Rosendales - With Many Pictures of Pretty Food

This weekend marked the opening for the much-anticipated Rosendales, or Rosendale's, (although I believe there is technically no apostrophe) in the Short North, in the old Winders car dealership building at the corner of Hubbard and High.  Chef Rich Rosendale hails from the Greenbriar Resort in West Virginia.

As this was the restaurant's first night in operation, this is not meant to be any sort of review; I just wanted to document my experience.  Overall, it seemed as though the folks behind Rosendales were very well-prepared for opening, and they accomplished a feat I haven't witnessed before in a Columbus restaurant opening: actually opening on the day they said they were going to, with a liquor license, full menu and full wine list.  Way to go.

The interior is modern without being cold, owing in large part to lots of dark wood lightened with white chairs, two walls of windows, and a few sage colored walls.  The restaurant has two levels, the lower level slightly more casual with the bar, many tables and booths.  The upstairs, where a tasting menu is offered, is more formal.  We sat upstairs which was surprisingly bright, so taking pictures was easier than I've experienced in many restaurants.  We were seated at a banquette table, I was facing a celedon green wall, which cast a slightly greenish hue over everything, as was noted by one of my dining companions.  The might want to think of repainting the wall with a warm color; I'm no interior decorator, but as someone who takes lots of pictures of food, it looks better with warmer lighting.  As do I.

All the food was served on a variety of interesting and super-cool plates, which thrilled me, as I am a sucker for good packaging and presentation. 

Without further ado, here's the documentation of my first (of many, to be sure) meal at Rosendales. . .

First up, we had a visit to the bar, which has its own menu of bar treats.  A few not tried but coveted were the fries with Bearnaise sauce and the tuna sashimi served on a brick of Himalayan salt.  We did try the truffled popcorn, pictured at the beginning of the post.  Not greasy but redolent with truffle-y goodness, the popcorn was even dotted with flecks of shaved truffle bits.  I washed the popcorn down with a glass of La Spinetta Moscato d'Asti, a sweet sparkler (8.50).  Two of my favorite things in one moment: popcorn and sparkling wine.  Husband insists this is a divine combination; I'll have to try it again with something drier.

We also tried the tomato water, clam and chorizo shooter with toasted goat cheese sandwiches.  Lovely to behold (click on the photo to enlarge, and gaze into the kaleidoscopic beauty of the shots), these shooters are a lesson on the whole being more than the sum of the parts - tomatoes, a clam, a slice of chorizo and a basil leaf are all floating in a shot of tomato water (typically a very carefully strained tomato juice which has an over-the-top tomato flavor, in this case especially intense considering the time of year).  The shooter is sharp, cool and summery tasting, while the toasted goat cheese sandwiches - on brioche which tastes practically fried in butter - are rich; the two are each other's perfect foil:

Then it was off to dinner.  Here's the butter service - unsalted (alas) butter topped with shavings of sweet paprika spiked compound butter, drizzled with olive oil:

We started off with a bottle of Roche-Audrun Cotes du Rhone, a grenache/syrah blend which is, in my humble opinion, one of the best values in French wine right now ($25 bottle). 

Our server told us the green leaf salad was "absolutely incredible."  Because none of us had a salad which came so highly recommended, we had to choose it.  A blend of greens with lots of herbs thrown in (fennel, lovage, radishes, tomatoes, parsley, lots of bitter greens and even a pepperoncini), this was an interesting and complex salad which I intend to duplicate as soon as my CSA starts.  The entire salad was very lightly graced by the presence of an ethereally light Banyuls vinaigrette (Banyuls is a fortified wine from France) and a few Pecorino (Italian sheep's milk cheese) curls:

We had a creamy and frothy 6 onion soup:

And melt in your mouth "48 hour" short ribs, with some incredible, scallion-butter tossed potato gnocchi of which there were regrettably few.  We're fortunate no fork-stabbing-hand wars were started:

We had this cute plate of beef carpaccio on potato fritters:

We had lobster risotto, with no shortage of lobster chunks (although none can be seen in the picture), flanked by soft - chewy, but not rubbery, and not sandy - clams:

We had Scallops Rossini, with seared foie gras:

We had a really great seared tuna appetizer, situated on pressed sushi rice and accompanied by pickled vegetables and mustard ice cream.  I'm up for anything, but even I was skeptical of the mustard ice cream, which turned out to be rich with cream but sharp with an almost wasabi-like hotness; I needn't have worried:

For dinner, it was recommended that the three of us with seafood entrees share a bottle of Pascal Cotat Sancerre Rose (Loire, France $49/bottle) , a nice alternative for red drinkers.  For the dining guest who opted for the veal, the complex and unusual 1997 Chateau Musar (Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, $48/half bottle) was suggested and declared a triumph by all who tasted the combo.

I strangely ordered scallops for dinner - strange because one scallop at a time is usually my limit.  Scallop lovers will adore this.  The scallops were served atop some amazing creamy Parmesan potato cubes with an herbed cracker, which I selfishly kept to myself, even though we were supposed to be sharing.  I managed 1 3/4 scallops before resigning to my scallop limit:

We had potato crusted grouper, with white and green asparagus and oyster mushrooms.  This dish was rich tasting but light at the same time:

We had monk fish and shrimp with vegetables in fata paper.  In case you are wondering, fata paper is a clear paper which is capable of withstanding high heat cooking, making for a rather exciting presentation.  The package is cut open at the table to release a waft of rich aromas; the dish was heady with fennel and red peppers.  Alas, the picture did not turn out.

We had a slowly braised veal shank which could be cut with a spoon, with pearl onions and leak rings. I was leary of the leek rings, as I hate the crispy leek phase and am glad it has faded into oblivion, but these were almost tempura-battered, and they weren't inedible as most crispy leeks are, they were de-licious - this was all served on a fun flying-saucer plate:

Dessert was grapefruit panna cotta, a thin layer of grapefruit gelatin topped with a thicker layer of vanilla panna cotta, topped with pink grapefruit slices:

banana cake, my personal favorite, a comforting banana cake topped with a pretty fried pineapple chip, ice cream and a little puddle of nuts and caramel sauce:

and molten center chocolate cake:

Comments made by co-diners were that Chef Rich seems to use bold flavors with a very restrained hand; nothing was overly doused in fat or butter (or at least, didn't taste as if it were), and my favorite "I don't feel like I'm in Columbus!"  Based upon the success of the the opening night, I have no doubts Rosendales will continue to improve, becoming better and better.  This is a gem of a restaurant in the Columbus dining scene, completely uninfluenced by other restaurants in town; a new bar has been set, and I hope it does nothing but improve the entire Columbus dining experience.  Be sure to check out the menus - especially the tasting menu - online.  I hope to do the tasting menu sometime in the future, and will be back with an update then.

Info:  Rosendales Restaurant 793 N. High Street in the Short North.  Dinner only, Monday - Sunday.  Reservations are strongly encouraged.  614.298.1601.