Washington Square saloon P.J. Clarke's is turning its former events-only space into a new steakhouse called Rockwell & Rose, which will be the older, more sophisticated sister of the original concept, according to general manager Tim Killeen.
"I've described it to people early-on as 'this is the sister that went away to Europe and lived life and now is back and trying to share some of those things,'" Killeen said.
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The new eatery is three years in the making, and will open Oct. 8 on the ground floor of the Curtis Building at 601 Walnut St. The space will be open to diners in the evenings Wednesday through Sunday. Killeen said servers will work all five days and keep the same sections each day for a sense of familiarity.
The surf-and-turf menu includes a raw bar, lobster tails, crab cakes, a pear and gorgonzola fiocchetti for vegetarians and a porchetta-style Thanksgiving meal inspired by Norman Rockwell's painting, "Freedom From Want." Drinks include classic cocktails, eight taps for beer and cider, and wines by the glass or bottle.
The name draws from the history of the building, which used to house Curtis Publishing, a company that produced magazines including the Saturday Evening Post, Ladies' Home Journal, Jack and Jill and the Country Gentleman. "Rose" is a nod to Norman Rockwell's Rosie the Riveter illustration that was first published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1943 as well as a tribute to restaurant owner Phil Scotti's mother, Rose. A portion of the space was also once home to the Norman Rockwell Museum.
Rose & Rockwell will seat 146 people at the bar and in the Rose, Walnut and Rockwell dining rooms, which were previously limited to private events. When Killeen first started working at P.J. Clarke's a few years ago, he said the space "almost worked as a museum." P.J. Clarke's felt there was more to be done with that space than only hosting private parties.
"One of the spaces, our Walnut room, is the frontage to Washington Square Park, window to window, wall to wall, you're overlooking that park," Killeen said. "Then on a daily basis, you're missing out on that view. You're missing out seeing the families playing in there. … It's just such a phenomenal space."
The sister restaurants will still have private event options, as Rose & Rockwell will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and during the day the rest of the week. Customers will also still have the option to rent out the entire space.
P.J. Clarke's first opened in Manhattan in 1884, and now has three New York City locations, one in Washington, D.C. and the Philadelphia spot, which opened in 2018.