Rosemary’s

I walked into Rosemary’s in disbelief of its size, grandeur, and beauty. Considering the tiny, awkwardly-shaped restaurants in the village and the hideous Party Store it replaced, the restaurant’s aesthetic is seriously astounding. Everything from the hanging lights, the rooftop garden, the spacious dining room, huge windows, and the light wooden furniture is beautiful. I would be so proud to call this restaurant my own, but an inside source tells me it was an incredibly expensive investment. I can see why. Fortunately, after having a wonderful italian meal in a setting that brought me back to Napa, I truly think this place is going to kill it. Brunches will no doubt incur the long waits seen around dinner.

Because I went with my bf who seems to have had a working relationship with everyone in the industry, we were given a great corner table and were totally overfed. Definitely no complaints here! One of the coolest things about the menu is the wine list – all glasses are $10, and all bottles are $40. How simple? While this leads me to believe that probably at least 80% of the wines retail at far less than $40 to help their profit margin, I welcome the minimized distractions while making my wine choice. Rosemary’s classifies itself as a wine bar, but its menu shows that “wine bar” is by far an underestimate. Yes, the food is priced affordably just like a wine bar, but the selection, which includes meats, cheeses, pastas, focaccia and mains, is much more varied. I got overly excited after seeing the list of homemade focaccia and house mozzarella, my absolute favorite thing in the world. We ordered those right away. The focaccia was soft on the inside, crispy with coarse salt on the outside, with the perfect stretch of melted cheese in the middle. I could have happily demolished this myself and forgotten about the rest.

focaccia and homemade cheese

Then came a selection of verdure, including a tangy eggplant caponata, raw zucchini, and an over-salted cauliflower. The octopus panelle was the most original thing we tried – very thinly sliced salami-style octopus with a pickled vegetable (forgetting which one because at this point I had chugged my prosecco considering the 95 degree weather). For our main, we were served two simple pastas: a lemon linguine and a cavatelli with ricotta and sweat peas. Though I much prefer long pasta to cavatelli, the lemon linguine was a little too reminiscent to lemon meringue pie for my taste. The cavatelli, however, was perfect – dense, creamy, and brightened with fresh summer peas. Absolutely delicious!

cavatelli

The food was great, with some misses due to over-seasoning. But to be honest, even if the food had been horrible, I’d give it a second chance purely because of this places undeniable beauty. It is the quintessential, naturally lit summer spot that will cozy up perfectly in the winter. Good thing it’s only steps from my apartment!

Grade: A
Location: 18 Greenwich Ave 
Website: not yet listed