Not So Great News from the Health Department

We scanned the Houston Department of Health and Human Services reports from August 11 to August 19 and found these places among the offenders.

The School of Culinary Arts (1900 Yorktown) seems to have a hairy bunch of students. During an August 19 inspection, its kitchen 405 was cited for “Food employee facial hair that is not groomed and trimmed while handling food and utensils.” Kitchen 402 got “Food employee facial hair that is not groomed and trimmed while handling food and utensils.” Kitchen 404 got cited for “Food employee facial hair that is not groomed” blah blah and multiuse equipment not maintained in good repair. Kitchen 401 had the same unruly facial hair citation (do you think it was just one guy wandering from kitchen to kitchen?) along with using towels to dry equipment and food equipment not kept clean of crusted grease (yuck). The deli was cited for (get this) a “Food employee with partial or complete absence of scalp hair not wearing effective hair restraints.” Kitchen 403 was cited for an ice crusher that wasn’t maintained in clean condition. The school’s restaurant kitchen had a failure to store maintenance and cleaning tools properly.

The school’s gift shop and storage areas were inspected and received no citations (which is as good as it gets with the health department).

The El Tiempo Market (5526 Washington) had several violations noted during an August 19 visit. The meat market section had an employee consuming food in an unapproved area, improperly stored items, and a lack of effective measures to minimize rodents, flies and cockroaches. The bakery had six violations, including ventilation filters not cleaned and a lack of effective measures to minimize rodents, flies and cockroaches. The taqueria had five violations, including floors not in good repair and food storage thermometers not located in the correct area. The grocery/produce area had three violations, including a lack of effective measures to minimize rodents, flies and cockroaches.

At Hot Spot Gentleman’s Club (5608 North Shepherd), the bar had some issues with hand washing sinks not being available and no sanitary towels located near hand washing areas. The kitchen had a violation for “door seals of microwave oven not cleaned once a day” and a lack of sanitary towels (we’re gonna guess that in a gentleman’s club, clean hand towels are essential). — Olivia Flores Alvarez