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February 10, 2008

Popular Malone eatery reopening after fire

By DENISE A. RAYMO

MALONE -- It seems fitting that a beloved Malone restaurant destroyed by fire seven months ago is reopening on Valentine's Day.

Hosler's Family Restaurant at 344 East Main St. has doubled its capacity to 200, added a private conference room and an outdoor patio and expanded its kitchen.

But it is still the hometown place that many families had known and loved until disaster struck last summer.

To thank the customers for their patience and the community for its continued support, Hosler's will hold an open house Wednesday from 9 to 11 a.m. to let everyone see the changes before the place officially reopens Thursday at 6 a.m.

Michele Stonehouse, who returns as the restaurant's part-time manager, said the staff and its loyal customers are thrilled.

"It's going to be great to have the family back together again."

About 23 people were thrown out of work when a fire in the electrical panel tore through the restaurant on July 31, 2007, about 2:20 p.m.

Excavator Dan LaShomb cleaned up the site, architect Tim McCarthy redesigned the property, and contractor Tim Lamica built the new place at the corner of Raymond Street and U.S. Route 11.

The greenish gray, Adirondack-inspired façade and stone detail outside is expanded upon indoors with sweeping vine wallpaper borders, knotty wainscoting and durable tiling throughout.

The dining area has booth seating for 80 to 90 customers on the right, while the left has a private-meeting space for groups of up to 50 people.

Each is adjacent to a huge buffet area, which also opens into the coffee bar where customers can see the news and sports of the day on television while they eat or play the lottery.

The staff has grown and changed a little from the former work team.

"We're up to 35 people now. We got all of them but three coming back, which tells you something about this place," she said.

Owner Mike Hosler said the wait staff trained this week by testing assorted desserts, trying a variety of gourmet-coffee flavors and sampling different wines to answer customer's questions when they came up.

He had hoped to reopen a week earlier, "but when we saw how much we still had to do, there was too much, and we would be too stressed," Hosler said.

The delay gave everyone a little more time to make sure everything is just right.

Even the menu has changed a bit, but visitors should be reassured that many of the favorites -- like bacon and eggs any time of day -- will still be available.

"One thing we're changing is that we're offering all fresh meats, nothing frozen; the same for our seafood, always fresh," Hosler said. "We're going to be selling only choice-cut meats now."

The double-station kitchen will allow for quicker fulfillment of customer orders and streamlines the equipment for the cooks. A baking station where bread, rolls and pies are made fresh will eventually be expanded.

Two of the most welcome features are the walk-in freezer and cooler, he said.

"We used to have eight refrigerators upstairs, and every time we needed something, they had to go up and get it," Hosler said with a laugh, adding that another upgrade is central air conditioning throughout the building and kitchen where cooks suffered in 120-degree heat.

With so many large and small changes, Hosler is concerned customers might think the restaurant will not be the same place they remember so fondly.

"I'm so anxious," he said. "I'm on pins and needles. We're opening a week later than we wanted, but we wanted to do it right."

draymo@pressrepublican.com

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