Restaurant Report Card: Roaches in cooler, pest problems, unsafe temps for meat

HOUSTON – It's been called many things: the cooler, the ice box, the fridge. Call it what you want, but at a restaurant, it's critical. Why? Because the cooler is supposed to keep the food you are about to eat safe.

At the Jollycup Teahouse and Sandwich Shop at 3006 Blalock, health inspectors found roaches on the inside door of the reach-in-cooler. That prompted inspectors to close the place until pest control could be called in and the box could be cleaned and sanitized. The restaurant is now back open.

While we're on the subject of coolers, the folks at Filipino Cuisine 3 at 10950 Bissonnet got into trouble for not keeping things cool enough. Restaurant inspectors wrote the place up after finding a container of beef stored at 74 degrees, which is way too high. Those foods are supposed to be stored at 41 degrees or below. All of the food was condemned and thrown away.
 
Up next is Cafe Pita at 10852 Westheimer, where we made an uncomfortable visit Wednesday afternoon regarding several pest problems. The manager told us we were completely wrong, but the official health report doesn't lie.
 
Moving on to the Shanghai Restaurant at 9116 Bellaire Boulevard, where health inspectors found dead cockroaches lying inside the reach-in freezer. The order was given to keep bugs out of the freezer.
 
We wrap this week up at McDonald's at 5505 Lockwood, where the Health Department found slime in the ice machine.

This week we take our hats off to the hard working crew at Springhill Suites on John F. Kennedy Boulevard near the airport. They earn our A-plus Award for serving up a spotless restaurant inspection report.


About the Author:

Emmy-winning investigative reporter, insanely competitive tennis player, skier, weightlifter, crazy rock & roll drummer (John Bonham is my hero). Husband to Veronica and loving cat father to Bella and Meemo.