Diner gets it eggs-actly right

Jimmy K. Papageorge stood by the front door of his Terrace Diner in Bayside, holding a sheet of paper like it was a winning lottery ticket.
The paper was a re-opening authorization from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). The diner at 212-97 26th Avenue had been closed from Thursday July 5 until Wednesday, July 11, “at 6:35 p.m.,” Papageorge said, “a moment I’ll remember for a long time.”
In the two months the extensively renovated diner was open, it had developed something of regular crowd, and they were already filtering back on re-opening day, July 12. “It was a little off at lunch hour,” Papageorge said, “but it’s been good for a weekday.”
A local couple, the Bakers, said they were glad to have the diner back. “We’re Kosher, so we only come for the salads and the like,” the female Baker said, “but the place is spotless and everything is always fresh, so we were surprised when it was closed in the first place.”
A security guard for the Bay Terrace Shopping Center looked up from his lunch at the counter and confided, “Of all the places to eat around here, this is where I come every day.”
Papageorge and his partners took over the location and did extensive renovation, but in their hurry to open, failed to fix a water leak under the sink at the service bar. “So I shut the water valve off under the sink, and I guess I kinda forgot” he admitted sheepishly. The DOHMH also demanded they install another wash sink in the basement.
“When they closed us, we couldn’t sell food to the public, so I cooked for my family, and then we threw everything else out,” Papageorge said, “we’re still getting deliveries so we can make everything on the menu.”
He continues, “When the inspector came in to check the food temperatures yesterday, he opened the refrigerator and it was empty. He asked what happened and I told him we threw everything out.”
“He liked that,” Papageorge said, smiling.