Posted: June 15th, 2012 - 12:03pm
Source: Columbus Dispatch

Betty’s Fine Food and Spirits will stay open after the Columbus Board of Health reviewed recent food-safety problems at the restaurant, many of which stemmed from equipment failure.
Betty’s owner Elizabeth Lessner said last week that she has spent more than $20,000 fixing air conditioning and coolers to ensure that food stays cold enough to remain safe.
Lessner voluntarily closed the Short North restaurant at 680 N. High St. for a day in May after an inspection found that multiple food items were at risky temperatures. It was 89 degrees outside that day and the air conditioning had failed, rendering coolers incapable of working properly, said Lessner and her husband, Harold LaRue.
During a hearing last week, Lessner said that she also had made a management change to ensure that proper food-safety practices are followed at Betty’s.
Three days after that hearing, a city inspector returned to Betty’s and found nine violations, two of them considered “critical.”