Nico, Nico, Nico (while shaking head and frowning)

Once again, little Nico has broken the hearts of all those who truly believed him when he said he'd clean up his act.

A Sept. 2 inspection of  the Nico's Mexican Food location at 1855 E. Fort Lowell had the sanitarian dropping the "P" bomb, as in "Provisional License," as in failed unannounced inspection.

It's wrong to paint all of Nico's many locations with the same brush. The one at 7865 E. Golf Links Road, for example, has an exemplary record, with seven consecutive "excellent" ratings on inspections, no small feat.

The Fort Lowell location had an impressive string of its own going, but something happened in late 2007, and Fort Lowell Nico has really let himself go. See for yourself.

• Nov. 2005:         Excellent
  
• March 2006:      Excellent
• Sept. 2006:        Excellent
• Feb. 2007:         Excellent
• Dec. 2007:        Good
• April 2008:         Provisional (lost regular license)
  
• May 2, 2008:      Failed follow-up
• May 12, 2008:    Failed another follow-up
• May 22, 2008:    Passed follow-up (finally)
• Sept. 2, 2008:    Provisional (second consecutive provisional on unannounced inspections).

Criticals reported on the Sept. 2 inspection were for:

• Potentially hazardous foods not held at proper cooling temperature;

• Employee's hands and exposed arms not clean and properly washed;

• Food employees not preventing contamination of ready-to-eat food by limiting bare hand contact to approved methods;

• Effective food contact controls are not preventing food contamination;

• Foods are not correctly date marked.

We're here for you, Nico, maybe not as actual customers, but in spirit.