ROSIE'S
New York, NY
Chef Marc Meyer has long had a fascination for and love of the traditional Mexican cuisine best found in Mexican marketplaces, like the Mercado Benito Juarez in the Oaxaca region. These markets - the produce, the food, the cooking, the smells, the colors, the textures, and the whirling presence of life and humanity are the direct inspiration for Rosie's. A lively East Village corner is extended into the restaurant from the broad sidewalks, through continuous sliding glass doors, that fully open two sides of the space. The design was thus generated from outside to within - the generous outdoor dining under a broad canvas awning, and surrounded by flowers, is literally extended into the interior space using Mexican markets as inspiration. The walls are rendered in a rough concrete finish, typical of a market environment, and detailed with blackened steel and a series of narrow mirrors, that appear like windows or alleys. Within this 'outdoor' space a large central island, like a market stall, was created, featuring 4 comals where tortillas are prepared, displays of produce and ingredients that would be found in a marketplace, and a dedicated area for preparation of the Mexican cuisine mainstay - guacamole. There are 16 seats surrounding this island built of white ceramic tiles with heart pine counters. A frieze of custom encaustic tiles, designed by the architects, inspired by traditional Mexican tiles, and tiles designed by the Italian architect Gio Ponti, surround the island and are used at several other locations at Rosie's. A ceiling of steel frames, expanded stainless steel mesh and wood is designed using a geometrically random pattern to evoke the casual feeling of an outdoor market space, including ubiquitous string lights with porcelain shades. A bar, built with the same materials as the comal island, frames an opening to the kitchen, where house ground nixtamal from imported Mexican corn is used to make masa and the lively theater of cooking sets a casual and fun tone that emanates throughout Rosie's.
Project by Asfour Guzy Architects.