Fresh start — Diner assembled to house A La Mexicana

FROM OHIO TO MAINE — This diner will be the new home for A La Mexicana Restaurant. It was trucked up in three sections, and the third piece is scheduled to be put in place on Wednesday. The restaurant will be open for business by late February. (De Busk Photo)

By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

RAYMOND — Like so many toys given as holiday gifts, the new building for a familiar restaurant needs to be assembled.

Three pieces of 1950s-style diner have been trucked in, two of which arrived on Friday; and it will be the new home for A La Mexicana Restaurant. The third section — which contains the kitchen — was on its way to Raymond on Tuesday evening.

The diner should be fully-functioning and ready for customers by February.

A La Mexicana restaurant has been in business for more than five years at the property between the Raymond Shopping Mall and the Salvation Army Family Store building.

However, a fire on April 19 did extensive damage to the building where the business A La Mexicana was located.

Later, the old building was demolished, leaving only the concrete foundation.

Instead of building from the ground up, a diner is being delivered.

KITCHEN ON WHEELS — On Wednesday, a third section of a diner from Ohio was sitting on a flatbed trailer. The diner will house A La Mexicana Restaurant, which was destroyed by a fire on April 19. (De Busk Photo)

“We are setting a 1950s-style diner at the site where we demolished the old building,” according to property owner Laurie Mason.

“It is a modular diner that is coming from Piketon, Ohio, on three large truckloads, to be set with two cranes,” Mason said.

The objective is to have A La Mexicana “back in business by the end of February,” she said.

To view the diner being trucked to its new destination, check out YouTube video entitled, “32 Diner Moving to New England.”