Four Gramercy Tavern alums have teamed up to open Rolo's, a cozy neighborhood restaurant, cafe and grocery shop in Ridgewood, Queens, that highlights simple and seasonal ingredient-driven cooking in a wood-burning oven [Rolosnyc.com; 853 Onderdonk Ave., Ridgewood, NY; 718-417-6567]. Chefs/Partners Howard Kalachnikoff, Rafiq Salim and Paul Wetzel are collaborating on the food, while partner Ben Howell oversees the beverage program.
Rolo's opens for take-out and delivery with a rotating pre-set weekly dinner menu, alongside a la carte options for lunch and dinner. Additionally, Rolo's opens their cafe and grocery shop, which offers freshly prepared and frozen foods, meats butchered in-house, and to-go cocktails, as well as locally sourced produce and additional pantry items, provisions, and wines. Later this year, Rolo's will open for indoor and outdoor dining with an expanded menu.
THE TEAM
The chef trio and partners, Kalachnikoff, Salim, and Wetzel, met at Gramercy Tavern and share a vision and appreciation for simple, ingredient-driven cooking. Each chef-partner brings their own expertise to the Rolo's kitchen.. Kalachnikoff was most recently chef de cuisine at Gramercy Tavern and worked in acclaimed kitchens such as La Grenouille and Savoy, with Peter Hoffman. Salim left a job in banking more than 10 years ago to pursue an education at the Culinary Institute of America, before working at Thomas Keller's Bouchon in Yountville, CA and eventually joining the Gramercy Tavern team, where he would work his way up to sous chef and oversee the wood-burning grill. Wetzel started his career in San Francisco working under Michael Mina, before finding his passion for whole animal butchery at Gramercy Tavern. At Rolo's, all three chefs will closely collaborate on all food offerings, with Wetzel overseeing the charcuterie and meat curing program.
Joining the chef trio in the kitchen is sous chef Kelly Mencin, formerly of Gramercy Tavern, Bouchon Bakery and Bouchon Bistro. Kelly will oversee the bread and pastry programs at Rolo's. Partner Ben Howell was the bar manager at Gramercy Tavern, and will oversee all front-of-house operations and the beverage program at Rolo's. The restaurant veterans have teamed up with Stephen Maharam, who leads business operations for Rolo's.
DELIVERY + TAKEOUT
Offerings include a $17 per person pre-set weekly dinner package, with a typical meal featuring dishes such as Grilled Porchetta, Sofrito Fried Rice and Kale Caesar Salad. Additionally, Rolo's has a la carte dinner items including Wood Fired Half Chicken served with garlic confit in chili oil and cucumber kohlrabi; Grilled Meatballs with a spicy tomato sauce; Grilled Greens with garlic confit and lemon; Braised Butter Beans with salsa verde; and a variety of Focaccia with toppings such as Kale, Currant and Pecorino. Lunch sandwiches are made on housemade ciabatta and include a Turkey Sandwich with turkey smoked in-house, celery salad, blue cheese and "fancy sauce;" vegetarian options such as a Health Sandwich with cheddar cheese, sliced cucumbers, mayo, pickled peppers and a hard-boiled egg; and a Grilled Porchetta Sandwich with fennel gremolata, provolone and broccoli rabe among others. Rounding out the menu are desserts, including rotating house-made mini pies and freshly baked cookies. Later this year, Rolo's will open for indoor and outdoor dining with expanded menu offerings.
CAFE & GROCERY
In addition to delivery and takeout offerings, Rolo's opens with a cafe and grocery store, where they offer housemade baked goods, sandwiches, and grab-and-go salads, as well as fresh pastas, sauces, condiments, dips, meats butchered in-house, locally sourced produce and more. Fresh pastas include Fusilli, Rigatoni, Mafaldine and Tagliatelle, as well as ready-to-eat Mac n' Cheese. Pasta sauces include Lamb and Pork Ragu, Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce, and Pumpkin Seed Pesto.ips, condiments and dressings ranging from Yogurt and Beet Garlic Dip and Beluga Lentil Sesame Dip to Green Peppercorn Ranch, Chili Garlic Sauce and more. As part of the restaurant's whole animal butchery program, various locally sourced meats are available to purchase in the grocery store, as well as items like frozen chicken broth, chili sauce, sausages and more. The Rolo's team is also making and packaging their own ice cream with flavors such as Mint Stracciatella, Malted Chocolate Cookie Dough, Grapefruit Sherbet and Caramelized Banana.
BEVERAGE PROGRAM
Through Rolo's grocery store, the team sells batched house-made cocktails to-go, alongside cocktail mixers, liquor, wine and beer The batched cocktails from beverage director Ben Howell are riffs on classics and available in small (2-3 servings) and large (4-6 servings) sizes, including Apple Cardamom Old Fashioned with Laird's Applejack brandy, cardamom, herbsaint, and angostura bitters; Spicy Mezcal Punch with chili infused mezcal, silver tequila, dry orange curacao, and cranberry-hibiscus shrub; Pineapple Rum Negroni with pineapple rum and vermouth; Perfect Manhattan with rye, Carpano Antica vermouth, Angostura and orange bitters; and Zombie with a rum blend, grapefruit, cinnamon, grenadine, absinthe, lime. Sold alongside the batched cocktails are house made cocktail mixers such as Classic Bloody Mary mix, Dill Bloody Caesar mix, and a seasonal Cranberry-Hibiscus Shrub.
The wine selections hail from small producers who practice minimal intervention winemaking. Similarly, Rolos' beer selection will highlight small craft breweries in addition to classic imported beers. Rolo's fully stocked liquor store features options within each base spirit category, including amaro and vermouth, and highlights local distillers such as Forthave, New York Distilling Company, Neversink, St. Agrestis, and Greenhook.
DESIGN
Designed by the ownership team in collaboration with Kermit Westergaard, Rolo's is a 2,400 sq foot space located on the corner of Onderdonk Avenue and Cornelia Street in Ridgewood, Queens. Guests enter through the front bar room, where the grocery shop and cafe operate during the daytime hours, and floor-to-ceiling windows create a bright and welcoming atmosphere. When Rolo's opens for indoor dining, the cafe will transform during the evenings into a lively bar area with banquette and table seating. Guests will walk through a small hallway toward the back of the space to enter the main dining room, which is anchored with a large wood-burning stove and a cook's kitchen and offers a warm, intimate atmosphere. Rolo's also has a private dining room with a separate entrance, which will be able to accommodate up to 24 people. In addition to engaging design, Rolo's has adopted a vigorous safety approach, which includes the installation of an air filtration and purification system by Scientific Fire (the same system is used at the United Nations and the Mayo Clinic) as well as regular staff wellness checks, contact tracing, and strict handwashing protocols.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Rolo's is open from 11:00am - 9:00pm, Wednesday through Sunday. Delivery and pick-up are available by contacting the restaurant directly or through Toast via their website, Rolosnyc.com. For more details, visit Rolosnyc.com and follow along on Instagram @Rolosnyc.
Photo Credit: Adam Friedlander
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