After two decades as a family-style diner, a Laurier Street landmark business has been sold as Friendly Restaurant and Pizzeria owner Dounia Saikaley turned over the keys – and stoves – to an employee October 1.
The Friendly history is a long and intertwined one and includes a couple of generations of both sides of Saikaley’s immediate family.
“My father-in-law started Friendly in Orleans, decades ago,” she says. “He and his wife and children ran it for 20 years or so. That included my husband, Eli Saikaley, who started working there when he was 12.”
Restaurant succession history and historic buildings
In many ways, it’s a traditional restaurant succession story for both families: Dounia and Eli married in 1996 and bought her parents food operation and ran it for a few years. Eli’s sister, Denise, bought the Orleans Friendly from her parents and operated it for several more years.
In the meantime, Dounia and Eli opened a second Friendly in Rockland in March 2000 having purchased the property at 1756 Laurier Street – a building that already had its own rich commercial and residential history as a Rockland landmark that predates 1918 at which time the structure was destroyed by fire.
When Dounia and Eli purchased it, it had been the once very popular Andy’s Burgers that is across the street from the current Friendly and what is now New Ruby House.
“We ran that for many years,” says Dounia. “Then, in 2004, this property was for sale, so I bought it. It had been a breakfast place called Panorama for 30 years. I changed the name to Pano’s Breakfast and Deli.”
During that time, Eli, who now operates a local property management and development company, saw to operations across the street, while Dounia took care of the second restaurant.
She eventually determined that it was time to renovate and refresh the restaurant, so they combined forces.
“The businesses needed updating, and we were getting tired of running two restaurants, so we decided to merge, and this location became the new location of Friendly. We’ve been here close to 15 years.”
Classic family-restaurant dishes
During that time, the Friendly menu has featured the timeless classic breakfasts (served until 2 p.m.), lunches, dinners and daily and weekly specials that you might expect from a family-style restaurant with a few tweaks: club sandwiches, pizza, prime-rib burgers, chicken wings, quesadillas, stir fries and Friday fish and chips.
By 9:30 in the morning, on the last Sunday before the sale closed, the main dining area of Friendly was packed with about 45 people at four-tops and six-tops and an even larger group of loyal customers sipping hot coffee and eating hearty breakfasts with pancakes, waffles, French toast and home-fries.
On occasion, menu variations like a shawarma platter or a fattoush salad – dishes from Sailkaley’s Lebanese background – have appeared as Friendly specials, often what she calls a “Canadianized” version of what can be complex dishes to put together.
Whatever the dish, however, as much as they can, Friendly meals are made from scratch, she says.
“Our gravy has been homemade, our meat sauce. I have made my own crêpes in the morning for Crêpes Suzette. I don’t think that’s available elsewhere in Rockland,” she says when pointing out some of unique menu items. “We’ve always made our own dough and sauce for our pizza, too.”
Opportunity came calling
There wasn’t really a plan to sell the business, according to Saikaley, but after Covid-19, she felt “drained” with rising food costs and erratic supply lines, changing restaurant demographics and difficulty in finding staff in a relatively small community.
“The industry is a little different now and attitudes have changed. We hadn’t planned on selling the business and would have stayed another few years, but an opportunity presented itself.”
That opportunity has meant that Friendly staffer and chef Aldo Balla and his brother Andi, also a chef, have purchased Friendly Restaurant and take over the business as of October 1.
Aldo had worked in catering on an island resort in Lake Erie in Ohio for several years and recently as a sous chef at Moxies Hunt Club. He’s been in training and learning the menu at Friendly for just over three weeks now.
He calls the Friendly staff, some of whom have been with the restaurant for 20 years, “great.”
“My brother will be up front and making sure everything runs smoothly, helping waitstaff and be in touch with our guests. I’m going to be cooking most of the time just because I’m a very hands-on person. I want to make sure everything that goes out of the kitchen is a 10 out of 10 plate.”
He adds that during the transition the Friendly menu will stay the same with a few new specials introduced to gauge customer interest.
“From there, we can see what new items and new concepts we can introduce,” Balla says.
Growing up in the community
Saikaley is confident the Ballas can carry on the Friendly tradition. Despite the hours and demands, she says she will miss the restaurant business and especially the front-of-house where she has seen her customers visit as kids and return years later as adults with their own families.
“I enjoy feeding people. I enjoy interacting with the public. I enjoy entertaining. I’ve liked being the place that people can come to in Rockland. We grew up together in this community,” she says.
As for next steps, Saikaley says she will take a few months’ rest and perhaps do some travelling.
“I’m not exactly sure what I want to do, but we’ll see what comes my way,” she says with a laugh. “I’m going to find something I like and see what’s out there. But I’m open if anybody wants to offer me a job that I’m qualified for!”
