High-end Rosalie gets a sister restaurant, Testa Rossa in Glen Mills
Marty and Sydney Grims of Fearless Restaurants intend Testa Rossa as "a restaurant born in Italy but raised in America."
Fearless Restaurants, owner of such local icons as the White Dog Cafes and the Moshulu, also has a high-end Italian restaurant at the Wayne Hotel called Rosalie.
Now, said Fearless’ Sydney Grims, Rosalie has “a naughty little sister and she’s a redhead.”
Hence, Testa Rossa.
The first of two casual Testa Rossa locations — sporting a bold, high-lacquer, midcentury look from Stokes Architecture + Design — opens Friday across from the White Dog Cafe in Glen Mills in the Shoppes at Brinton Lake. The second Testa Rossa is due next summer near the White Dog in Wayne, part of a planned synergy of the brands.
Grims and her father/business partner, Marty Grims, bill Testa Rossa as a restaurant “born in Italy but raised in America.” It’s set up for family-friendly casual dining, with a 16-seat, U-shaped bar among booth seating. Even all gussied up with two types of terrazzo floor tiles and spiffy, mismatched banquettes, it’s reminiscent of the space’s former occupant, Ruby’s Diner. Outside at night, you’ll notice how Fearless lit up the decorative tower left over from Ruby’s. Testa Rossa has 180 seats indoors including booths, and there will be 100 additional seats outside on the patio in season.
As for food, “we’re breaking all the Italian rules I was trained with for the first 10 years of my career,” said Fearless culinary director Merick Devine, who worked at such destinations as Craft in Los Angeles and the one-Michelin-starred La Subida in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. “We’re taking dishes that are grounded in traditional Italian food, but then throwing in some funky American ingredients or techniques at it, which ends up being something new.”
For example: Devine likes the flavor profile of the popular beet and goat cheese salad from White Dog’s Wayne location. “We put the goat cheese inside a tortelloni, marinated the beets and pickled them. We took blood oranges and made a mustarda out of them.” With prosciutto and everything-spice butter, it’s on the menu as a goat cheese tortelloni ($24).
The menu includes meat-and-cheese boards, and the appetizer list includes the familiar (Caesar salad, crispy calamari) as well as the novel (stuffed cheesy bread with Crescenza, caramelized onions, cherry tomatoes, and garlic butter).
Among the familiar pizzas are some of what Devine calls “inauthentic” takes (there’s one topping with elotes, another with cheesesteak, and yet another with baked potato, Taleggio, bacon, black truffle, sour cream, and scallions).
Cocktails use Italian ingredients and take similar creative license — ergo, a lavender espresso martini. Desserts include soft-serve gelato, Chinotto floats, and tableside tiramisu.
Testa Rossa, 919 Baltimore Pike, Glen Mills. Hours: 5-9 p.m. for dinner daily. Lunch (from 11 a.m. daily) begins Dec. 11. Reservations via OpenTable.