Tortillas Mexican Grill Re-Opens After Health Code Violations

A temporary closure of San Mateo fast-food restaurant -- ordered on June 14 by the San Mateo County Health Department -- has been lifted and the restaurant, located in the , has re-opened.

The temporary shutdown was mandated after an inspection report released by the county stated the restaurant "lacked proper facilities for hand-washing, lacked clean surfaces for food and also lacked hot and/or cold water."

The County Health System only closes a facility if they pose an immediate public health risk, such as active sewer spills, rodents or lack of hot water, according to San Mateo County Environmental Health Director Dean Peterson.

"The facility was closed due to a lack of hot water, where they were unable to wash hands and sanitize food ware," said Peterson in an e-mail.

Once hot water was restored to the facility, Tortillas was allowed to reopen.

On June 27, a restaurant supervisor on duty acknowledged that Tortillas had received order to close, but refused to respond specifically to the health code issues or what was being done to respond to the specific violations.

The supervisor claimed to be unaware of how to get in contact with his manager.

Hillsdale Shopping Center spokeswoman Christine Kupczak was unaware of the health code violations, or of the order by the County Health System to close.

Hillsdale Shopping Center General Manager Larry Ivich did not respond to requests for comment.

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