Editor:
I just read the letter "Longtime popular restaurant will be missed" in the Jan. 20 Outlook. I couldn't agree more.
My husband and I moved to Canmore in December 2019 to begin our next adventure and make this beautiful town our forever home. We had visited Canmore several times, but our first restaurant of choice to celebrate the official move was Santa Lucia. The food was amazing. And being Celiac, I really appreciated the high quality gluten free options. My husband's go-to meal was chicken parmigiana and mine was their unique penne sambuca.
During the first lockdown in 2020, we ordered from Santa Lucia for takeout many times to treat ourselves. When friends and family could travel and visit and restaurants were open, we sent them to our favourite restaurant. As a mobile massage therapist, I was often asked, "where's a good place to eat?" Well, you know the answer.
We went there again for our birthdays, Valentine's Day and our wedding anniversary.
After finding out this little gem in the Canadian Rockies was closing, we were able to dine for the last time on Jan. 15th. As fate would have it, we were seated at the exact table we were seated at when we dined at Santa Lucia in 2019. Both my husband and I got emotional speaking to our lovely waitress. We ordered our favourites, and my husband took the opportunity to go into the kitchen and tell Frank and the kitchen staff how much we loved the restaurant and wished Frank the best.
I never get choked up over a restaurant closing, but this time was different. We might not have had the long history as other patrons, but the strong memories of this place will always be there.
I have a plate of penne sambuca in my freezer now like a fine wine, not wanting to take it out until a special occasion.
Lorel Hammerstad
Canmore
