New Massena restaurant offers American-style homemade comfort food

Oct. 12—MASSENA — A new Massena restaurant is drawing positive reviews from its customers.

The Highland Family Restaurant sits in the 22 Highland Road spot long occupied by the former Guy's Restaurant and Drive-In, which closed its doors several years ago.

General Manager Nicole Francis said they're not trying to duplicate the success that Guy's had. But, with their American-style homemade comfort food like those that were offered by Guy's, they're drawing their own fans.

"We don't want to duplicate Guy's. You can't duplicate Guy's. It was a completely different era and the nostalgia is so heavy that to come and try to duplicate Guy's, you could never be Guy's. They had such a run and people love them to this day," she said.

In fact, when the Highland Family Restaurant was seeking a zoning variance for its sign, Ms. Francis said they went door-to-door in the area.

"They all have amazing memories of Guy's and you could never duplicate that," she said.

That was then, and this is now.

"We do want to pay tribute to the tradition and heritage. That's why we wanted to stick with the home style comfort food menu, because that is obviously what they want to see here and that's what we have here," Ms. Francis said.

She said the vision for the Highland Family Restaurant came from the Thrana family, the owners.

"It's kind of a passion project for them. Their parents owned a restaurant years ago. It was the Tip Top Cafe in Raymondville, so that was kind of their parent's thing. It's kind of always been in the family, that kind of restaurant aspect," she said.

In fact, walking into the restaurant, one is greeted by a tribute to Ben and Jane Thrana, who inspired the family to continue in the restaurant business.

"That was really a big driving force," Ms. Francis said. "They want their family to always be a part of this. It's very much a passionate project for them. It's something they thought about, dreamed about, and wanted for so long."

The restaurant opened on Oct. 3, but not before renovating the building and adding personal touches, like a Remington statue owned by Ben Thrana.

The menu was also carefully created following several food trials. It features appetizers, soups, kid's meals, burgers, gourmet grills, pasta, entrees, sides, hot sandwiches, pizza, salads and wraps, and breakfast items. Breakfast is served from 6 to 11 a.m., lunch runs from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and then dinner picks up from 4 p.m. until closing at 9 p.m., seven days a week.

"It's a big menu of home style cooking and comfort food," Ms. Francis said. "It's sandwiches, burgers, quick dinner fare, but also the home style dinners. And, of course, who doesn't love a good pizza. I think generally speaking you don't expect us to have pizza. We want to get that out there and show people that we do have pizza. It adds to the dining aspects. Some kids don't want anything but pizza."

The menu had a lot of additions and deletions before it was finalized, and the final product has so many choices that she said someone could eat at the restaurant every day and never get bored with the food.

A hot turkey sandwich using real turkey has been a big hit, she said, as has a Vermont chicken burger — grilled chicken with applewood bacon, cheddar cheese, spinach and maple mayo.

After the kitchen staff was given a week to run the main menu, a daily special was added. It was meatloaf the first night, and it sold out in an hour. Tuesday's offering was goulash. There's also a soup of the day.

"We're trying to keep that variety going," Ms. Francis said.

Some folks were invited to a soft opening, and were the first to give the menu offerings a taste test. Facebook reviews were positive.

"We invited some people and got some feedback that way," she said.

The positive reviews have continued since from those who visited the restaurant.

"It's been really positive. We've gotten some great feedback from the community. It's been insane how much community support we've gotten. We can't say enough about the people that come in and they're just so positive and so great. We're blown away by how many people have taken the time to come out and give a shout out to the waitresses and say how great their food was and how much they love the atmosphere," Ms. Francis said.

They offer a choice of dining in, taking out through the drive-through window, or having free delivery in the village limits from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

"It's non-stop from open to close, the dining, the take-out, the delivery," she said.

But, the approximately 10 waitresses and approximately 12 kitchen staff members have been able to handle the crowd.

"They are doing an amazing job. They're really pushing it out," she said.

To avoid the potential for a wait, they do take and recommend reservations by calling 315-769-2626.