Health Inspections

The Star-telegram website says restaurant reviews of your favorite eateries in the Fort are now available on-line. I've been a big fan of not worrying about health inspections. If any of you have ever watched the news in Houston, you may remember the late crazy old guy with sunglasses that talked about these places. I always assumed the places he that failed inspections were probably great places to go immediately after the report because they were on their best behavior.

But as I said, I've never really considered cleanliness when eating at a restaurant. I assume if the places is dirty, its because they're too busy satisfying customers to have time for cleaning. Also, when places start cleaning more, they tend to raise prices. My favorite chinese restaurant in law school cleaned up the "dining area" by putting in tile and wiping off the tables between customers. They also charged an extra dollar for each item. No thanks, I'll spend my $4.45 elsewhere thank you. Yuppies...go back to Pittsburgh.

The reason I mention all of this is because I don't want anybody thinking I will provide reviews that take cleanliness into consideration. I might mention something that stands out when I eat at the restaurant, but I have no intention of checking their record. In fact, I will avoid it. I don't care if they didn't keep their cheese at 42 degrees, or if they didn't wash their hands after cutting chicken or if they used the bowls as toilets in the morning. Honestly, I want cheap, good food. If it takes some bacteria to get there, thats fine.

Note: the chicken thing and toilet/bowl (get it?) thing would actually bother me, but only if I saw it.

I would also like to mention that the next item I mention in this blog should not be read in conjunction with this post. I'm not making a comment on the cleanliness of any restaurant reviewed in the past or future.

One final note. In my opinion, you're more likely to get something nasty (like spit in your food) at a place with surly young people who have no respect for humanity, than you are from a family member of the owner of a small place who has mama yelling at him to hurry it up or he'll get hit upside the head. In other words, big chains with young people who probably easily get mad at customer number ____ are more likely to get upset than the small restaurant people who depend on each and every patron.

One more final note. Do you really think you are that clean in cooking? Lets be honest. You sneeze off to the side while cooking without covering your mouth or your food. You don't wash your hands every time you switch ingredients. You don't keep ingredients at the proper temperature. You may even use your bowls inappropriately. So I wouldn't worry about what any restaurants are doing. Unless it involves surly young teens...