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Press Release:
Celebrated Chef Richard Rosendale to Re-Create Rosendales and to Unveil “Rosendales Modern Bistro” Focusing on New Custom Dining Concept
Since its opening, Rosendales in the Short North has established itself as a rule-breaking, innovative restaurant. The Owner/Chef Richard Rosendale has accomplished a great deal in two short years. This rising star, not just in Columbus, but on the national stage as well, has had quite the ride. He has competed at the IKA, International Culinary Olympics, as the Team Captain in 2008, as well as competing in the Bocuse d’Or semi-finals in Orlando. Richard finished second from a chef from the French Laundry, and ahead of one chef from Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago. Both The French Laundry and Charlie Trotter’s are world renowned Mobil five star restaurants. And while all this was going on, he opened his second venture, Details Minibar and Lounge, next door to Rosendales. So what is next for Chef Rosendale?
Despite all this success, 2008 and 2009 have posed many challenges for restaurants. Rosendales was no exception. “Details” has proven to be a wise and insightful move by the young restaurateur in anticipation for the drop in 2009 for high-end dining. The current economy has stifled the growth and accessibility of fine dining for many patrons. Answering the call to his loyal guests, and as a way to create an opportunity to re-define itself for the future, Chef Rosendale is re-branding the downstairs of Rosendales into “Rosendales modern bistro” to debut in the Spring of 2009.
“Rosendales Modern Bistro” will have offering such as short rib barbeque tacos, tortilla crusted grouper, with tequila, and preserved lime butter, “baked potato poppers” and high quality steaks. Signature pistachio crème brulee, with blueberry gelee, is also a must on the restaurant’s totally house made dessert selections. The food will be served very differently then any other bistro. Chef Rosendale calls it “custom dining.” It’s not the chef’s style to follow the rules when creating a dining experience and this new bistro is no different. The menu is designed so that you can order what you want, spend what you want, try as much, and as many different dishes that you like off our menu. Call it “custom dining.” All the dishes are served as individual dishes that you can share with a friend or design your own adventurous meal. All of the food is served individually on colorful earthenware dishes. You can order multiple courses as you go or create a canvas of dishes to be brought out to your table to dine socially with friends. What makes it a bistro is the simple approach to cooking the items perfectly. Even simply roasted chicken at Rosendales is prepared using a secret technique that leaves all the juice in the bird, producing a subtle flavor of thyme and black pepper enhanced with just a little sea salt.
The restaurant is currently consulting with designers to upgrade the uniforms, refresh color schemes, modify lighting, and other details to aid in the transformation. The menu will have anew look and a new web site will be added. Ultimately, the downstairs will feel less formal, conforming to todays guest. It is a very exciting time for the restaurant.
The flagship Rosendales restaurant as it is today will be moved to the second floor, essentially a restaurant within a restaurant. “Upstairs At Rosendales” will be elevated to a higher level of service, complete with ironed tablecloths, and cutting-edge preparations. This concept of a smaller dining room makes a lot of sense. Many of the five-star and Michelin star restaurants in the world have only 40-60 seats, so this will be a much more exclusive and manageable dining room at this level of creative cuisine. Some experienced diners have gotten bored with traditional fine dining and are ready for the evolution of the next generation of modern fine dining. We want to be a leader in defining what this will be. It is Chef Rosendales goal and ambition to make this a destination dining room known throughout the country. The new “Upstairs at Rosendales” will create a whimsical culinary tour intent on making modern fine dining in this unique place a completely different experience, and not an afterthought. “Upstairs At Rosendales” will be an intimate dinner-only fine dining restaurant.
“Upstairs At Rosendales” will delight guests with ingredients, grown locally to global inspirations with techniques that range from traditional to ultra-innovative and modern preparations. Both traditional and cutting-edge preparations will make this an exciting evening event. It’s this approach of modern, merged with traditional, which Rosendale is known for, while always imparting a wink and sense of the whimsical. Chef Rosendale hopes to show diners how fruits and vegetables can be an imaginative, satisfying and central element to a meal, by showcasing locally grown field to table ingredients. This dining room will collaborate with local farmers to grown all produce specifically for “Upstairs At Rosendales”.
With Chef Rosendale’s creative cuisine, innovative and unique style, and now, Rosendales’variety of dining options, the Columbus dining scene is about to undergo a tectonic shift. Cutting-edge cuisine, a custom bistro experience, and its sibling Details, Rosendales now has somethingfor everyone. Whatever you choose, it’s going to be delicious.
Bravo to the innovation to keep butts in the seats by price tier.
Strikes me as a very good idea all around — an upscale bistro (like Hamersley’s in Boston) would hit just the right note in that spot, and the upstairs would keep the upscale cred going.
Big question mark in my mind is whether the renovation of the space will be sufficient to pull off a concept change that will get noticed. Bistros are intimate and cozy, and the current space is massive, open, and modern.
Sign me up for the tortilla crusted grouper! *drool*
Excellent idea and I’m excited that they are still keeping the upscale dining too.
I love the food and staff at both Details and Rosendales and visit them often. However, I really struggle with the design, decor and layout at both venues and thus, look forward to what are hopefully well executed changes.
I admittedly avoid deep, lengthy text in long press releases and simply skimmed the release, but I’m a little confused by the shift in the actual dining concept. Is there a more succinct way to communicate the shift?
>>I admittedly avoid deep, lengthy text in long press releases and simply
>>skimmed the release, but I’m a little confused by the shift in the actual
>>dining concept. Is there a more succinct way to communicate the shift?
Not sure if you’re looking for the what’s or the why’s of the shift, so I’ll try to quickly sum-up both (as I understand them anyway)
-Economy has made it hard to keep the place filled with the current menu/price-point
-Most 5-star/mega-rated restaurants are much smaller anyway
-Changing downstairs to “upscale bistro” concept, “order what you want, spend what you want”
-Upstairs will be “upstairs at Rosendales” with basically same concept (intimate, dinner-only, fine dining) as they have now, just way fewer seats
Columbus Business First has an article on this that’s a much easier read than the press release.
Longtime reader/CU fan, first post.
Wednesday evening July 8th, neighbors asked me to join them at Rosendale’s Details Minibar & Lounge for drinks and snacks. I had never been to Details but having seen the mini-burger sliders sidewalk sign many times, looked forward to trying them.
Both sides of the restaurant were nearly empty with excessive a/c blasting, and soon the bartender/server approached to take our drink order, informing us we’d “missed happy hour by one minute.†We thought he was joking but he quickly repeated that happy hour had concluded “one minute ago.â€Â
I have learned to cut my losses quickly and painlessly when restaurants are obviously having a bad day. When encountering within the first few minutes a negative vibe, unpleasant service, a bait-and-switch menu and an unappealing environment, often it’s best to say ‘thanks but no thanks’ and go somewhere else. All restaurants are capable of having a bad day.
But my friends, treating me for dinner, were anxious for cocktails so we ordered two Sapphire gin and tonics and an Absolut with tonic. The bartender/server exited before we could complete our order (lime/lemon? olive? twist?) so our drinks weren’t right. We all agreed, watery and disappointing.
I tried to order the touted sliders but smarmy server said the Details menu was ‘gone for the week’ and we had to order from Rosendale’s (where had the Details menu ‘gone’? They never said). Since R’s menu includes the same burger in an 8 oz size, we asked if the kitchen could manage the smaller burgers and were told this would be impossible as this menu item “had not been prepped.â€Â
Tuna tacos were flavorless with the two fish slices paper thin, Carpaccio-style instead of the advertised ‘Fresh Ahi Tuna Tartar.’ Sweet potato fries were okay. An order of roasted chicken arrived poorly seasoned and extremely dry, it was passed around the table in that “try this, is it as dry as it seems?†way and was left uneaten.
My companions, a friendly, easy-to-please couple who eat out regularly, were confused and disappointed in the service, the attitude, and the fact that for no apparent reason we couldn’t order from the Details menu. I won’t be returning.
Wow, I’m sorry to hear that because (like I said in another thread) we went and had an amazing time. We got the tuna tacos and thought they were one of the best starters I’ve ever had. I also got the chicken and in no way was it over cooked.
I will say this though, bad service can ruin even the best meal and I’ve noticed that there are some really really poor servers in Columbus (esp in Short North) that feel like if they’re having a bad day then its perfectly fine to push it onto the customer.
Anyway, I highly suggest going again and giving it another try.
surber17 says:
I will say this though, bad customers can ruin even the best night and I’ve noticed that there are some really really poor restaurant patrons in Columbus (esp in Short North) that feel like if they’re having a bad day then its perfectly fine to push it onto the server.
from a different perspective.
@shmack – I totally see where you’re coming from and I agree that people should always be treated with respect, but with that being said the patron is paying for not only the meal but the service. In no circumstance should a paying customer have to deal with a server’s bad day.
That being said, if a customer is way out of line, I have no issue with the restaurant denying them service.