Houston Entree

Breakin' The Law: Restaurant Edition

Taqueria Taconmadre, a local taco chain, is out over a quarter of a million dollars after coming under fire from the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour division. All three locations violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by refusing to pay overtime wages or minimum wage to its employees.

The company has agreed to pay $275,706 in back wages to former and current employees to remedy their past illegal practices, but who's to say it won't happen again? What we do know is one taco chain we won't be visiting anytime soon. /via Eating Our Words

Photo: The.Comedian

Beer Festival Busted

The Houston Beer Festival, from organizer Timothy Hudson is under scrutiny after someone uncovered that the beneficiary of the event is not an officially approved, 501(c)(3) organization.

Hudson clarified that while nothing with the Houston Wine Fest Young Leader Scholarship is official yet, the paperwork is in the capable hands of the IRS for possible approval.

Adding to the controversy was the issue of VIP tickets, which promised buyers unlimited beer during the run of the festival. A TABC supervisor confirmed with Eating Our Words, who first wrote about the festival issues, that such tickets would be a violation of TABC regulations. Soon after, the VIP tickets magically disappeared from the beer festival's [loud] website. 

Freedom for Food & Caffeine in the Heights

Foodie Freedom  

Earlier this week the Texas Cottage Food Bill made it through the Texas legislature. The almost-law (it only needs to be signed by Gov. Perry now) allows some canners, bakers and farmers to create low-risk food products like jams, jellies, baked goods and syrups in their homes. Current health regulations ban the sale of such products to the public unless prepared in a certified commercial kitchen. 

Robb Walsh has more details about the "Texas Baker's Bill" movement and the recent legislation on his personal blog, Texas Eats.

Coffeehouses Making Headlines

Two new brewers of a different sort - and both inside the Houston Heights - have our town's two restaurant critics gushing with praise. 

Alison Cook wrote like a young teenager enamored with a first love in her Down House review. Mentioning everything from fresh peaches to cappucino to vintage aprons, Cook's write-up hints that Down House could be a quintuple threat - food, service and ambience as well as coffee and cocktails.

Katharine Shilcutt, on the other hand, headed to a hippie-r Heights Ashbury Coffee House and sampled organic coffee, a raw kale salad, tacos and a white bean soup. If the quaint, San Francisco-inspired coffee house can make as equally positive an impression on all its visitors (as long as they get there early because it closes at 2:30 p.m.), along with Down House, the Heights could be the new go-to place for caffeine and crafty bites.