E. Coli Anyone?

One of my favorite restaurants in Huntsville, Little Rosie’s Taqueria, is in a bit of hot water over the largest outbreak of E. coli poisoning in Alabama in over 20 years. Or maybe they should have used more hot water, I’m not sure.

We eat at this place a lot, so I’m not sure how we managed to dodge this particular bullet. Of course, the lawyers are closely monitoring the situation (thank God!), and health inspectors are reassuring everyone that this was an isolated incident and that in fact Little Rosie’s, in the wake of this, is probably the safest place to eat in Huntsville.

My question is this: Should I show some solidarity and faith in Little Rosie’s and eat there sometime this weekend or should I avoid it like last week’s lettuce? I would appreciate your feedback.

E. coli anyone? Uh, no thanks, I think I’ll pass on that.

18 Comments

  1. greg

    I’d risk it. Little Rosie’s is that good (to me.) Rosies and Little Rosies were my two favorite places, and I miss them dearly.

  2. J

    Have you ever wondered why we are taught to wash our hands with soap and water; yet, we only have to rinse our veggies with water? When will the restaurant industry take the hint that they need to use a produce wash (e.g., Fit) to remove the dirt, and other crap that can be on produce. Most produce that I know about grows in or on the ground, or on bushes or trees, aminal (and even humans) leave behind body fuctiosn that might not be too pleasant to think about.

    If this was a case where it is cross contanination, where an employee transefered the bacteria from one source to the other materail, a good cleaning of the produce should have happened some where in the process?????? How come you never hear or see that they have used anything but water to clean the produce?

  3. Donna

    Just do it! Then have a Rosie-rita and any possible germs will be gone anyway….

  4. That Girl

    I prefer the big Rosie’s but… I guess they use the same stuff?

  5. Brady

    Mike: I think you should risk it, unless you are pregnant or over 70.

    As for me, I’ll have to wait for a visit to Alabama.

  6. Mike the Eyeguy

    Together, you are all a veritable font of wisdom. Thank you for your help.

    J-Do you happen to work for the law firm of Pritzker & Ruohonen, Inc.? 🙂

    Donna–I think you’re on to something there; beats the heck out of Listerine.

  7. Stoogelover

    I would give them a chance to bring in a new bunch of lettuce! I remember years ago when we lived in Florence and would drive over to Huntsville to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant (can’t remember the name) only to have them shut down by the health department for mixing Alpo in their main dishes. If our meals were, in fact, mixed with Alpo, I’d like the recipe!!

  8. Alan gable

    There is a reason they put a lime in their beer……….
    What? I’m just saying….

  9. lYNDA bEE

    I agree with Donna!

    Mikee – is Little Rosie’s better than Tom’s Place? Haven’t had any decent food since California – or Searcy for that matter!

  10. Lynda Bee

    JUSt tEsTing YOu eYEGuy!

    Off subject…

    Hey – my oldest (James – 10) just went in for an eye exam – and they gave him an RX for glasses. The kid has been blinking non-stop lately. (I almost think we should attribute it to over-growth hormone – he’s 5’7″ tall going into the 5th grade!)

    Seriously -anything else I should pursue on this?

    I’ll send my nickel in the mail!

    🙂 Bee

  11. Mike the Eyeguy

    Sl–
    Ah yes, that fine N. Alabama Mexican cuisine! Bon appetite!

    Alan–
    I always wondered about that…

    Lbee–
    Tom’s Place–I hadn’t thought about that one in years! Oh, the memories. Oh, the indigestion. It’s a wonder we all survived it.

  12. Mike the Eyeguy

    Lbee–

    Blinking and/or squinting can sometimes be a symptom of uncorrected refractive error. Has he stopped blinking? Does he say he sees better? If so, then you can probably let it rest.

  13. Carolinagirl

    Uh – you could be safe, but I’m not sure I’d chance it. Then again, those who are usually affected the worse by e-coli are the geiriatric population and very young.

    TGIF!

  14. Stacy

    Hey…Never commented before, but am Jon’s wife and I read your blog pretty regularly.

    We are REGULAR Little Rosie’s eaters, and after being out of town for a couple weeks during the scare, we resumed our Wednesday night ritual with no drama.

    It was shocking–we pulled up to a normally bustling parking lot and restaurant–and it was so empty we feared the restaurant was closed! However, we rather enjoyed the fact that an hour before church we walked in and pretty much had our pick of seats!

    The food was yummy as usual, and there were no suspicious symptoms afterwards.

    My advice: I’m going to continue to eat my most favorite food, but if everyone else wants to remain afraid that just leaves more seats for me to choose from!!!! 🙂

  15. Ed

    Little late weighing in here, but I’m guessing that the restaurant is probably cleaner now than it ever has been. Based on that assumption, I took a dive and went for the taco salad. I’ll let you know the outcome in a few days. I noticed the not-full parking lot too.

  16. Mike the Eyeguy

    If Stacy and Ed say it’s okay, then that’s good enough for me.

    But then again, maybe I’ll wait another 72 hours or so…

  17. Charlie

    My son had an interesting comment. He said that all those people who thought Guadalajara was too seedy and bragged about Little Rosies will think differently now.

  18. Mike the Eyeguy

    That’s a good point. Guadalajara definitely (how shall I say this?) has more “atmosphere” than Little Rosie’s. Where else can you go in Huntsville and have every TV in the joint tuned to a soccer match on Telemundo?

    For the record, I kept eating there–even after biting into that large staple that was buried in my refried beans (true story)!

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