Rolo's
How To Get In and What To Order
How to get in: After being voted Jeremy Allen White’s favorite restaurant in New York, Rolo’s – located in Ridgewood, Queens – has become extremely popular (rightfully so). Tables are booked up for normal dinner times about three weeks in advance, however you can put a Resy notify on and there is a high chance you will get a notification for a cancellation. We went with a group of 16 people for my birthday and we were able to email the restaurant directly for a larger group seating. For groups larger than 9 people, they require a prix fixe menu that is $68 a person and is 3 courses served family style and you get to choose amongst a number options from their normal dinner menu.
Vibe and drinks: Rolo’s is very much your local neighborhood type of restaurant with upscale undertones. The inside feels very cozy and intimate and, depending on where you sit, you can watch the chefs prepare your meal from the table. For the drinks – I highly recommend the Rolo’s Daiquiri #1, The Carrot Drink and the Martini Italian. The daiquiri was the perfect blend of tart and sweet, with a nice kick from the rum. The martini was gin based and was definitely a strong drink, but the additions of dry and blanc vermouth and aperol made it a very balanced drink. The carrot cocktail was definitely the most interesting one! It had chili mezcal, cinnamon, lemon juice and carrot juice. There were so many different flavor profiles in this one – spicy, sweet, tart and earthy – and they paired together beautifully. If you’d like to go for the classics – I also ordered a dirty martini and a cosmopolitan, both of which were made perfectly!
Food: To start, we had a selection of their breads- two of their famous Wood-Fired Polenta Breads – one with Calabrian chili butter, the other with sesame and wild oregano. I understand why everyone orders them! The bread was perfectly fluffy on the inside and nice and charred, like a Neapolitan pizza, on the outside. The sesame and oregano bread tasted similar to a zaatar bread and had a nice, Mediterranean flavor. The Calabrian chili was my favorite of the two! The butter made it rich and creamy, while the Calabrian chili added some heat and it worked so well together.
For the next course, we had Tahini Chickpeas, Cheesy Potato Croquettes, Stracciatella Cheese and Snap Pea Salad. I was very pleasantly surprised by the chickpeas. What I thought would be a very plain appetizer turned out to be one of my favorites. The chickpeas were mixed with olive oil, garlic and tahini – something that sounds so simple, yet had so much flavor in each bite! The croquettes were another hit. Despite being fried, they were very light – super pillow-y inside, not too much batter on the outside, and a nice amount of freshly shaved parmesan on top. Simple, yet delicious. My favorite dish from this course was the stracciatella cheese, which is the inside of a burrata. This came with olive oil, chili and sumac drizzled on top. The cheese itself was so fresh and creamy, balanced out by the sharpness of the spices and olive oil. Lastly, the snap pea salad was a refreshing balance to the other dishes. The snap peas were crisp and laid atop a bed of whipped goat cheese. This dish didn’t really stand out to me as it was a little bland, however it was nice to have as a refreshing bite in between the other appetizers which were a bit heavier.
Our main courses were the Grilled Branzino, Wood-Fired Half Chicken and the Two Sheet Lasagna Verde. The grilled branzino came with castelfranco (a variety of radicchio) and a sauce made of chopped up eggs, pickles and mustard. The fish was so tender and cooked simply, which paired great with the complex flavors of the sauce. Next up was the wood-fired chicken, which came with a green tahini sauce and fresh mint. I loved the char on the chicken and even more so that it was so juicy. Just like the fish, the chicken was cooked simply – which to me, shows just how good the quality was – and worked great with the herb-y tahini sauce. The lasagna was definitely the most unique of the dishes. It was a green lasagna that was charred on the edges, yet nice and soft in the middle, with beef bolognese and cheese layers. I loved that you could taste the char from the wood-fired oven, which made it stand out from any lasagna I’ve ever tried before. As sides we had a simple green salad, which was light and citrus-y, and their Crispy Potatoes “War Style”. The potatoes were extremely crispy and delicious and the “war” sauce that came on the side was so addictive and unlike anything I’ve ever had. The sauce came in its own bowl and was a half mayo and half peanut-style sauce with raw onions on top. We all devoured these potatoes, despite being so full from all the other food!
Overall: I highly recommend coming to Rolo’s for some good drinks and even better food. Normally when a celebrity names a restaurant as their favorite, I am a bit skeptical, however I am very happy to say, this lived up to the hype. Unfortunately, when we were there, we tried ordering their famous burger (voted one of the best burgers in NYC by the Eater), however they only have a limited availability of this and had run out by the time we got there (7pm). I recommend going in earlier if you would like to get your hands on one! Make a reservation a couple of weeks in advance or put a Resy notify on, and you should be good to go!
Must-Orders: Wood-fired polenta bread with Calabrian chili butter, tahini chickpeas, cheesy potato croquettes, stracciatella cheese, wood-fired half chicken, two sheet lasagna verde and crispy potatoes “war style”.
YUM!!! I keep hearing about how amazing this spot is and now I must go!
The food was great, but the vibes and the company were immaculate!