When in Rome . . . (WNTE ver 5.0)

The ever-adventurous staff of WFMY News 2 bring us this week's installment of the Restaurant Report Card (or as I like to call it, "Where Not To Eat").

I guess it goes without saying that I enjoy Restaurant Report Card because it flings back the dirty aprons of a hundred different eating establishments we'll likely never visit. It's kind of like culinary gossip without the extra carbs.

This time, we end up with three distinctively different gastronomic disaster areas:

• Rome Italian Garden Pizza: "many flies landing on the food and utensils". . . "the restaurant should not blow a very dirty fan over the food"
• North Main Express Mart: "everything needs a thorough cleaning" . . . "the inspector saw a live roach and recommended a treatment by a certified pest control company"
• Sarku Japan (inside Hanes Mall): "all foods are to be stored in proper containers with lids, not in 'To Go' bags and not on the floor" . . . "employees should was their hands before beginning their shift"

I'm not exactly sure if these wordings come directly from the reports filed by inspectors, or if the tv crew is having a little fun. I just can't imagine a report saying that the owners are reminded to not have "very dirty" fans blowing on the food . . . slightly dirty fans are acceptable. But then again stranger thing have happened.

As an aside, this rather humorous robbery graphic appeared on the front page and was joined by this equally humorous story:

Clerk Pulls Gun on Robbers

Police say the clerk feared for his safety and pulled out his own handgun to defend himself. The two suspects ran away from the scene.