{"id":38529,"date":"2025-09-18T11:38:59","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T15:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?p=38529"},"modified":"2025-09-18T11:38:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T15:38:59","slug":"the-diner-house-serves-up-classic-comfort-as-owner-eyes-larger-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2025\/09\/the-diner-house-serves-up-classic-comfort-as-owner-eyes-larger-location\/","title":{"rendered":"The Diner House Serves Up Classic Comfort As Owner Eyes Larger Location"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Long-time restaurateur Jon LaRock owns The Diner House in Hudson Falls and plans on moving to a larger space, the former Seeley\u2019s Restaurant on Upper Broadway in Fort Edward.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Paul Post<\/p>\n

Jon LaRock\u2019s restaurant odyssey has taken him from a South Glens Falls pizza shop to America\u2019s last orange-roofed Howard Johnson\u2019s, which he ran in Lake George before its closure several years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started out at Ernie Jacobie\u2019s (currently Humbuggs) at the corner of Gansevoort and Bluebird roads in South Glens Falls,\u201d he said. \u201cI used to pump gas for him across the street. Then one day he said, Do you want to start doing dishes? I said, Sure! Then I got into cooking. I was 15 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last spring, with more than a half-century of experience under his belt, LaRock opened The Diner House at the corner of Main and Beech streets in Hudson Falls. Open daily, it specializes in breakfast and lunch menu items.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis goulash is delicious,\u201d Charles Mahay, a regular customer, said between bites. \u201cAnd he makes a great hot turkey sandwich. I\u2019ve had all the breakfast choices. I like them all. The Lumberjack special is my favorite.\u201d<\/p>\n

LaRock said he spent $5,000 to renovate the small space, a former aquarium shop. Now, after developing a local customer base, he plans on moving to a larger site, the former Seeley\u2019s Restaurant, just down the road on Upper Broadway in Fort Edward.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/b>If all goes well, he hopes to move in this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it will be a good spot,\u201d LaRock said. \u201cIt\u2019s across the street from the (Fort Hudson) nursing home and next to Dollar General. I plan to start serving dinners again. We\u2019d be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days per week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Downtown Fort Edward has suddenly become somewhat of a mecca for people in search of good food.<\/p>\n

The long-standing Ye Old Fort Diner and Mamma\u2019s Caf\u00e9 were joined earlier this year by Kerrie\u2019s Diner, whose owner Kerrie Leclair moved into 70 Broadway after closing the former Northway Diner in Queensbury.<\/p>\n

More recently, Grumbellies Eatery, previously located in Fort Ann, renovated and took over a former branch bank building at 159 Broadway, in front of Fort Edward Yacht Basin.<\/p>\n

The former Seeley\u2019s building is about a mile from downtown, giving LaRock a slightly different market to draw from.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI\u2019d love to have a restaurant open across the street because it brings more people to that area,\u201d he said. \u201cThe more the merrier. I love competition. It\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n

After learning the restaurant business from Jacobie, and full of entrepreneurial ambition, LaRock opened his own eatery, Victoria\u2019s, near Lamplighter Acres in Moreau. Next came a pizza shop at Exit 17, which he later sold to Cumberland Farms.<\/p>\n

LaRock then went to work for the DeSantis family, which owned several Howard Johnson\u2019s restaurants from Clifton Park to Lake George. \u201cWherever they got busy I ran and helped them out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In 2015, he leased and reopened the Lake George Howard Johnson\u2019s, which had closed four years earlier. The company\u2019s restaurants, with orange roofs and blue spires, were popular with post-World War II travelers across America during the 1950s, 60s and 70s.<\/p>\n

But competition from fast-food and other sit-down restaurants led to their demise. The Lake George Howard Johnson\u2019s closed for good in June 2022 and is now home to Sushi Wa.<\/p>\n

LaRock could retire if he wanted, but has no such plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou run into a lot of nice people in the restaurant business,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m doing it. What are you going to do when you retire, sit home and watch TV all day? I\u2019m not ready for that. I\u2019m a go-er. Go, go, go!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Paul Post Jon LaRock\u2019s restaurant odyssey has taken him from a South Glens Falls pizza shop to America\u2019s last orange-roofed Howard Johnson\u2019s, which he ran in Lake George before its closure several years ago. \u201cI started out at Ernie Jacobie\u2019s (currently Humbuggs) at the corner of Gansevoort and Bluebird roads in South Glens Falls,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":38530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news"],"yoast_head":"\r\nThe Diner House Serves Up Classic Comfort As Owner Eyes Larger Location - Glens Falls Business Journal<\/title>\r\n <!-- Mirrored from www.glensfalls.com/glensfallsbusinessjournal/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/38529/ by HTTrack Website Copier/3.x [XR&CO'2014], Tue, 21 Oct 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