When one door with patty melts and spritzes closes, another door serving tacos and margaritas opens. Southern restaurant Rose Marie is shuttering in Williamsburg, but the co-owners are holding onto the address to expand their first restaurant, the East Village’s Tex-Mex dining destination Yellow Rose, into Brooklyn this month.
Rose Marie is closing on Saturday, June 13, and Yellow Rose Brooklyn will open on Saturday, June 20, at 524 Lorimer Street, at Ainslie Street in Williamsburg.
Partners Krystiana Rizo and Dave Rizo, along with director of operations Tracy Spetka, opened Rose Marie just under a year ago, but they knew it was time to make a change.
“It’s no secret that it’s rough out there right now for small businesses and restaurants, and it got us,” Krystiana Rizo tells Eater. “We tried our hardest, and we’re really proud of what we did here over the past year.”
Spetka notes that people bemoaned how they couldn’t get breakfast tacos and doughnuts at Yellow Rose on weekdays. On Cinco de Mayo, the team held a Yellow Rose pop-up at Rose Marie. “We were a packed house from start to finish,” she said, “just selling out of most of the menu, slinging more margaritas than Rose Marie has ever seen. It really went wild.”
The dining room at Rose Marie. | Heami Lee
That reception encouraged them to rethink Rose Marie. “Not only are we responding to the neighborhood, but we have this moment to be like, ‘Okay, well, what do we want to do? What do we need in our lives?” Rizo says. “We’re lucky enough to be able to take a step back and be like we can shape it around that as well.”
Yellow Rose Brooklyn will be a counter-service, no-reservations, all-day cafe and restaurant – as opposed to Manhattan’s sit-down location focused on dinner and drinks. Despite the contrasts, it’s still “Tex-Mex meets New York,” per Spetka. During the day, they’ll have breakfast tacos and pastries like kolaches, and at night, it’ll work more as a bar with tacos and queso. And for Rose Marie regulars, the kitchen will whip up a Yellow Rose edition of its patty melt. Krystiana Rizo mentions bringing back their orange trays, too, dating back to Yellow Rose’s window counter days when it opened in 2020.
The team will make some physical changes, converting Rose Marie into Yellow Rose, but nothing drastic. They’ll add decor that’s more befitting of Yellow Rose, plus benches outside for alfresco margaritas.
“We really love Rose Marie,” Rizo says. “We really put our heart, soul, blood, sweat, and tears into this place, and we are really grateful for all the people who worked with us and all of the people who came here. I do think it’s a very special place, and I just think, maybe in another time and another space, that possibly, you know, someday…”
Until then, at least Brooklyn is getting its own Yellow Rose. The Williamsburg hours are from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and then 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.