RIP, My Favorite Late Night Italian Place

Got the news from my friend, who goes there every Saturday, that My Favorite Late Night Italian Place just got sold.

Oh wait ... have I told you yet about the Late Night Italian Place being up for sale?  Shoot, I don't think I have, have I?

Yeah, I had reduced the times I've gone here to about once a month, if that, because my parents stayed in Minnesota through the winter and so I didn't have to eat there because I was eating at home.  I was just driving by it many months ago when I saw this huge "For Sale" sign on the grass.  I nearly drove my car into a ditch.

The few times I subsequently popped in there I didn't really address the elephant in the room.  Well, I take that back.  I think the first time I was able to eat there I talked to the owner of the place.  I think she's there every day, just like my parents with The Store.  She was matter-of-fact about it -- "Yeah, I put it up for sale -- let's see if someone wants it."

She spoke a little longer about it when I ate there almost a month ago.  She's tired and wants to retire.  I told her that it is kind of a shock to me, and I liken this to when my folks decided they wanted to quit The Store.  At first I was furious that they would do such a thing because, in my selfish, juvenile and ridiculous mind, that is how I'd always known them to be, and they would be betraying my image of them if they just quit, even though they're old and of course you're supposed to quit at that age.  It took me several years to accept it, but now I understand.

As I am beginning to understand with her, someone who's always been hospitable to me.  She let me stay there for hours on weekend nights.  While other people were partying and drinking, introverted me sought refuge there.  Since nobody sat down to eat that late at night (they did most of their business delivering) I had the place to myself.  I nearly always had my table, the one closest to the power strip so I could plug my laptop in and surf the Internet while eating pizza or hamburgers or chicken or one of their many pasta dishes, especially the fettucine alfredo, which I have gravitated toward within the past year or so because My Favorite Late Night Italian Place has these coupons for pasta dishes for $7.50.  I spent many a Friday and Saturday night "living it up" while eating, watching sports and being on the Internet until they closed on weekends at 2:30 in the morning.

With all the security and hospitality she's given me, it'd be unfair to be angry with her now that she decided she no longer wanted to own and work there.  She's earned her rest.  How can I be mad?

My friend, who I met because he always goes there on Friday nights, said she sold the place to a couple.  Guess they're now pursuing their dream of owning their own restaurant.  The American Dream is passed onto another, the way it should be.  And yet ... well, you know, restaurants aren't always the same under new ownership.  In fact, they usually aren't.  Not that I'm upset with that either.  The owner owns the restaurant, he/she/they have a right to run it however they want, and in fact it would make sense for these two to redo the menu because they'll be the ones cooking it.  But will I have the rapport with that couple the way I did with this owner?  Will they let me just veg out in front of the TV for two or three hours?  I don't know, and it's that initial trepidation that makes me start to think I'll have to look for another late-night place to sit in when I want to feel like I'm going out when I'm really not.  Either I look for another place, or I will realize that I won't have My Favorite Late Night Italian Place anymore.

At any case the change is coming quick.  The owner's last day as owner is Sunday.  I wonder if it's going to be packed.  If not, I want to sit and eat there one final time.  If it is, I'll pop in and say goodbye.

RIP.  Maybe I'll see you again soon.