Joe's Drive-In Restaurant brings slice of Americana back to life in Leicester

A drive down Main Street in Leicester becomes a trip down memory lane when you pass Joe's Drive-In Restaurant, a newly-reopened food joint that bursts with a retro 1950s vibe.

Joe's is a slice of Americana, from its checkered floors and chrome detailing to its gourmet shakes and classic burgers and fries. But it's more than just that.

Maria Joseph refurbished the restaurant and named it after her father, Hanna "Joe" Joseph, a lover of Americana who bought acres of land that ended up containing the restaurant and the Leicester Triple Drive-In.

Joe's opened about five weeks ago. Sadly, Joe died less than two months before the restaurant reopened.

"It's nice to see it come back to life, especially after my father passing. It's a nice, not intentional tribute, but it turned into a way of honoring him," Maria, 51, said Wednesday, sitting on the patio under a yellow umbrella.

The restaurant was the first thing her father built on the land, Maria said. Joe first opened the joint in the 1960s as The Robin Hood. Then in the 1970s, it reopened again as The Family Burger and Dairy. Both were in business for three or four years.

"Family meant everything to Hanna. He also loved his work and America," his obituary read.

While the family stepped away from the restaurant business, they still kept running the drive-in and built several nearby apartments.

"He had the energy of at least three men," Maria recalled. "He was always on the go, an extremely happy guy."

That's the energy Maria wanted to invoke in this new venture.

"Make it someplace cheery, so it's sort of like carrying on his legacy," she said. From the colorful sprinkles that top milkshakes to the teal blue paint, that legacy is coming through.

It was last year when Maria decided it was time to bring the restaurant back to life. She kept the authentic bones of the building and cleaned it up. It had sat abandoned for about 12 years and needed quite a bit of work.

Joe's has caught on in the community. On Wednesday, a stream of people stopped in for lunch, keeping Maria and crew busy frying their hand-battered fish and onion rings while whipping up orders of shakes and root beer floats.

The menu has classic burger joint and New England options, like fish and chips and franks and beans. Real whipped cream and cherries top the shakes, making them picture perfect.

One man came up to Maria at lunchtime to tell her the fish was "unbelievable."

It's feedback she keeps getting about the homemade dishes.

"Every single time I'm eternally grateful. We wanted to get the menu right out of the box and we did," she said. "We kept a simple menu to make sure we weren't going to disappoint people with the quality."

The stories have been one of the best parts of reopening, Maria said. One man told her about how he would stop by the place in the '60s late at night on his way home for work. A man -- presumably Joe -- would always have a single chicken leg ready to go for him.

Maria lives in Boston, so the restaurant is keeping a seasonal schedule for now. Joe's will remain open through the end of September and be back again next spring.

Indoor furniture and other small details are still missing, but Maria said she wanted to open before the summer season got away from them. The restaurant is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Maria's mother, Marilyn Joseph, still lives the house two doors down from the restaurant, where Maria grew up.

"She's just beyond so happy, because this is really where she and my father really got started," Maria said.

A photo of Joe all those decades ago with the original restaurant hangs inside.