It’s a short work week, and we at Young & Hungry Central have just the thing you need: beer and dining recommendations for the Fourth. We also have something for your reading pleasure:

The top blog posts of the week.

1. Obama Ate Here: The Working Map (with apologies and gratitude to BrightestYoungThings)
2. What Did Your $10 Ticket Get You at the Safeway Barbecue Battle?
3. On July 4th Weekend, Buy American Beer
4. Breadline Busted on 19 Health Code Violations, Ten of Them Critical
5. Dairy Godmother’s Owner Doesn’t Want the Obama Bump That Ray’s Hell Burger Got

Photo by cristinabe via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution License

Just a week after it was closed for 19 violations of the D.C. food code, Breadline was back in business today. To the naked eye, the sandwich shop didn’t look so different from its “excessive live fruit fly” phase. I did notice meticulous, hand-written expiration dates on the lemonade drinks and that the bread rack behind the cash register was gone, an apparent victim of a D.C. Health Department inspector who thought consumers might contaminate the loaves. But almost everything else looked the same.

I don’t mean to imply that Breadline remains as dirty as when the inspector tagged it as a menace to society. What I do mean to say is that I (and probably you) wouldn’t know a health hazard if it bit me (or you) on the ass — at least not from the serving line at this downtown sandwich shop. Could I have known that food was stored at the wrong temperature? Or that there was excessive grease under the hood? Or that dough was rising on the walk-in floor? Or that Breadline was operating without a restaurant license?

Nope, I couldn’t.

What I do know is that Breadline has aggressively tackled the problems in the days since the Health Department pointed them out. The restaurant managers have scrubbed the place clean, to the point that it not only passed re-inspection but it also impressed Breadline founder Mark Furstenberg, a man not known for an easy compliment.

Where am I going with this? I’m saying that if you liked Breadline in the past, when it was apparently a haven for the city’s fruit fly population, then you should like it now, when it’s as clean as an operating room. Health inspections are designed to protect you from harm, not harm a business — though that’s sometimes the unfortunate consequence.

When I stopped by for lunch, I noticed that the patio was packed with patrons, but inside, a good number of tables were empty. As I paid for my salami and cheese sandwich, lemonade, and chips, I asked the cashier how Breadline was faring on its first day back. She said it was “better than expected.”

I was going to leave it at that but just couldn’t. So I asked her if that meant business was down from pre-inspection times. The cashier smiled and nodded.

As I was about to leave, I stopped and looked at the pastry display case and noticed it was virtually empty. A manager-looking guy asked if he could help me and then promptly directed me to a housemade whoopie pie, which I purchased. I asked him how business was, and he, as you might expect, was more optimistic. He said it was “good.”

But as he handed me my whoopie pie, he said something that said everything: “Thanks for coming in.”

He said in a way that made me feel as if I were a brave pilgrim venturing into untamed lands.

Less than a week after it was cited for 19 violations of D.C. Department of Health codes — ten of them critical violations — Breadline has passed its re-inspection, says Dena Iverson, director of communications for the department. Before it can officially reopen for business, though, the sandwich shop still has to secure a new restaurant license from the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.

Morell Marean, representative for the private-investor owners who bought Breadline from founder Mark Furstenberg in 2005, hopes to have the license in hand by tomorrow, which would allow Breadline to reopen for business on the same day.

“The Breadline has passed its health department inspection, and we’re looking forward to opening soon,” Marean says.

Marean wouldn’t comment on the amount of money invested — or the time spent — to get Breadline back up to code. But Furstenberg, who was at his former restaurant when the inspector was there today, told Y&H this afternoon that the shop looks born anew.

“It was beautiful. Seriously,” Furstenberg says about the repair work. “They replaced ceiling tiles, cleaned the oven, cleaned all the machinery…Everything was spotless.”

“They must have spent a fortune,” he adds.

The public will now be the final arbiter on Breadline’s future. Given the large number of violations — including that customer-killer known as vermin in the kitchen — Breadline will likely need to conduct more than a clean-up campaign to get patrons back in the door. The group will likely need to go on a PR offensive.

But for now, Marean prefers a cautious approach. As for a public statement, the representative wants to be brief and on point.

“Food safety and sanitation are of paramount importance to our company,” Marean says, “and we have worked diligently to remediate all of the items cited by the health department.”