As you enter Rose’s Luxury, a gilded velvet curtain is drawn aside to create a partition closing off the outside world. The hostess station showcases both a laptop and a bright red 1950s-era dial phone, but somehow the two work together harmoniously. An old mirror reflects the people eating in the dining area.
This place has its own eclectic style, part modern minimalism reflected in the natural materials and clean lines of the tables, and part retro in the 50s decorations and one-of-a-kind dishware. Modern accents like flower vases and succulents, unsigned photographs, and numerous pillows serve to balance out the rawness of the exposed brownstone walls beautifully.
Rose’s is a laid-back place. Employees, rather than wearing a uniform, dress in various professional yet distinctly artsy styles. The menu starts off with a friendly tagline, “Ok, so here’s how this works,” guiding the diner through the various options until finally advising you to “eat, go home, come back tomorrow.”
Every meal begins with a loaf of warm, fluffy potato bread, served with potato skin and chive butter. For the more adventurous, Rose’s offers a popcorn soup with grilled lobster. According to the restaurant’s blog, one customer even said, “In my next life, I’m coming back as a dog so I can stick my tongue in this mason jar to get it all rather than using my finger.”
While I cannot attest to the quality of that particular dish, Rose’s other unusual combinations are stellar. The crispy octopus, seared to perfection, is served with lemon ash. The strawberry and ricotta pasta is sublime. At first sight it looks so much like typical spaghetti with tomato sauce that the sweetness is surprising, but the ricotta and black pepper balance it out perfectly.
Each item is served in a different antique-style dish. The heavenly chocolate cremeux, served with vermouth and dusted with the restaurant’s namesake rose petals, is brought out on a charming dish decorated with delicate roses. This cremeux has the perfect texture to go with the smoothness of the vermouth and brittleness of the bread, and the sea salt subtly enhances the flavor without overpowering the dish, as so often is the case.
Rose’s also uses its own produce. The fennel-stuffed gnocchi are superior not only in their delicacy—so much in contrast to the standard heavy pasta dish served throughout America—but they also include fresh fennel sprigs from Rose’s own garden on the second floor of the building.
Although the approaching winter means that only a few ingredients are being harvested right now, come springtime a large percentage of the vegetables served will come directly from the garden. Rose’s garden also happens to be tended by the founder of Capital City Farm Co., Kate Lee.
One can see the ethos of this restaurant reflected in a small, almost unnoticeable phrase at the bottom of the menu: “unattended or misbehaving children will be given a shot of espresso and a free puppy.”
Rose’s Luxury
717 8th Street, S.E.
rosesluxury.com
