Popular Mexican restaurant at University Village fails health inspection
Bart Bedsole
LOW SCORES
Even though it only racked up 9 violations, Hacienda Colorado inside the University Village shopping center on North Nevada was ‘no bueno’ on its health inspection last week.
Some of the problems include:
Cooked ground beef, cooked corn, and diced tomatoes held at the wrong temperature
Numerous pans were not properly dried before being stacked
The staff was using an improper method of thawing frozen fish
The restaurant was packaging and selling certain foods without the required permit
KRDO13 stopped by Hacienda on Monday to ask about the violations.
The manager politely thanked KRDO13 for coming, but said he had no comment on the violations specifically, nor how the staff was addressing them.
It was re-inspected on June 11, and once again, the pans were stacked before they were dry, but none of the other violations were found.
Also failing last week was the Mariscos Altamar on South Academy near the Hancock Expressway.
The 16 violations found during its health inspection include:
A kitchen worker not washing their hands before changing tasks
The ice machine, utensils, and several containers were dirty
The inspector also found foggers, a roach killer spray, and other pesticides not allowed in restaurants
A mixture containing Windex (a toxic chemical) was being used for cleaning parts of the kitchen
When KRDO13 went inside to ask about the failed health inspection, a member of the staff at the counter said the owner was out of town on vacation and unavailable to respond to the violations.
Other restaurants earning a failing score last week:
Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen – 3450 Austin Bluffs Pkwy
Viet’s Restaurant – 7640 N Academy (click here for previous coverage of Viet’s Restaurant)
Lady Luck – 23355 Hwy 94
Broken Bones BBQ – 481 E Hwy 105
HIGH SCORES
Flying W Ranch – 3330 Chuckwagon Rd
Paris Crepe – 1019 S Tejon St
Krispy Kreme – 5790 S Carefree
Qdoba – 1916 Southgate Rd
Pei Wei Asian Diner – 7148 N Academy
Jasmine Cafe – 6064 Stetson Hills
Chicken Salad Chick – 9291 Highland Ridge Heights
Sliced Bagels & More – 115 S. Main St
Sliced, earning a Perfect Score on May 30, just celebrated its one-year anniversary in May.
Yes, the Fountain spot for breakfast and lunch sells uncut bagels by the bag, but it’s really more of a sandwich shop that happens to use bagels instead of bread.
Owner and New York native Shannon Badgeley takes her bagels seriously, and has them imported several times a week from the East Coast.
“A New York bagel has to be cooked in New York water. It’s boiled in their water. There’s just something in the water, who knows what it is?” she said, smiling.
The sandwiches on the menu, from the Florida Meemaw to the Jalapeno Copper to the Love You Lox, were all named by her family members.
“This is a family business, so we wanted to bring the family into the shop,” she explains.
Badgeley says the Plain Blaine is the most popular sandwich.
Named by her father-in-law, includes bacon, egg, and cheese on a buttered toasted bagel with salt and pepper.
Another feature that makes Sliced unique compared to most other bagel shops is the fact that most sandwiches are steamed in a special machine after they’re prepared.
It’s a way of making sure a bagel sandwich appeals to as many people as possible.
“I know that a lot of people don’t like a bagel sandwich because the bagel is big,” Badgeley explains, “and this helps make it soft and nice and hot, and gooey, and brings all of the flavors together.”
The menu also includes a section called “Home Away From Home”.
Each month, Sliced offered the signature sandwiches from two other states as a way of giving members of Fountain’s military community a taste of home from time to time.
The current states offered are Missouri and Kansas.
Don’t forget to look for the KRDO13 Restaurant Roundup awards at your favorite restaurant to know the kitchen is clean.
Click here for a full list of the most recent health inspections in El Paso County.