hand sink.
• There were also dishes in the hand sink.
• There were no paper towels at a hand sink.
• A cup without a handle was used for flour.
• Sanitizer was too strong.
• Plates were dirty and broken. A knife was heavily soiled and a dirty blender was with clean dishes.

According to the report, most violations were corrected at the time of the inspection, but the restaurant voluntarily closed that evening to correct all violations and to allow someone to repair broken cooling units.

"We have corrected all violations, and have spent the last week training our staff so we can assure our customers nothing less than a top performance in the future," Manager Andrea Lowman said.

She adds that everything is now good to go, "We're a family owned and operated restaurant, and we would love to have you come in and try our famous sweet potato pancakes."

get more>> Web Enhanced 3/20/08 Food for Thought 3.20 Here is a complete list of the restaurants and their violations for the week ending on 3/20/08.

Now to this week's list of Top Performers.

Porch Light Coffee House at 3105 34th Street opened just two weeks ago and owner Amy Springmeyer says they're happy to have their first inspection out of the way.

"It feels great (to be a Top Performer). It's something that's been hovering over my heard since we first opened. We now get to hang (our Top Performer plaque) on our wall."

If you're longing for a little taste of Philly in the Hub City look no further than our first repeat top performer. The owners say nobody does Philly cheese steaks quite like Paddy's Original Philly Cheese Steak downtown at 1101 Main Street.

From cheese steaks to cheese burgers, next we head to Tommy's Drive In at 3303 Idalou Road. They're no stranger to this gig. It's another repeat performance for them as well.

It's a three-peat for Tom & Bingo BBQ at 3006 34th Street. If you haven't devoured a plate of their perfection - you're missing out.

Our next stop, Smoothie King at 4210 82nd, blended up another perfect score.

And our final stop on this tour of repeats is United Supermarket at 401 Slide Road. Their grocery, deli, meat, produce and bakery departments all take the cake.