Health Department Roundup

"Health inspector girl, you are my world..."

Health inspectors worked like engineering students on Adderrall last week, inspecting more than 50 places on Thursday alone. This resulted in a few citations and a couple of closures. Just be grateful you don't have to allow anyone except God and possibly whoever you manage to convince to come home with you to scrutinize your kitchen.

Inspectors did scrutinize proper-noun Your Kitchen (9785 Long Point), however, and found enough violations to issue a citation. The independent burger joint was written up for a number of issues, including dirty walls/ceilings; using unapproved pesticide; unprotected openings to something called "the outside"; food that was either spoiled/contaminated/mislabeled; insufficient water pressure in the dish-washing sink; and "unnecessary person trafficking through food preparation area." That last violation was somehow, miraculously, inexplicably corrected on site. In other news, check Hair Balls next week for a hidden-camera exposé of city pool patrons running near the water, despite posted rules that say you're not supposed to run near the goddamned water.

The inspection of the Ramada near IAH (6115 Will Clayton Pkwy) suggests there might not be any logic to or purpose behind any of this. On Thursday, the hotel kitchen was temporarily shut down for seven violations. Those included employees potentially contaminating food by using improper utensils; food temperature violations; failure to keep sinks clean; and improperly sized/installed plumbing. On Friday's re-inspection report, the Ramada was listed as open, despite recording ten violations, four of which were repeats. As far as the new violations go, the first inspectors missed dirty carpet, leaky garbage receptacles and the potential for consumers to contaminate food on display. In addition, the manager on duty Friday did not have the proper certification. This is a day after the kitchen was shut down. The owners/operators had to know inspectors would be back for a second look. And even after failing this equivalent of an open-book test, the place was apparently allowed to re-open. Nothing is true, everything is permitted.

Hank's Cajun Crawfish (10800 Bellaire) had a good inspection, earning only one violation for some accumulated dust/dirt. Considering crawfish are basically bottom feeders, and the fact that they're still delicious, the entire establishment would probably have to be buried under a dust/dirt landslide before we maybe thought about not eating there.

Establishment Name of the Week: New Addition Childcare Plus Learning Center (5442 Richmond) got a citation for lacking the proper food dealer permits and for not having a test kit to measure the strength of cleaning solutions. We're going to blame this one, as well as what could only be a spelling error in the day care's name, on Bobby Brown.