HOUSE MEMORIAL 94

54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2019

INTRODUCED BY

Brian Egolf

A MEMORIAL

FONDLY RECALLING DEE'S RESTAURANT AND RECOGNIZING DEE RUSANOWSKI, WHO CONTINUES TO DISH UP GOOD FOOD AND WARM COMMUNITY AT SAVEUR.

     WHEREAS, Santa Fe has always been known for its abundance of great restaurants, diners, food emporiums and eateries; and

     WHEREAS, residents who lived in Santa Fe in the 1970s and 1980s will fondly remember Dee's restaurant, also known as Dee's donuts, on Washington avenue, where el meson is now located; and

     WHEREAS, Dee Rusanowski and her husband, Bernie, moved to New Mexico from California in 1975 and opened Dee's restaurant in 1976; and

     WHEREAS, kids from that time especially remember grabbing one of Dee's doughnuts on the way to school or grabbing a brownie or hamburger or another doughnut after school or on the weekends; and

     WHEREAS, Dee's restaurant also was home of the hand-held breakfast burrito, the perfect breakfast to grab and eat on the way to school; and

     WHEREAS, Dee purposefully kept prices low so that her menu was affordable to kids; and

     WHEREAS, Dee's restaurant had video games as an additional lure, if the delicious and inexpensive food was not enough; and

     WHEREAS, during the holidays, Dee and Bernie would invite people who did not have family in town to share a holiday meal, creating a festive atmosphere; and

     WHEREAS, after twenty-two years of opening their hearts and the doors of Dee's restaurant to appreciative diners, Dee and Bernie retired and set off to travel and perform the volunteer work they had dreamed of doing; and

     WHEREAS, after eight years of retirement and volunteering with organizations like the Lensic performing arts center, the salvation army and the monastery of Christ in the desert, Dee and Bernie realized that they missed the restaurant life; and

     WHEREAS, the food and happy customers and the social engagement that a restaurant entails were so seductive that in 2003 Dee and Bernie bought saveur, a French restaurant on Montezuma avenue, and were back in the business; and

     WHEREAS, saveur is a cozy, intimate restaurant where Dee greets customers at the door and provides social commentary and exudes happiness; and

     WHEREAS, the French-inspired café tempts with delicious pastries but offers many healthy options as well, including chilled roasted vegetables on the lunch buffet and pink salmon filets and grilled chicken breasts for a build-your-own salad; and

     WHEREAS, soups are delicious and desserts are sinful and worth every calorie; and

     WHEREAS, Dee and Bernie still honor their commitment to those less fortunate in the community by donating leftover food at the end of the day to a nonprofit that distributes the food for hospice and the homebound; and

     WHEREAS, some of the kids who frequented Dee's restaurant grew up to be teachers, government employees, politicians and business owners, and are now customers of saveur, but still reminisce about easier times and the simple pleasures of video games and doughnuts and hamburgers and, oh, those brownies;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the food and community embodied by Dee's restaurant of the past be fondly recalled; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Dee and Bernie Rusanowski be recognized for their ongoing gift of good food and warm community at saveur; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to Dee and Bernie Rusanowski.

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