- November 23, 2024
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After shutting down for month of rebranding, Rose Villa is open for business.
Rose Villa General Manager Chris Buffington is currently addicted to the restaurant’s Duck Dip.
“It’s basically a take on a French dip, but with duck instead of a beef,” he said. “We do everything from scratch here. Vince makes everything fresh and a little homey.”
Buffington, Head Chef Vince Polizzi and the rest of the Rose Villa staff recently celebrated the restaurants return to it’s originally glory. Formerly known as Fusion 43, owners Hal and Cindy Gerow decided it was time for a change.
“They needed a fresh start,” Buffington said. “They loved the building and history of it and wanted to bring it back to what it was before. The process took awhile because what they had before wasn’t a whole lot to work off of. We basically has to restructure and create a brand new restaurant.”
One of the biggest obstacles, according to Buffington, was tackling and organizing the restaurants large wine selection. Without any order guides, no one had any idea where the wines originated from, and their distributors had to be located. Fortunately, Polizzi did not have the same frustrations.
“He has a huge passion for it,” Buffington said. “So he had more fun if anything. It wasn’t really a struggle for him. He got to put together a lot of great dishes, and Hal and Cindy got to try everything, pick out what they liked best and what they thought would fit.”
“I basically just took everything thats current to me,” said Polizzi, who’s current favorite dishes are the duck fries and homemade ice cream, “and modern food trends and tried to place things with the surrounding area and making it all work.”
Rose Villa is staying with it’s old Victorian feel and the ‘20s and ‘30s theme for the most part, but the cuisine is more of a French-American style. Buffington said another big change is more affordable pricing.
“It’s not a formal place,” he said. “There’s no dress code. We want anyone wearing anything to come in and enjoy some quality food.”
New dishes
The Library
Rose Villa’s speakeasy The Library will open Oct. 31 with an Edgar Allen Poe themed Halloween party. After that it will be open on select nights from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., and will feature author-themed nights and membership “library” cards.
Rose Villa hours
Swing by the following times to check out Rose Villa’s new and improved menu. Open 3 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, with a light menu from 3 to 5 p.m., a full service menu from 5 to 10 p.m., and happy hour from 3 to 6 p.m. Call 615-7673.