Red Rose Café in Santa Rosa
Still rummaging through pix of meals long past . . .
MLK weekend I stopped by Red Rose Café in Santa Rosa for a late-ish Saturday lunch. I’d been to this spot before when it was the Czech-owned luncheonette, Marbles, and I was pleased to see that the cushy booths upholstered with the European botanical print had been retained by the new soulful Southern occupants. As befits the café’s name, a long-stemmed red rose adorns each table. I took a seat at the corner booth, where I could watch the smoker outside huffing and puffing.
Image of long-stemmed red rose namesake -
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One of the draws for me was the Southern fried chicken Saturday lunch special, $6, I saw on the website. I had my heart set on that and one rib ala carte ($1.99) to try the two specialties here. However, I soon found out that my server had never heard of lunch specials, Saturday or other day of the week. I wasn’t interested in anything else despite her efforts to sell me on another lunch choice and got up to leave. But after checking with the owner, she said they’d match whatever was listed (and is still on the site today). Then I got more disappointing news, the barbecued ribs were sold out. However, after some consultation with the kitchen again and a carefully stated disclaimer when presented to me, I was gifted with a few scrap bits of rib tip, not normally sold here. Rib tip is my favorite part of the rib, so the perfect little morsels for me. Crusting was spot on, nice and juicy with light smoking and seasoning, and tender but with genuine bite to it. I don’t even remember the sauce, other than that it was complementary and didn’t overwhelm the meat’s flavor with too much sugar. Fair warning though, these were not a representative sample of the ribs sold here.
Image of sample of rib tip -
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/145/357884789_27dcf09f6b.jpg?v=0
Because red beans and rice was not available as a side for the lunch plate, I got three pieces of chicken instead of just two. This came with corn bread and potato salad that had been highly recommended by my server.
Image of pressure-fried chicken lunch plate -
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/165/357884786_0f4ad02463.jpg?v=0
While I waited for my chicken, I enjoyed a couple refills of sweet tea. The chicken is cooked to order, and with the pressure-fryer, it doesn’t take quite as long as alternatives. But I’m not a fan of this method, the meat always seems too mushy and that was par for the course here too. The crust was very light, just a dusting of seasoned flour. Quite simple and plain. The potato salad is the soft and close to mash style with lots of mustard and sweet pickles, also not my thing.
I got a piece of buttermilk pie, $2.25, to take home, not before asking about and learning that the sugar-free pies promoted on the website don’t exist either and that sweet potato was sold out. Glad I indulged, as this was a fine example of a simple country pie.
Despite the website fiction, less than 0.50 batting average, and the many curve balls I encountered in my attempts to order a meal here, I still came away feeling more positive than negative about this place. The owner, Nancy, couldn’t have been sweeter continuing to apologize for the stock-outs and menu confusion, and she tried to make things right for me. The prices are so low, experimenting and missing is no big deal. These are fast food prices with more care and heart behind the cooking.
Red Rose Café
1770 Piner Rd.
Santa Rosa
(707) 573-9741
http://www.redrosecafe.com/
By Melanie Wong
on May 2, 2007 07:30 PM
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We hit Red Rose Cafe last night... and have mixed reviews. First, its a fairly rough, uneven operation... but I see it in a positive light because it actually reminds of me the typical eateries in the South (the owners & cooks are actually from Arkansas)... which always seemed to be disorganized & odd (by our overly manicured standards).
We went with the Pork Ribs & Fried Chicken... and they were quite good. The ribs were simply done, barely salted served a balanced, slightly spicy BBQ sauce which I liked (and I usually find BBQ sauces to be way too sweet for my tastes).
The fried chicken (3 pieces to an order) was reasonably good... but I thought the version at Black Bear Dinner (Sonoma) was much better than Red Rose (and also much better than the Soul Food place in Potrero Hill that I can't remember).
Green Beans are basically from a can... not my preferences.
Collard Greens aren't no where near as good as what I've had in Atlanta but they are edible, & much better than the soul food place in Potrero Hill (S.F.)
Baked Beans from a can... not recommended.
I really wanted Black Eye Peas but they don't have these... they did have Red Beans & Rice which I will try next time.
Yams are good but extremely sweet (Draped in brown sugar & cinnamon syrup).... these really are dessert (so much so that I had no desire to order Buttermilk or Sweet Potato pie)... both of which they did have. When we arrived they only had the sugar free (Splenda) version of Sweet Potato... but they baked 3 pies of regular while we were there.
All dinners are served with a Green Salad (very wine country ish with Romaine & a slice of Strawberry... however it was overdressed with a very sweet strawberry vinaigrette... ask for it on the side)... and Corn Bread (pretty good.... not to dry, but nothing that would blow your socks away).
I also had a sweetened ice tea... boy was it sweet with the unmistakable imprint of Caro corn syrup. A good squeez of lime helped... however I suspect they use powdered tea.
Prices are very modest ($31 for 3 adults & 1 baby)... and we left having eaten too much.
Is it the Soul Food place I was hoping for? No... but how many Soul Food places are there in town anyway? Will I go back... yes, but its not particularly rotation worthy.
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I've gotten the chicken wings and waffles...While it's not quite on par with good ol Roscoe's in L.A., it's definetly enjoyable. I've always found the fried chicken consistent and keep in mind it's not unlike soul food or bbq joints to run out of things in a day and just stop offering them....although frustratingly so lol
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Aha, so they have created a sugar-free version of the pie now.
Prices are low here, even by soul food joint standards, and the surrounding are more pleasant. Cooking is uneven, and it will just take some time to figure out what the best things are. So while it's not setting the world on fire, you can afford a few misses at these prices and leave more satisfied than lunching at McD's.
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So, given the website may or may not be reliable ... has anyone had breakfast items other than chicken and waffles? Nice they open at 6am.
Any comments on the following:
- Chicken fried steak with white gravy
- biscuits
- liver and onions
- salmon croquettes
- mac & cheese
- fried catfish
- pulled pork
From the website:
":Our B-B-Q is slow smoked in a southern fried cooker, unique in its ability to draw out fats and seals in the juices. The heat and smoke cause the meat fiber to break down, which releases the fat while tenderizing the meat cut."
Our Fried Chicken is cooked in a pressure cooker that contains the juice and flavor in the meat and evenly cooked the entire chicken.
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Red Rose Cafe
1770 Piner Rd, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
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Regarding the smoker... its a mechanical contraption (typical of the places I saw inTexas) that sits in their patio.
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I have tried the Red Rose twice. Had pork ribs, both St. Louis and baby backs, and they were consistent: almost no smoke flavor, no smoke ring, no rub, reasonably tender, too fatty. Best described as cooked pork, with no resemblance to barbeque.
Sides were worse. Beans tasted like Van de Camps, straight from a can, not even warm. Potato salad has no soul. Collards did taste like collards - cooked thoroughly, seasoned only with salt. No soul food character. Looks like the owners left their Arkansas roots back home.
Fried chicken was the best item we had. Cooked fresh, the meat was mushy as Melanie remarked, but not dry, dusty, and overcooked like so many others I've had. Crust was very light. Better than any fried chicken I've found so far in Santa Rosa. Since they seem to fry with competence, has anyone tried other things? This is not a place for barbeque, and the sides don't have enough character to qualify as any kind of soul food.
Now that Terry's is gone, is there anything resembling real barbeque in the Santa Rosa area? I'm having withdrawal, and need a barbeque fix badly!
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