LA VILLA, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Food Patrol stopped by two taco restaurants, including one in La Villa that had flies inside and food out in the open.
The other was in Weslaco and it was clean – with the exception of plastic Halloween decoration spiders on the wall. But that doesn’t count!
Here’s what’s que rico and what’s que asco on this week’s Food 4 Thought.
Taqueria El Fogon located on 8615 FM 88 in Weslaco has some good stuff on its menu.
“I like to cook and I like all the tacos,” Hipolito Gonzalez, owner of Taqueria El Fogon said.
The restaurant did well on its September 28 food inspection report.
It had no violations – a zero that was more rounded than one of its tortillas.
The Food Patrol saw the place was clean with our own eyes, with one exception — the fake plastic spiders on the wall for Halloween.
The restaurant has survived a lot throughout its many years when it started as a food truck.
It wasn’t the owner’s dream – but he likes to cook.
We asked if they are proud and whether it took hard work.
“Yes, yes, I am very proud of what we have and what we have achieved. All the workers here, we are very proud of what we have achieved,” Gonzalez explained.
The Food Patrol also liked the store’s pepper logo.
Gonzalez explains the pepper is a reminder that the food is spicy.
That’s que rico!
Now it’s que asco time!
The Food Patrol visited J&F Taquito Express located at 1003 South Mike Chapa Blvd. in La Villa.
The express restaurant sells raspas, breakfast tacos, lunch plates, snacks, beverages, and more.
It did not do so well – scoring a 23 on its food inspection report.
Among the items identified for corrective actions were food needing to be protected during preparation, staff needing proper certification, and the use of approved methods for thawing meats.
The owner was not available but one of the workers spoke with us.
She didn’t identify herself but assured us everything was corrected plus mentioned she didn’t have much time because she had to leave.
She added they were working on their certification and that’s why the owner was out.
We asked whether the food was being protected during preparation. It didn’t look like that to us. The worker says it is.
The Food Patrol asked about labeling the items.
“No, we don’t have the dates. It’s because, if we finish this, we pour this in now,” she explained.
We saw flies in the building – but they had two bug zappers. Only one was working.
As far as the use of an approved method for thawing meats – like that stuff laying out on the table – the worker says they are handling that well too.
“From the freezer, we put it in a container to defrost,” she told us.
The sink worked and they say they have thermometers in their coolers.
We wanted to know if she wants to do better on her next food health inspection report. She said yes and explained her idea for improvement.
You’re part of the Food Patrol! When you see dirty habits, please send us photos/videos and a copy of the complaint you filed to your local health department to News@KVEO.COM
