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Popular restaurant Pollos Asados finally ready to reopen

Pollos Asados closed for seven months after they were found to be violating the Texas Clean Air Act. But now they're back, with the doors reopening on Thursday morning.

Pollos Asados Los Nortenos, a popular southeast-side restaurant, is set to reopen after being shut down for seven months.

Back in September 2017, owner Frank Garcia owner was forced to close their doors after the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality filed a lawsuit claiming the smoke fuming from the grill was violating the Texas Clean Air Act.

"We lost sales," Garcia said. "We lost all the money we invested in this machine and everything in this pit room."

In the past seven months, Garcia says that he’s spent $150,000 installing a new filtration and smoke scrubbing system.

"It has about 80 filters in it," Garcia said. "It's going to eliminate a majority of the smoke and some of the odor."

Garcia said that before the restaurant closed, they were serving about 1,000 customers a day. They plan to reopen early Thursday, expecting to see a similar crowd.

"Probably a lot more than 1,000 people a day," Garcia said. "Probably a lot more than we were before."

Neighbors who complained about the smoke in the past said that they will make sure Garcia follows the law.

"We want to obey by the law and we want to make sure that we're not violating any acts or anything like that," Garcia said. "And we want to make sure that the environment is clean. We want to make sure that our neighbors are happy."

Pollos Asados will open at 10 a.m. on Thursday and will start warming up the kitchen around 6 a.m.

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