Roaches, raw meat have pool hall racking up health violations

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — In this week’s Food 4 Thought, we headed to a pool hall where the manager on duty decided to take a gamble on its cleanliness.

The violations are racking up and they are going double or nothing on a promise to do better.

First, we went to a coffee shop with military core values. A strong cup and a salute to a different type of service.

A Top Performer sticker was awarded to the military-themed coffee shop Daily Grind located at 409 S. Missouri Ave in Weslaco.

"One of our core values is attention to detail. The service we give you is a service I would give to anyone," said owner and Air Force veteran Adam Shidler.

The military theme runs deep as Shidler's grandfather was a Marine. His World War II uniform is displayed along with salutes to other armed service branches.

The crew is creating a space for people to dive into a book or a board game.

"After I got out of the Air Force, there wasn't a place for people to congregate or gather outside of bars or restaurants, it's not very specific or a relaxing place," said Shidler.

That’s que rico but it’s que asco time!

That strong cup is needed because we stayed out late and headed to DK's Stix & Stuff located at 1655 Ruben Torres Blvd.

Its Dec. 2 inspection reports had a lot of problems and the bar has a score of 84.

The inspector found roaches and home pesticides instead of professional grade and general housekeeping violations.

The kitchen had a lower score of 67.

We saw:

• Cross-contamination with chicken on top of pizza boxes
• Onions were on the floor
• Labels were missing
• There were too many unused items
• Missing hairnets

It is a violation that will pop up again even before we go into the kitchen.

Manager Edith Lassiter talked to us in her office away from customers and said DK's was reinspected on Dec. 9 and scored a 97.

The Food Patrol asked how confident she was if a health inspector came in and Lassiter said she was very confident.

However, at the kitchen entry, something was splattered on the wall.

The head cook was missing a hairnet and so was another employee. She also claimed they ran out of gloves and instead of buying some, barehanded raw meat.

Lassiter said it would need to be cleaned better and invited the Food Patrol back in two weeks to reinspect the establishment.

She said every single detail would be cleaned from top to bottom and guaranteed everything we saw would not be like that.

And that’s Food 4 Thought.

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.