Houston-Area Restaurant Violations For May 17-23: Throw Away That Pork Belly!

HOUSTON, TX — Cooking for a lot of people is no easy task, and sometimes things go wrong. Shortcuts are taken, food is left out too long, workers neglect to wash their hands, or equipment is not maintained properly. All of those things, and more, can result in illness and disease, which is why the Houston health inspectors make the rounds to the area's thousands of restaurants and food trucks on a regular basis, making sure things are being done properly.

Many times, restaurants do the right thing, but sometimes that's not the case, and it pays to know who's messing up. Here's a look at some Houston Restaurant Violations for May 17-23, as compiled by our friends at the Houston Chronicle.

To begin the roundup, Hunan King, a restaurant located at 5714 Chimney Rock, was cited for food unfit to be eaten by humans, a pretty serious offense. Noodles, rice dumplings and egg rolls were all destroyed after inspectors found they were kept at unsafe temperatures overnight. You don't want to swallow a spoiled pork dumpling, do you? According to the Chronicle, this was the fourth time Hunan King had been cited for a violation in a month.

In addition, a food truck, Lorenzo's Burgers and Fries, which was doing business at 12803 Hiram Clarke Road, received 93 demerit points; seems it was using a defective refrigerator and did not have the required amount of potable water on hand.

Here's how the folks at the Chronicle explain the Houston restaurant violation demerit system:

During health inspections, inspectors distribute violations that carry a weight between 1 and 25, increasing in severity. The term "demerit" is used by city health inspectors to describe the weighted value assigned to each violation.

Another food truck, Muishi Makirritos, which was stationed at 1001 Bissonnet Street, was cooking pork belly sous vide and had not turned in a proper hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) plan. The result? Thirty pounds of pork belly were thrown away. That's a shame.

Here are some other violations for the week:

Tiger Den, a popular place on Bellaire Boulevard, had slime in its ice machine; Honey Bee Teahouse, also on Bellaire, was penalized for spider webs and dead insects in its rice and cockroaches in the food-prep box. Oishi Japanese Restaurant, on Richmond Avenue, was cited for keeping salmon at 41 degrees in excess of four hours — the salmon was discarded.

Have you had any bad experiences at Houston-area restaurants? Tell us about them in the comments section.

— Image: Patty and David Said