10 Things to Know About The Rose, Venice's Reborn Neighborhood Classic

It’s almost time for The Rose to bloom in Venice. The neighborhood classic cafe went down a while back as part of a planned restructuring that brought on chef Jason Neroni and restaurateur Bill Chait, but now has hopes to re-emerge next week with a more focused look and menu.

Word has been mixed since the cafe space first closed, with some locals worried that the revamping would alter the place irrevocably, and others calling out for higher quality food in that space. Either way, there’s going to be a lot to talk about.

Here’s what we know right now:

First: the original Rose Cafe owners are still around

Kamal Kapur and Manhar Patel haven’t left the building just yet. Instead, they partnered with Chait’s Sprout restaurant group to help bring the Rose into the modern era — ideally without killing off what made it special in the first place.

Though not everyone will be

As folks complained early on, some of the workers who was displaced with the shutter back in February will not be returning. Some had opportunities to work within the Sprout restaurant system in the meantime, but for others an eight month work hiatus sent them packing for other gigs in town. Still, a large contingent did just go through re-orientation on the new ins and outs, so expect to see some familiar faces.

Now, on to the food

Neroni has been teasing shots of the food for months now, either on his own Instagram or over at restaurant’s dedicated feed. They include everything from pizza to coffee to breakfast pastries to bread, making The Rose a kind of all-day marketplace and eatery on par with everything from Republique to Dudley Market. Bread and pastries come from Jacob Fraijo and Christina Hanks respectively.

There’s an Italian feel here

Chef Neroni also plans to break out the Italian cooking he’s so known for, which includes loads of fresh pastas and pizzas that mirror his B-Side Pizzeria in New York.

Plus lots of live-fire cooking

There’s an out-and-out wood grill (where they will apparently be doing meatier plates and odder cuts like this pastrami pig’s head), plus a wood-fired oven for all those pizzas and roasted chickens.

Friends and family night is coming

Certain guests will get first access to the goods next week during dedicated service nights that will help get the place up to speed (and undoubtedly build anticipation for everyone else). Those are running through Thursday, so assuming the POS system doesn’t start an electrical fire things should open to the public shortly after.

How soon?

Like end of next week soon. They’ll do breakfast first — pastries, sweets, breads, espresso drinks — as well as lunch and quick-service stuff, then float into dinner hours about midway through November.

And on the interior

This is Chait’s forte, really: partner with quality chefs and invest in a cool-as-hell space. As such, The Rose has been cleaned up and stripped down to its barest, chic-est essentials thanks to Studio UNLTD, the same folks behind Bestia. Brushed cement floors, loads of big glass warehouse windows and skylights, and an open ceiling that’s exposed to the rafters. There’s more room to see the kitchen as well, with glass displays for the pastries and all, plus an easy eyeline to the work going on in the back

The timing of it all

Eventually, once The Rose hits its stride, you should expect the kind of all-day hours that have become commonplace at similar restaurants around town. Coffee and pastry service in the mornings, alongside some breakfast-y / brunch options, followed by casual lunch and a smooth transition into dinner service, which is full of larger-format dishes and heartier fare.

Where will Jason Neroni be spending most of his time?

That’s tough to say. At least for now, Neroni will be manning the stoves at The Rose, but with his relatively new Catch & Release not far away in Marina Del Rey, it’s going to be tough to be in two places at once. Most likely the chef will bounce between the two (and his pizza place back in New York) pretty regularly once things die down, but early on you should be able to find the easygoing chef pulling pizzas and finishing dishes in Venice.