When you walk into an Italian restaurant, there's something very homey about seeing black and white family photos on the wall. And at Mama Catena's, family is important. It was family who endured through the aftermath of a fire that happened two years ago and shut down the restaurant for just shy of a year. It's family members like Frank Catena, who will get in early to make sauce and stay late to serve customers. And it's family who are marking the restaurant's 30th anniversary this week.

So it was easy to settle in for a couple of visits to the cozy spot just off Interstate 90. The restaurant, with tasteful string lights lining the interior walls, opened in 1989 with just a few tables. It expanded into an adjacent space in 2013.