During a routine inspection at Pollo Norteno Mexican Restaurant in Chamblee, dozens of pounds of grilled chicken were at room temperature underneath a steam table.
The manager explained the warmer oven was broken but was expected to be repaired later in the day. That wasn’t soon enough for the DeKalb County health inspector who had the chicken moved into a cooler to be reheated per customer portion.
The inspector said the restaurant at 2501 Chamblee Tucker Road was not protecting food from contamination.
Frozen raw chorizo, raw beef and cooked tripe were all thawing in the same pan. And inside one of the coolers, raw beef was stored behind tomato sauces, and cheese dip was next to raw eggs.
Pollo Norteno failed the routine inspection with a 55/U. The restaurant had previous scores of 85/B and 90/A.
In other code violations, refried beans were cooling improperly in deep pans. The pans were too large, were covered with foil and metal lids and were sitting on top of ice, the inspector said. The beans were divided into smaller containers, submerged in ice water baths then moved to the walk-in cooler.
Points were also taken off because employees were not washing their hands when needed. One employee dropped food on the floor, picked it up and discarded it, then continued to prepare food without first washing hands.
Another employee, who was chewing gum, spit the gum into his hands while preparing food, then continued to work with food without first washing hands and changing gloves.
Some of the shelves, gaskets and door handles were dirty with accumulated food debris. And one live roach was observed behind the fryer station, according to the inspection report.
Pollo Norteno will be re-inspected. [Editor's Note: Pollo Norteno passed the follow-up inspection with 77/C.]
In other news: BB's Bagels, 770 McFarland Road, Alpharetta in Forsyth County, scored 72/C on a follow-up inspection.
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