The original location of Finelli's Cafe at 2905 E. Fifth St. has been renovated and reopened — as Finelli's Café on Fifth — by Greenville restaurateur David Finelli.

The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and features a salad bar, a small buffet for lunch and a menu of what the restaurateur refers to as "simple food: pizza, spaghetti, not fish and steak and chops ... with family-friendly pricing, which means 'cheaper.'"

Rhett Butler/The Daily Reflector (ENLARGE)

Renovations at Finelli's Cafe on Fifth include the addition of windows to make the dining room brighter.

The breakfast menu, a Finelli's first, includes pancakes ($2.50 for two), French toast ($3.50 for three), platters with two eggs any style, grits and toast ($3.25) and sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches ($4.25). Omelet platters, served with grits and toast, are $3.75-$7.50. A fresh fruit bowl with vanilla yogurt and granola is $6.25.

A $7.50 breakfast buffet will be available from 6-9 a.m. weekdays, with brunch from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

"There is no sit-down breakfast café on this side of town, so we decided to offer breakfast," Finelli said.

Lunch items include cheeseburgers, meatball subs, black bean burgers and classic BLTs. A salad and pasta bar will be offered each weekday for $7.50 for diners in a hurry.

The dinner menu features such Italian specialties as herbed crust pizza, spaghetti with a variety of sauces, Chicken Parmesan, Seafood Cannelloni and lasagna. Desserts include tiramisu, chocolate cake, cannoli and Spumoni ice cream.

Finelli also operates Finelli's Café at 511-G Red Banks Road, but he said he has a soft spot for his first location. "That first restaurant is really special to me," he said. "We spent 10 years there. We started off as a mom-and-pop style Italian restaurant and we want to return to a family-friendly style restaurant."

The Fifth Street restaurant underwent cosmetic renovations including adding windows to make the dining room brighter and creating an outdoor patio. Finelli said he hopes it will "feel like a Tuscany restaurant. The dining room, with its terra-cotta walls with white trim, seats 30.

The patio, with its arbor with climbing roses, seats 30-40, depending on the number of tables set up. "It's a great place to watch the sunset," Finelli said.

Finelli's on Fifth has all ABC permits and offers cocktails, a wine list of 30 wines and draft beer.

Hours are 6 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. Call 754-1977 for reservations or take-out orders.

Meanwhile, across town at the Finelli's Cafe on Red Banks Road, Finelli is taking over the space next door recently vacated by Pink women's clothing boutique. The 1,500-square-foot space will become a banquet room for Finelli's.

Call 695-0020 or visit www.finelliscafe.com. Patrons now may make reservations online.

Pirate's Pub

Greenville's Pirate's Pub restaurant and bar, 1914 Turnbury Drive, has gone back to its roots — with the original owners taking over operations and changing its menu back to sandwiches and its name back to A.J. McMurphy's.

Gary Harris, who had been an owner of A.J. McMurphy's and Pirate's Pub for four years, recently sold the restaurant to original owners Don Acheson and Beth Whitehurst and their son Jaryd Acheson.

A.J.'s opened in 1994 as a neighborhood Irish pub.

"We were among the original owners and were part-owners for 12 years," said Don Acheson, who works in the food-service industry.

"We're going back to being A.J. McMurphy's — a true-blue neighborhood restaurant with a great bar."

Jaryd Acheson said he started washing dishes at A.J.'s when he was 13. He's now general manager.

The decor in the dining room and bar will remain the same, but the menu is getting an overhaul.

A.J.'s favorites being reintroduced include Bring Me the Heater, a blackened chicken breast served on a kaiser roll topped with pepper jack cheese, lettuce, and red onion and a side of salsa; and the Western Club, turkey with bacon, Monterrey jack cheese and mayonnaise grilled on whole wheat bread. Baby back ribs, both half and full racks, are also returning to the menu, along with Pirate's Pub specialties such as Chicken Alfredo Pasta and the Chicken Parmesan.

"We got a few new items as well," Jaryd Acheson said. "We came up with this great blend of chicken, roasted corn, black beans and pepper jack cheese. The ingredients are rolled in the chicken and then cut in little wheels. We call this entree Southwest Chicken; it's served with mixed vegetables and an avocado salad.

"We are also trying a new blackened Ahi tuna dish over pasta with lemon cream sauce with tomatoes and scallions."

Blue-plate specials will be offered during the day, along with nightly specials such as fish and chips or corned beef and cabbage.

The restaurant will open beginning at 11:30 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Patrons who bring in a church bulletin will receive a 10 percent discount on food.

A grand opening party will be held Thursday, with drink specials and music by Victor Hudson.

Call 355-7956.

Johnny's Pizzeria

Johnny's Pizzeria has opened at 728 S.W. Greenville Blvd., Suite 107, across the parking lot from the Greenville Grande theater.

The menu, for eat-in or carry-out, features New York-style pizza, specialty pizzas, salads, cold and hot subs ($5.39-$7.99), calzones and strombolis. Pasta dinners, served with garlic bread, range in price from $6.99-$8.99 and include spaghetti with meatballs, chicken or veal; lasagna; baked ziti; cheese manicotti and Chicken Alfredo.

Appetizers include garlic knots, Buffalo wings and cheese fries. Desserts include cannoli, cheese cake and tiramisu. Non-alcoholic beverages are served.

There is seating for 38 at booths in the nonsmoking dining room and for 12 at outdoor tables.

Hours are 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and noon-9 p.m. Sundays. Call 756-9222.

CPW's Turbo-dieting

Ralph Walton of CPW's calls it "Turbo-dieting," and it's now on the local restaurant's menu.

"At one time the Atkins Diet was the craze, and we still have a great low-carb menu," Walton said. "Now many people are going back to the basic low-fat and low-calorie style of eating while still watching their carbohydrate intake.

"Turbo-dieting includes monitoring of calories and fat plus understanding the difference between simple and complex carbohydrates," Walton said. "We have an employee who has jumped on the bandwagon."

So Walton has worked with Michael Vann of In-Tone Fitness to create special lunch items that meet the turbo-dieting requirements: low-fat, low-calorie and low-carb."

"I gave Ralph some ideas and recommendations on good, healthy foods and gave him some ingredients in those foods," Vann said. "My hope is that this is an on-going thing between both of us, so I will probably help him come up with some new ideas every month or so."

A new selection will be offered each month. The current offering is a Tuna Pita Pocket on whole wheat pita with fruit cup and veggie sticks with fat-free ranch for dipping.

"Coming soon will be hot/warm dishes and sandwiches featuring lean beef and chicken. I'm also working on a low-fat stuffed pepper recipe."

"Our staff also is able to point out current menu items that inherently fall into this criteria for dieting," Walton said.

CPW's is at 2422 Stantonsburg Road in Stanton Square shopping center. Call 757-7756

Farmers' market

Fresh produce available this week at the Pitt County Farmers' Market, 4560 County Home Road, includes: string beans, pole beans, bush beans, cucumbers, beets, cabbage, collards, lima beans, butter beans, crowder peas, a variety of squashes, sweet potatoes, red potatoes, banana peppers, green bell peppers, tomatoes, green tomatoes, radishes, corn, field peas, white onions, spring onions, red onions, diakon radishes, blueberries, peaches, cantaloupes, plums and watermelons. Fresh herbs include basil, mint, cilantro, chives and thyme. The market also features local honey with the comb, pecans, fresh cut flowers, vegetable bedding plants, pepper plants, house plants, hot horseradish, mustard, peppered vinegar, homemade granola, salsa, and preserves such as okra, plum, fig, strawberry, corn relish and habanero spread. Breads for sale include banana, zucchini, wheat, white and cheddar.

Chef Felix Fernandez with East Carolina University Dining Services will present a melon-carving demonstration from 9 a.m.-noon Saturday.

The Pitt County Farmers' Market is open from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Fridays. Call 355-7612.

Nibbles

Ernie's Subs at 4125-A Old Tar Road in Winterville has closed. The original Ernie's Subs location at 911 S. Memorial Drive remains open. Hours are 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 10 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays and 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Sundays. Catering is still available from the Greenville location, as well. Call 752-4388.

The former Ryan's Steakhouse on Greenville Boulevard is currently being renovated. A sign says Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet will open soon there.

Greenville's Fresh Market is scheduled to open in November in 11 Galleria, the former Carolina East Mall location, just off Memorial Drive.

Hot Dish is a weekly column of restaurant and food news. To submit items for consideration, call Jane Hudson at 329-9577, fax 754-8140 or e-mail jhudson@coxnc.com.