Houston Food Blog

​A spotless Tex-Mex restaurant is an eerie sight. Arguably, things like carnitas and cold drinks are served best with a little grit, but this week the Health Department report - more frequently than usual - seems to argue otherwise.

(In a completely unrelated note, don't Google "Dirty Margarita" if you are only looking for recipes to make a cocktail metaphor work. A Dirty Margarita is a marg with beer, although clearly there is much debate on... um... alternative recipes.)

The heavenly tortillas at Tortilleria & Taqueria La Reyna (6711 Rampart St) can't save them from this sinful inspection. Food was noted as not protected from potential contamination, and the manager also failed to produce a Food Manager's Certificate on site at the time.

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As with other restaurants, a cafeteria's quality varies, depending on management and food freshness standards, which -- as habitual readers of this column know -- often has little to do with menu pricing. The shadow of the Houston health inspector has recently fallen upon the following:The Dinner Bell Cafeteria (6525 Lawndale) was cited for: storing single-use items less than six inches above the floor; soiled non-food contact surfaces; and accumulation of dirt in ventilation filters. Best bets: pies and corn pudding. Dinner Bell has a 1950s Mad Men atmosphere and serves large portions, but subtle flavors don't survive long on the steam table. Go on the coldest day in January.

​Ever notice that the Washington Corridor is roughly but uncannily shaped like a pancreas, with Washington Avenue as its pancreatic duct? We did. Without further ado, a few Health Dept. violators from the area this week:

According to its website, Bubba's Sports Bar and Grill (6225 Washington Ave.) is designed with "wall décor that is sure to initiate an exciting conversation at your table." Its inspection report might also initiate some excitement among patrons. Bubba's was discovered storing raw animal products along with ready-to-eat foods. Also, there were fewer hand-washing sinks than required, and the facility lacked a thermometer to gauge holding temperatures for refrigerated items.

​The Thierry Andre Tellier Café and Pastry Shop (2515 River Oaks) was closed last week because of a health code violation but has reopened. There was a consultative visit by the Houston Department of Health and Human Services last Thursday, during which inspectors found that food was not protected from potential contamination. We called the shop, which has since reopened for business, and were told the closing was due to a broken pipe, but repairs have been completed and all is well in the Thierry Andre Tellier world again.

​Inspecting a hotel kitchen is a tall order, and hotel food services are usually represented on any given bi-weekly tally of health code violators published by the Houston Health Department. Those hotel restaurants ordered to clean up their acts this month in our fair city include:

The Intercontinental Hotel Houston (2222 West Loop South) received several demerits, for violating: ordinance 20-21.21(a) in the bar, which requires the facility to exercise certain measures to minimize vermin; ordinance 20-21.5(h) in the restaurant kitchen, for not protecting food from consumer contamination; and ordinance 20-21.17(a) in the banquet kitchen, for plumbing that did not meet health code standards.

Intrepid health inspectors noted that the Spring Hill Suites Marriot (1400 Old Spanish Trail) restaurant had equipment, utensils, and single-service articles that imparted odors, colors or tastes, or contributed to the contamination of food. Some food was also not held at cool-enough temperatures.

Various service locations within the Omni Hotel (4 Riverway) were not up to snuff this month, including downstairs storage, the upstairs banquet staging area, the pastry kitchen and the kitchen of Noé, the in-house restaurant. The inspectors' visit resulted from complaints concerning these areas.

Meanwhile, the Crown Plaza Houston West (14703 Park Row) suffered a routine inspection of its coffee shop, bar and employee café. The Crown food services had ye olde plumbing sizing problems, kitchen equipment deficits and a naughty ice machine, and the utensil holder had the business end of some devices facing up in the holder. Damn it.

On October 20, inspectors showed up with pencils and clipboards to the kitchens of the Courtyard by Marriott Houston (12401Katy Freeway). Said establishment needs to clean contact surfaces of equipment more often and to do some rehab on the physical plant.

​The 77006 zip code straddles the Montrose and Midtown neighborhoods, the first known for go-go boys and old mansions, the second for youngish professionals who do not care for porch swings or driving to work. The zone fosters a mix of restaurants and clubs evincing both burnished seedy charm and plasticized hipness. May that equilibrium endure. Here are some health inspector hotspots for Midrose/Montown in the last two weeks:

The Hollywood Vietnamese and Chinese restaurant (2409 Montrose) was caught using cloth or canvas as a food contact surface, but nothing major turned up in the inspection report. The Health Department had a problem with the recyclables system at La Mexicana (1018 Fairview), a longtime fixture on the corner of Fairview and Montrose. Riva's Italian Restaurant (1117 Missouri) suffered an inspection, with citations involving maintenance of nonfood contact surfaces as well as dusty ventilation filters. And a pre-opening visit revealed that unspecified "equipment components" were not kept adjusted according to manufacturers' specifications at the bar at the new RT Houston Midtown (2616 Louisiana), located in the former home of Ruby Tequila's.

No word yet on the restaurant's aspirations toward hipness or seediness, but we'll keep you posted.

​The Galleria's abundant blank-slate retail space needs little rehab and continues to retain and attract better-than-average restaurants that consistently score low on the health code violation hit parade. But there were a few offenders in September. Forthwith, some of the restaurants under the chrome arches that were cited by the Health Department:

Located in one the Galleria's well-appointed strip malls is Sage 400 (2800 Sage Road), whose website features music that sounds like a Tokyo porn soundtrack. The restaurant's interior is lovely and beautifully lit. Sage passed its inspection with flying colors, with one minor violation corrected on site.

​Believe it or not, trolling the Houston Health Department website for tidbits about dirty floors, missing hand-washing signs and spoiled animal parts is not always an invigorating activity. But sometimes, as Blanche Dubois says, there's God. Take a look at page one under Full Service Restaurants this week.The fourth restaurant listed is called "some mexican food joint." Priceless. If the inspectors had checked 8201 La Porte Freeway on the online Yellow Pages, they'd have learned the "joint" is called Taqueria Marcelinas. We hereby cite the citers for poor fact-checking but salute them for making a dry public document more entertaining. Moving right along to some other naughty joints...

The Cactus Grill (16580 El Camino Real) was operating without a food dealer's permit, and the person in charge did not have a food service manager's certification on hand.

Angie's Country Kitchen (11708 Hempstead) in the industrial wasteland that may (please God) one day be a commuter rail corridor to Cypress and other points Northwest, stored utensils while they were still wet, stored garbage bins on an unpaved surface, and had window screens with holes in them.

​There are always plenty of Chinese joints on the Health Department's online hit list. The reason: Like Mexican restaurants, Chinese restaurants are ubiquitous.

The imaginatively named Chinese Cuisine (9888 Bellaire) was cited for general uncleanliness/disorder, dirty floors, and problems with the refrigeration unit, dressing room, locker room and utensil-washing area. In other violations, bulk food was removed from its original container and stored in one without a proper label.

Just down the street, Lucky Dragon (9264 Bellaire) fired up inspectors with no-nos like storing raw food in uncovered containers, not taking measures to protect the premises from rodents, and the old 20-21.22(a) violation mentioned above, general uncleanliness.

Several French-ish restaurants received poor grades from the Houston Public Health Department in the past month.

Au Bon Pain (1200 McKinney) recorded a violation for food not protected from potential contamination by dust, dirt, coughs, sneezes...etc.

France's Cajun cousins at Boudreaux's Cajun Kitchen (12806 Gulf Fwy.) had multiuse equipment not maintained in good repair, which could mean many things, from poor construction to improper cleaning and maintenance.

Usually the Roundup shines its light on the misdeeds of full-service restaurants, but this time out we reconnoiter the single-service foodscape. These are generally not sit-down restaurants but cheaper grab-n-gos where you aren't expected to tip anyone. These establishments cannot get away with spirit-of-the-law spit polishes but must meet the same Health Department standards as so-called full-service restaurants.

The winner and grand champion of code violations -- perhaps of recorded Houston health inspection history? -- is Reliant Stadium (2 Reliant Pkwy). We lost track after counting 100 violations. While keeping in mind there are a myriad of individual food kiosks in the stadium, one still might want to think twice before purchasing food in this Oz of food equipment corrosion, employee beverage swigging, poor food storage, crusted grease deposits, prohibited carpeting in food service areas (!), and soap-free sinks. Sneak in little cans of Vienna sausages or sardines with you. You know, camping food that won't get squashed in your bag. Okay, the risks within the stadium might be the better option.

There are usually more Tex-Mex restaurants on the Health Department's online list of cited restaurants than any other type of facility.

Wait, now, before you report the Press to Ask a Mexican, let me explain. There are many more Tex-Mex restaurants than any other type in the Houston metro area. Just look in the Yellow Pages. Tex-Mex cooking is by far Houstonians' preferred dining-out cuisine. Hence, a greater volume of Tex-Mex restaurants; hence, more opportunities to be featured in this column. We'll just stick to the facts, while providing a little translation here and there.

A refresqueria is a mellifluous word for an ice cream or snow cone stand. The Refresqueria La Sultana (10025 Long Point Rd.) was cited for poor food protection from dirt, sneezes, rodents and dripping water, among other things.

Most gringos' mouths will water if offered a dinner at a place called La Casa del Cabrito (7802 Gulf Fwy.). Until they understand that the name of the place is The House of the Kid, as in baby goat. Ah, the tenderness, in both senses of the word. The Kid was storing hazardous food without a numerically-scaled thermometer and had moist cloths not stored in sanitizing solution between uses.

This week's hall of health-code-violating shame includes restaurants previously reviewed, mentioned, discussed or otherwise examined in the Houston Press.

Back in September 2004, Press food critic Robb Walsh said to forget about the then-ubiquitous South Beach bitch of a diet and eat up at The Sacred Heart Society's (816 E. Whitney Street) Thursday spaghetti lunch. The good people of the Society were served with citations for having an ice making machine in a place in which it may be prone to contamination, no covered waste receptacle in the toilet room, and low water pressure in the kitchen spraying device.

The pizza "restaurant without a kitchen," Capone's Bar and Oven (4304 Westheimer), now has a long rap sheet to go with its portrait gallery of hoods, the uncoolest rap being "foods not in sound condition/not safe for human consumption." "Filth" is mentioned. The Press had been wisely dubious about the enterprise, sniffing, with a pizza pun, "We'll have to see how the idea pans out."

This week we round up chain restaurants cited for health code violations.

First up: Houston's own Café Express (1422 W. Gray). Who can resist its cornichon/roasted garlic/olive/crouton/caper bar? Amidst the overcooked chicken breasts and watery pasta entrées, the Café's delicious oddments bar offers meal accompaniments better than the meals themselves. Unfortunately, Le Café was found guilty of the following no-nos: produce crates were being used as storage racks; garbage receptacles had no drain plugs in place; and openings to the outside weren't filled to protect against insects.

Besides violating Cajun cooking in general by mixing ground meat in several seafood dishes where it does not belong, the Pappas "Cajun" offshoot Pappadeaux (7800 Airport) failed to provide shatter-resistant coatings to lights located in areas where food is exposed.

Thai Spice Buffet II (2520 S. Voss) also had this problem, but serves great autumn mushroom rolls; we never knew each season had its own roll until we ate there.

Here's this week's roundup for restaurants on what is debatably Houston's most iconic thoroughfare.

A pre-opening inspection of the new Aloft (5415 Westheimer), a hotel for the techno-geek that looks like IKEA on steroids, turned up changes in the proposed layout of the kitchen work area not shown in revised plans for the space.

Another new kitchen, Jeannine's Bistro (106 Westheimer), aka "Café Montrose Reborn," violated code by not maintaining walls and/or ceilings in good repair, which is perplexing as the place hasn't even opened yet. (I hope to be one of the first to get my beer and moules-frites on at Chez Jeannine.)

In this economy, flat is the new up in the restaurant trade. One can't excuse nasty hygiene just because the chips are down, but this week, we'll throw in some good vibes along with the jibes as we look behind the scenes at health code-breaking restaurants in Houston's ever-revitalizing downtown.

Sad to say, there are no hand towels next to the sink at Les Givral's at Downtown (801 Congress), but if it's anything like the Givral's on Milam, just bring your own. Givral's serves delicious Vietnamese sandwiches made with some of the best crunchy French bread in town.

Any three appetizers at Mia Bella (320 Main) can make up a satisfying Italian sampler. So I also have tattler guilt reporting several violations there, including improprieties involving maladjusted food service equipment components, poorly sized plumbing and inadequate food storage.

This week's roundup feature retail bakeries cited by the health department for sugar-dusted food-service blunders during the past two weeks.

On the wholesale front, Sammy's Bakery (11331 Bissonnet) was caught with an overflowing garbage container in its food service area There are also no paper towels or hand blowers near the sinks, so I suppose one must use the old thigh-of-the-pants leg-drying method before handling a crescent of dough. Meanwhile, the floor over at another wholesaler, Yen Huong Bakery (1203 Chartres), is "not constructed of smooth, durable materials," like marble or quartz or something else of unspecified resilience. Both businesses, says the Houston Health Department, also have poorly maintained walls, we suppose to match the floors.

New contributor E. Ting likes eating, but for professional reasons prefers to remain anonymous.

Yes, public health violations happen at hospitals, too. Here's the rundown for this month:

St. Joseph Medical Center (1919 LaBranch), "conveniently located on the edge of Houston's revitalized downtown," has yet to revitalize its meal preparation, apparently, racking up myriad violations in 23 separate health department reports. Several violations address kitchen and dining utensils "not handled properly to protect from contamination," which could entail many misadventures with plates, glasses and cutlery I'd rather not consider. Food workers are drinking from beverage containers in such a manner as to contaminate hands, food, utensils and single-service items. We're sure it gets hot in the kitchen, but workers are supposed to save hydration for breaks when away from food items. Also, St. Joseph's staff often did not date food removed from its original packaging, something we all know grandmas do so that we'll know which frozen stews and gumbos we can safely consume upon arriving in town for their funerals.

New contributor E. Ting likes eating, but for professional reasons prefers to remain anonymous.

"Foo-la" is the sound a friend of mine makes when he wants to signal that something is fancy or hoity-toity, which for him could easily be anything over $25. The word sounds vaguely Cajun, since it is too silly to be French. "Foo-la" is what you say when touching a $100 tie at Lord and Taylor. Saying "foo-la" makes you feel better when confronted with the outrageously unaffordable. Making fun of the unreachable cuts it down to our particular wallet size. Try it. Think of something you want and can't afford. Now say "foo-lah." And the spell is broken.

Today we're saying "foo-lah" to the big guns -- expensive eating establishments that have earned citations from the Health Department in the last two weeks. Attention, people who live by the adage that you get what you pay for: You may just be getting another adage. For as sure as there are people who can afford big ticket, multi-course gastronomic delights, there is also shark masquerading as yellow fin.

There are restaurants that simply sound unappealing based on their name alone; the presence of health department violations certainly doesn't help bolster that appeal. This week, we're featuring places that just sound like they had it coming.

Finger Licking Bukateria (9811 Bissonnet) sounds too uncomfortably close to an Internet phenomenon that shall go unnamed (let the pervs explain it in the comments section). And it appears that getting slapped with five health code violations on Monday means that you should wash those fingers thoroughly before licking them.

Chicken Pirata (5551 Richmond) evokes images of poultry with peg legs and eye patches - fun, if you're eight years old. But most people would prefer their chicken to come from a somewhat more reputable institution, and the Health Department agreed, giving them three serious code violations on May 16.

The violations in the Health Department's online reports aren't always clear (what exactly does "Unapproved use of 'V' threads on food contact surface" mean?), and they'll sometimes test your gag reflex ("Raw partially cooked food served or offered for sale"). But that's part of their charm. Here are this week's highlights from city's Health Department inspection records:

Da Marco (1520 Westheimer) got a routine inspection on May 12. The inspection covered both its restaurant and bar area, and although the bar came back with a clean bill of health, the restaurant didn't. Of the four violations, one was corrected on site. The restaurant has 24 hours to correct its three others. This isn't the first time the Best of Houston® award winner has been cited either.

Hugo's (1600 Westheimer) was hit with six violations this past week. Among the entries were "moist cloths used for cleaning nonfood-contact surfaces not clean/not stored in sanitizing solution between uses." "Moist" as a word is gross enough on its own, even without the thought that these "moist cloths" aren't being kept as clean as possible.

I don't know whether to be impressed or disgusted. That's because I'm not sure if all the restaurateurs have been on their best behavior, or if the Health Department has just been sitting around playing GTA4 on the Xbox 360s they got for Christmas, because there were no health code violations whatsoever handed out in January. No one was cited until a couple of days ago, and those have been for the most part minor and inoffensive.

We checked out Montrose-area eateries for November 9 through yesterday and found that, while most restaurants had some minor, nagging, should-be-easily-fixed problems, a couple had some whoppers.

Let's start off with the month's biggest offender. Indika Restaurant (516 Westheimer) got a visit from the health inspector on November 25 and the infractions found in the kitchen included: Food was not free from spoilage, filth and other contaminates and was found to be unsafe for human consumption (uh oh). Also there was potentially hazardous food being thawed in water, potentially hazardous food not cooled to 41 degrees as required, the ice making machine was not operated in a manner to prevent the contamination of the ice, there was no test kit provided to measure parts per million / milligrams per liter of chemical sanitization solution, and ventilation filters were not cleaned frequently enough. In the bar: A sulfite preservative sign was not posted, nonfood-contact surfaces of equipment were not cleaned often enough, and ice intended for human consumption was used as a medium for cooling.

Overall, not good. Really, really not good. Food unsafe for human consumption, yeah, that'll kill your lunch crowd.

Chances are that if you eat in the Galleria area, you'll be eating at a restaurant that hasn't been issued any violations by the Health Department lately. Not necessarily because the place was clean and in compliance, but because there haven't been very many inspections in the area over the last month. We've looked through the Health Department records to November 1, and found just a few visits, including these:

Café Sbarro's (5015 Westheimer, 713-961-3580) had a routine inspection on November 25 and they came up with just one teeny, tiny violation: No shielding for the artificial lighting.

This week’s restaurant report is a look at the area’s biggest offenders.

Starting off the list is Plallitas y Mexican Restaurant (3406 Mangum) with 14 violations. (Woohoo, that might be a record!)
• Plumbing not sized/installed/maintained properly
• Heating/air conditioning/ventilation not properly designed
• Lack of effective measures to minimize rodents/flies/cockroaches/other insects
• Wall/ceiling not maintained in good repair
• Ceilings not easily cleanable
• Plumbing not installed/maintained properly
• Insufficient ventilation to keep room free of excessive heat/odors/smoke
• Failure to provide water at 110 degrees
• Multi-use equipment not maintained in good repair
• Insufficient light over work surfaces
• Ceilings not non-absorbent
• Equipment/utensils not in use not stored in clean/sanitary conditions

We take a look at downtown restaurants today. Let’s start off with the biggest offender first.

Popeye’s (1116 Travis) was inspected on Oct. 15 and they had a whopping 13 violations – way to go Popeye’s!
• Food was found that was not safe for human consumption
• Potentially hazardous food was not being held at the proper temperature
• Employee was not wearing clothing that covered body hair while handling food
• Equipment was not in good repair
• Nonfood-contact surfaces were not cleaned often enough
• Moist cloths were used for cleaning nonfood- contact surfaces
• The person in charge did not have a Food Service Manager’s Certification
• There was inadequate lighting in work areas
• Lighting equipment did not have shielding/protection in food/equipment areas
• Floors were not constructed of durable materials
• Wall / Ceiling was not maintained in good repair
• There was insufficient ventilation to keep the room free from odor / heat / smoke / fumes
• Equipment was not maintained in accordance with manufacturer’s specification

We checked on health department reports for Mexican restaurants visited in October, and our biggest offenders are in the Northwest / 290 part of town; that was disappointing because we’ve previously eaten at all three Northwest area restaurants mentioned. We won’t be returning any time soon – once the term “poisonous / toxic materials” comes up, we tend to lose our appetite.

We took a look at restaurants that serve Asian food this week and we found:

Fu’s Garden Restaurant #2 (5866 San Felipe) had just one violation; the vent covers in the walls and ceilings were not maintained in good repair.

Golden Island Restaurant (12810 Gulf Freeway) on the other hand had so many violations it was temporarily closed...

You might have questions as to the quality of the food your kid’s eating at school, but you should have no worries about the cleanliness of it. We looked at food inspectors’ reports for public and private schools from October 1 to October 8, and we found very few violations.

One of the biggest offenders (with a whole three, count them, three violations) is Oak Village Middle School (6602 Winfield). The place was inspected on October 7 and food was found that was not free from spoilage, filth and not safe for human consumption (okay, that’s a pretty big problem), there were problems with existing equipment, and there was no shielding for light fixtures in washing and storage areas.

Harvest Christian Academy (17770 Imperial Valley Drive) was also inspected on October 7 and had potentially hazardous food being refrigerated without clear labeling, and ventilation filters not cleaned frequently enough to prevent the accumulation of, well, crud.