SALT LAKE CITY — Everyone likes a good comeback story.
After a 42-year run, Cannella’s Italian restaurant in the Sugar House neighborhood closed at the corner of 200 East and 500 South in the summer of 2000. The closure was due in part to the pandemic, but now, after an almost five-year hiatus, the restaurant is back, although in a different form.
"When the restaurant business is in your blood, it's in your blood," said Cannella's owner, Joey Cannella.
Joey's parents opened the original restaurant in 1978, with him and his brother around from the very beginning as young kids. With so much family history serving the community, it wasn’t easy to walk away from the family restaurant.
"I mean, COVID made us all stop, we had to stop," Joey remembered, adding that the time off gave the family time to reflect and see how they could transition.
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That transition turned out to be taking a space in the new Sugar House Station — a food and bar hall located in the historic post office by the same name that dates back to 1939.
"Five restaurants, five bars. A coffee shop and a great community gathering space to enjoy great food and beverages from all local vendors," said Scott Evans, owner of the Pago Restaurant Group.
Evans got his food hall idea after seeing similar setups in his travels around Europe. Though his original idea didn't work out, after working with Joey for about a year to relaunch Cannella’s at its original location, Evans felt the restaurant would be a perfect fit for his latest venture.
"When this came together, it was one of the first brand partners we thought of," said Evans. "We really wanted to help continue that legacy for their family — share the recipes and the history."
While the new version of Cannella’s has only been open for about a month, the regulars from back in the day are returning.
"We used to go probably once a week to Cannella’s, so sad when it closed, very excited to see it back," shared customer Allison Varner.
Joey Cannella won’t rule out opening another full-service restaurant one day, but right now, he intends to simply enjoy the moment.
"It’s a good thing, it feels good. It feels like a comeback!"
