Restaurant Report Card: Improper refrigeration plagues local eateries

HOUSTON – We’re talking refrigeration in this week’s Restaurant Report Card.

It’s a pretty important thing because cold storage keeps your food fresh and keeps you from getting sick.

But at Schlotzsky’s at 13236 Northwest Freeway, health inspectors condemned seven pounds of romaine lettuce, guacamole and spring salad mix, all deemed not safe for human consumption because it was stored too warm.

Inspectors also wrote that the walls of the kitchen were covered with dust and dirt.

At the popular Genghis Grill at 9766 Katy Freeway, meanwhile, inspectors found slime in the ice machine.

To be exact, they found a mixture of yellow slime and calcium.

Contaminated crab meat and unsafe sushi got the attention of the health department at The Hibachi Grill Supreme Buffet on 34th Street.

There inspectors found sushi and beef tacos that were stored at dangerously warm temperatures.

They also found flies sitting on the crabmeat.

The restaurant manager tells us all of that contaminated crabmeat has been discarded and that the old refrigerator has been replaced with a brand new one that works perfectly.

At Pho Vang 2 on Northwest Freeway, inspectors found dead cockroaches behind the water heater and black slime in the ice machine.

And we are putting a wrap on this week’s report with both live and dead roaches discovered in the kitchen at Dan’s Pizza Company on Galveston Road.

Owners there were told to take effective measures to eliminate the pests.

And we congratulate the lightning fast sandwich pros at Jimmy John’s on Eldridge Parkway for slicing up a perfect restaurant inspection.

They earn our coveted,A-Plus rating this week.

Good jobs, guys. Keep up the good work.


File: RRC 100316


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.