By Bill Parry
An Astoria businessman will find out Monday if he can reopen his popular restaurant and two bakeries that were shuttered by the city Department of Health last month.
Violations were not the problem, but the owner’s temper was.
The trouble began in August during an inspection of The Strand Smokehouse, the popular barbecue joint at 25-27 Broadway. The Strand is a unique operation in that it prepares all the food two doors away in the Bakeway NYC.
“It’s got an industrial-sized kitchen and that’s where we use the smoker so it doesn’t stink out the joint,” owner Tom Vasilis explained, adding that Bakeway’s kitchen had been inspected two weeks earlier.
“I said I’m refusing inspection because I thought they were double dipping, and I told him to leave my premises and it got a little hairy,” Tom Vasilis said.
The agency says Vasilis used profanity and even threw an equipment bag at the inspector in an altercation that got so heated that police were called, although no charges were filed.
“Yes, I used profanity, but I didn’t throw the bag at him. I picked it up and placed it outside my door,” Vasilis said.
The owner had another run-in with a different inspector in 2011 and says he should have known better.
It turns out the agency only wanted to inspect an ice machine and a bathroom that are shared by The Strand and Bakeway. It was a costly mistake by the owner. On April 28, the agency shut down The Strand Smokehouse; the Bakeway, at 25-21 Broadway; and Vasilis’ second Bakeway, at 29-10 30th St.
A statement from the agency reads, “Yes, the Health Department suspended the permits for all three establishments. By refusing to allow inspections on two separate occasions, the owner has shown a disregard for public health and an unwillingness to comply with the law.”
Vasilis claims it was pent-up frustration from 20 years of arbitrary inspections that got the better of him.
“They shut down three places and put 50 people out of work because they got their nose out of joint,” Vasilis said. “I need to get out of this business. There’s no oversight on the Department of Health.”
Vasilis adds that he budgeted $8,000 a year for fines at his three businesses.
“It’s not just the Health Department,” he said. “There are plenty more agencies with their hand out, too.”
The restaurant and the two bakeries are scheduled for inspection Monday. If they pass, they may open Tuesday.
“I’m not holding my breath right now because it’s zero tolerance inspections — the ball is entirely in their court,” Vasilis said.
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
