LAUDERHILL, FL. State inspectors visiting Asados El Paisa on North University Drive on August 31, 2026 found food sourced from unknown or unapproved suppliers, meat not cooked to required minimum temperatures, and toxic chemicals stored improperly near food, all in the same inspection, all classified as high-severity violations.
The restaurant was not emergency-closed.
The August 31 inspection produced nine high-severity violations and two intermediate violations, one of the heaviest single-visit tallies in the facility's documented history. The violations touched nearly every layer of food safety: where the food came from, how it was cooked, how surfaces were cleaned, and how workers handled it.
What Inspectors Found
The food sourcing violation is among the most serious on the list. Inspectors cited the restaurant for receiving food from unapproved or unknown suppliers, which means that product bypassed the federal inspection chain entirely. If a supplier is unknown, there is no record to pull if a customer later gets sick.
Inspectors also cited food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated on the same visit, alongside a separate violation for inadequate shell stock identification. Shellfish received without proper tags cannot be traced to their harvest bed, which matters because oysters and clams are frequently consumed raw or lightly cooked.
Handwashing drew two separate citations: one for inadequate handwashing by food employees, and a second for improper technique. The restaurant was also cited for having no written employee health policy, meaning there was no documented procedure requiring sick workers to stay out of the kitchen.
Food contact surfaces were cited for not being properly cleaned or sanitized. Multi-use utensils drew an intermediate citation for the same failure, and single-use items were being reused.
What These Violations Mean
The combination of unapproved food sources and undercooking is particularly direct as a risk pathway. Food arriving from an unknown supplier may carry Listeria, Salmonella, or E. coli with no prior inspection to catch it. If that same food is then cooked below the required minimum temperature, pathogens that should have been killed by heat survive and reach the plate.
The two handwashing citations compound that risk. Inspectors cited both a failure to wash hands at all and a failure to use correct technique. Studies show that incorrect handwashing technique, such as skipping soap or washing for less than 20 seconds, leaves enough pathogens on hands to contaminate surfaces and food. At Asados El Paisa on August 31, both failures were present in the same kitchen on the same day.
Toxic chemicals stored near food represent a different category of danger. Mislabeled or improperly stored cleaning agents can contaminate food through direct contact or vapor, causing acute poisoning that can be mistaken for foodborne illness. The absence of a written employee health policy means that even if a worker became sick after that contamination, there was no framework in place to keep them from continuing to handle food.
The Longer Record
The August 31 inspection did not happen in isolation. State records show 25 inspections on file for this location, with 197 total violations documented across that history. The restaurant has been emergency-closed twice, both times for roach activity: once in June 2019 and once on August 31, 2026, the same day as this inspection.
That second closure is significant. The August 31 visit produced both the nine high-severity violations detailed above and an emergency closure order for roach activity. Inspectors returned the following day, September 1, and found two high-severity violations and one intermediate violation. The restaurant reopened September 1.
The inspection record from the prior two years shows persistent high-severity citations at nearly every visit. In February 2026, inspectors cited seven high-severity violations and one intermediate. In March 2025, six high-severity violations and two intermediate. In April 2024 and January 2024, four high-severity violations each. There is no inspection in the recent record that came back clean.
The categories shift slightly from visit to visit, but the volume does not. A facility with 197 violations across 25 inspections, two emergency closures for roaches, and a visit that simultaneously triggered a closure order and nine high-severity citations is not experiencing an isolated bad week.
The Longer Record: August 31
The emergency closure from the August 31 inspection was resolved in less than 24 hours. By September 1, the roach activity had been addressed to the inspector's satisfaction and the restaurant was permitted to reopen.
The nine high-severity violations from August 31, including food from unapproved sources, undercooked food, improperly stored toxic chemicals, and no employee health policy, are not listed as grounds for the closure order. The closure was for roach activity. The nine high-severity violations were documented on the same visit.
The restaurant is open.
