Taqueria re-opens after 3 inspections 

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) —  In this week’s Food 4 Thought, mom’s advice is making this Mediterranean restaurant owner the type of leader he is today.

The Food Patrol also visited a food truck with three of their inspection reports, which show that they’re making improvements.

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

Check out Brocheta Bistro, located at 3400 Expressway 83 in McAllen. They got a perfect score on their March 11 health inspection report. This earned Gilbert Colunga and his team this week’s top performer status.

“Remind me of the reasons that we do what we do, the struggles, the daily, not knowing what's gonna happen during the day," Colunga, owner of Brocheta Bistro, said. "Are you gonna be busy? Are you gonna be slow? Are you gonna be overwhelmed? Or not, but being able to get a recognition as the owner, you usually don't get recognition, everybody's like, well, it's the owner's fault for this, for that’ because we are responsible for the operations, but this is amazing."

Colunga has been in the restaurant business since he was a teenager and has worked his way up the corporate ladder. His business runs on a simple but effective motto, “cook with a purpose.”

What drives Colunga is making his mom proud.

“Her efforts in raising us as a single parent. I made sure that I was never going to tarnish what she did for us," Colunga said.

With a sticker on the door, Colunga has advice for other restaurant owners: “At the end of the day, reflect. My staff always says that I'm still sitting in my truck fifteen to twenty minutes later, because I'm sitting in my truck, reflecting on my day."

That's que rico! But it’s que asco time!

The Food Patrol is heading to Taqueria Valverde, located at 7400 North Valverde Road in Donna.

They have not one, not two, but three inspection reports from March. On March 14, 29 violations were reported:

• They needed a three-compartment sink
• A new floor
• Couldn’t use T-shirt bags to store food
• Corrections to food dates and labels of when they were made
• Clean the ice machine to remove rust
• Their permit was about eight months expired and was shut down until all issues were fixed

On March 25, they had 11 violations. While this was an improvement from the March 14 report, it was still not enough to reopen.

The inspector reiterated that the restaurant “will remain closed until all demerits have been fixed.”

On their third inspection, owner Jose Jimenez was cleared to open. The Food Patrol showed up before service.

Jimenez was not around but did take our call and was honest about the 29 violations and three inspections.

There are some lingering issues from their first inspection, such as insects and rodents coming in.

Jimenez told the Food Patrol he is working on it. Even though they just received a new permit in March, it was nine months expired. They’ll have an inspector back in June for an annual permit.

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.