Blanquita's #3: Three generations of greatness

MISSION, Texas (ValleyCentral) — In this week’s Food 4 Thought, the Food Patrol is spotlighting a multi-generational family restaurant run by a grandma, mom and daughter.

Talk about three generations of love, flavor, spice and keeping it clean!

We are also heading to another taqueria in Mission that would rather lock people inside and keep us outside than answer why they have nearly 24 health code violations.

Here’s what que rico and what’s que asco in this week’s Food 4 Thought!

Blanquita's #3 located on 1302 W. Harrison Avenue in Harlingen had a perfect 100 on their June 10 health inspector report, making them this week’s top performer.

"Things like these just give us that little motivation that we need," said Rebecca Garcia, owner of Blanquita's #3. "It just goes a long way."

Garcia is the future of Blanquita's.

Her family story started with a love of cooking back in the 1950s. Rebecca’s grandparents Manuel and Blanca Rosa Morin started serving spicy dishes out of a small trailer in Monterrey, Mexico.

In 1999, their children set roots in Harlingen and now have three locations in total.

“This is what I love to do,” Garcia continued.

Rebecca is following Grandma Blanca’s recipes and keeping the most important ingredient on every plate: love.

“Carrying that tradition, that’s very important,” Garcia said. "I got big shoes to fill.”

Blanquita’s is a love for food three generations deep.

From the hands that make it to the hands that take it, that's que rico!

But it’s que asco time!

The Food Patrol is heading to Taqueria Don Felipe located on 2600 Mile 5 Circle in Mission.

Their Hidalgo County Health inspection report from June 21 had 24 violations.

The Food Patrol stopped to see if Don Felipe cleaned up but staff members didn’t want anything to do with us.

The employees could see us and we could see them hiding in the kitchen on the que asco cam.

Taqueria Don Felipe is in violation of the following:

• Off temperature food thrown in the trash
• Food wasn’t covered
• Missing dates and labels
• Refrigerators were missing thermometers
• Dirty and greasy equipment
• Items were not being washed correctly and the inspector had to teach them on the spot
• An employee didn’t have a permit to handle food
• Don Felipe had an expired permit to operate

Without anyone coming to see why the Food Patrol was there, we left a card.

As the Food Patrol was about to leave, several customers walked in so we tried to enter a second time, but they locked their doors.

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