Photo by Douglas Imbrogno

If you weren’t from Charleston, you’d be hard-pressed to know that tucked away on the wonderfully named Bullitt Street sits a classic Americana street scene: Fazio’s Italian Restaurant. All these years driving by and I had never been inside. A decent meal was had of cheese ravioli this night. The side plate greeting for diners — a melon slice with cheese spread in a plastic cup and crackers — was not usual for Charleytown.

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The couple who used to run Mykonos Cafe, and who now run a diner in Nitro, have a real problem keeping their restaurants clean. When I researched Health Department inspections for a Gazette article last year, it turned out that Mykonos was among the worst offenders. In 2005, it was hit with 14 “critical violations,” or code breaches that constitute public health risks. That was despite the fact that Mykonos closed in November.

Last year, Mykonos’ managers, Manoli and Aoleen Stavrulakis, opened Goody’s Diner in Rock Branch, on W.Va. 25 near Poca. But they haven’t cleaned up any. Goody’s was cited by inspectors in 2006 for no fewer than 17 critical violations.

Here are the inspector’s comments from one inspection in September, when the restaurant was written up for eight violations: “Improper storage of chemical; sprayer on sink hanging below flood rim; improper date-marking; French fry slicer not clean; hood vents above deep fryers not clean; hood above grill not clean; inside of white microwave not clean; inside of silver microwave not clean.”

Judging from my experience walking through an exam with Kanawha inspector Steve Jones, I’d say you have to be pretty egregious to warrant more than one or two violations. Restaurant workers usually know for at least five or 10 minutes beforehand that the inspector is plodding through the kitchen, so there’s plenty of time to tend to anything that needs tended to. I shudder to think of all the violations that are committed on a regular basis but then halted temporarily for the inspector’s sake. Violations that involve worker hygiene come, disconcertingly, to mind.

On the other hand, a restaurant that I singled out in my article for a history of bad inspections, the South Charleston Hardee’s, at 612 MacCorkle Ave., has made good on its promise to shape up. It had been written up for 16 criticals in the six months ending in April. Since then, it’s had just one.

– By Joe Morris, Gazzete staff writer

Photos by Douglas Imbrogno

The Inta Juice logo, seen above at the juice and smoothie chain’s Kanawha City outpost at 4002 MacCorkle Ave. SE , will soon be seen in downtown Charleston. On Feb. 19, a second location of the business opens on Summers Street, between the First Watch restaurant and Capitol Roasters coffeeshop, says Mark Wright, the local outlet’s general manager.

Inta Juice is a national chain that specializes in way-healthy smoothie and juice blends, along with wheatgrass shots, for the brave of heart. I’ve become a junkie for their Veggie Energizer, a tasty-sweet juice melange of carrots, celery, beets and cucumbers. (Yeah, you people who don’t eat your broccoli cringe– but not only is it good for you, but it’s good).

You could spend the better part of a month drinking through the menu of more than 50 combination drinks, which blend everything from blueberries, pineapples, bananas, watermelon, peach, kiwi and blackberries to Red Bull, bee pollen, wheat germ, ginseng, echinacea and beyond.

The Charleston outlets are owned by pro football star and West Virginia native Randy Moss. It’s a pretty hip and healthy business investment for a guy no doubt rolling in dough — and bee pollen, too.

– By Douglas Imbrogno

(At right) Inta Juice general manager Mark Wright loads the carrots that go into a 24-oz Veggie Energizer at the store’s Kanawha City locale. Call 925-1888

Bellacino’s worker Donnell Washington gets the Capitol Street restaurant ready for its grand opening. Gazette photo by M.K. McFarland

If you frequent Capitol Street in downtown Charleston, you have seen renovations underway at the old Mykonos restaurant location at 218 Capitol Street for a long while now Well, they’re finally done. The Bellacino’s sandwich and pizza chain opens there today in the spot, right next door to Tex-Mex restaurant Cazon Southwest Deli. Joe Morris reports on the opening in today’s Charleston Gazette:

“We feel like there’s room for everybody,” says co-owner Jason Morgan. “There are a lot of people downtown from 8 to 5 and not enough places to eat; at lunch, they’re pretty much packed.”

Bellacino’s sells regular-crust and thick-crust Sicilian pizzas baked on the premises in a newly installed stack oven. Prices start at $3.59 for an 8-inch pie, $8.59 for a 12-inch and $10.49 for a 16-inch.

Construction delays forced the owners to postpone installing an ice cream maker, so the restaurant’s ice cream will be shipped in from another Bellacino’s in Barboursville until sometime this spring, Morgan said.

The big draw will be the Bellacino’s “grinders,” or sub sandwiches, Morgan says. He and partner Doug Bright own two other Bellacino’s franchises in West Virginia — the one in Barboursville and in Cross Lanes — through their company, No Limits III Inc. At those restaurants, grinders generate about 70 percent of the business, Morgan said.

Read the rest of the story here.