Laura and Pedro Monroy are opening a craft fast-food restaurant in downtown Afton.
The couple opened Monroy Family Pit Stop at 214 Main St. in Afton about two months ago.
“We’re originally from Endicott, but we left Endicott to come here and do this,” Laura Monroy said. “It’s been my husband’s dream for years to open his own place. He was the manager of The Dugout (sports bar and pizzeria) in Apalachin for a while, and we decided to drive around looking for a place and found this place open. We wrote down the phone number, called, they said it was available, and we jumped at it.”
Monroy said the menu will draw on Pedro’s experience and “have a lot of Greek and American influences.”
“We serve everyone’s favorite Philly cheesesteaks, gyros, cheeseburgers, chicken breast sandwiches, BLTs, tuna wraps and chicken cordon bleu sandwiches,” she says. “We also serve breakfast and offer a variety of egg dishes and omelets, including Western omelets, Greek omelets, meat lovers omelets and spinach and feta omelets, all served with homemade home fries and toast. Lunch comes with homemade coleslaw and french fries.”
“The gyros and Philly cheesesteaks are our most popular,” Laura continued. “For the gyros, we use chicken that we carve ourselves, the beef is flat cut, and we make our own tzatziki sauce. We make everything in-house, even the chicken tenders. We have specials every day. We did meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy and it sold out. Then we did pork chops with mashed potatoes and gravy and that sold out too. We’ve done quesadillas and a variety of different dishes. (Pedro) worked in a variety of restaurants before he became manager of the Dugout. Greek food is a lot of the cuisine he’s familiar with.”
Monroy said customers appreciate the variety and quality.
“People love it here, they love the food, they say it’s really good, it’s affordable and you get a lot of food for the price,” she says. “We’ve had a lot of good feedback on Afton’s (Facebook page), just good comments. They’re saying they’re glad we’re here and they want us to stay. We’re definitely going to stay, because there’s nothing else (like this) in Afton.”
Monroy Family Pit Stop has “four little tables inside,” but primarily serves take-out orders and draws customers “from all over,” Monroy said.
“They come from three towns, Oneonta, Binghamton and locally, so we get a variety of customers,” she said, “and we’re right off the highway, so they come from all over (Massachusetts), New Jersey and everywhere.”
Monroy said she and Pedro hope to see more of the same as the restaurant becomes established.
“We just want to keep doing what we’re doing and make everyone in the community happy,” she said. “That’s what we want.”
Monroy Family Pit Stop is open every day except Tuesdays from 7am to 7pm.
For more information and a complete menu, visit Monroy Family Pit Stop on Facebook or call 607-624-1451.
