Yelp Takes Over Rosebud

From the picture above it looks like we (the staff) had just as much fun at last night's Yelp Elite party as the Yelpers themselves! It was a great event - normally we are closed on Sunday evenings but last night we opened the door to Atlanta's Yelp Elite community for a special party showcasing our new menu. We offered samples of many of our menu items (sliders, eggplant chips, onion rings, shrimp & grits...) as well as some amazing cocktails (local Canary melon cocktails, anyone?) to about 150 guests last night.

The best part of the evening was the atmosphere - everyone was in a party spirit and it quickly reverberated through the staff as well. Atlanta Photography came out and took some hilarious photos (including the awesome staff shot shown above). We can't thank the Yelp crowd enough for the fun times and we hope everyone plans repeat visits soon!

See what Yelp is saying about Rosebud here.

Rosebud is OPEN

Celebrations are in order - the new signs are out front, the pictures are hung and the menus are printed. It is time to come in and dine at Rosebud! In the meantime, we'll try to figure out what we are going to write about now that all the stress of renovations is behind us!

3 days and counting

Gosh, sorry it has been awhile since our last post. Every waking second has been devoted to getting the restaurant ready for the change-over on Monday. Now that things are visably starting to come together you can feel the excitement (and nerves) in the air!

• New paint is almost done (inside and out)


• New artwork is framed but not hung (wait until you see the amazing collage Ron had created especially for the restaurant)


• New lights are mounted and working


• New menus are completed (FINALLY)


• Tables are being refinished and new chairs put together


• New website should be going live any minute now...

The restaurant is a bit messy right now, but, come Monday, Rosebud will be ready to rock.


Since time is a rare commodity these days, I'm going to leave you with some links to some lovely mentions of rosebud from our online friends. We are so grateful for the encouraging words; thank you!



Daily Candy says "this bud is for you!"

Atlanta Foodies raved our about menu tasting a few weeks ago.

Thrillist says we'll "blow your mind, man."

Awesome Taste in Music says rosebud is a good reason to end your holiday weekend early.

Adventurous Tastes says our new chicken liver toast is a "standout appetizer."



Happy Fourth of July!

The First Taste of Rosebud

Tuesday night we invited a few trusted palates into the restaurant for a new menu tasting. Ron has been working on new menu items for weeks now and he was finally ready to get some outside opinions on potential menu items for Rosebud's first menu.

Happily, the overall consensus was hugely positive. Everyone had their favorite dishes but two of the most commented dishes were our play on fish & chips - a garlic-anchovy dip with housemade potato chips,

and the chicken liver toast with bread & butter pickle gremolata and maple-port reduction.

Ron's wife, Pamela, a pastry chef formerly of Canoe, wowed everyone with homemade caramel corn and orange rosemary poundcake. After 11 courses and more than four hours of "tasting" everyone was stuffed and we are well on our way to a final menu!

One Month Out

Somehow, we only have one month to go until we offically become Rosebud. I'm not quite sure how that happened since I swear yesterday I still had months to go before the rebrand. There is still so much to do.

Menus are still being tweaked although the new wine lists have been finalized.

The website is nowhere near done which amazes me because I feel like that is all we talk about these days...

Renovations are about 50% complete. We have new bar stools, new upholstery, and a new banquette. Still to come are new paint colors and a refinished floor.

What else are we spending money on these days?

menu books

menu paper

matches

chalkboards

business cards

press kits

gift cards

thank you cards

artwork

picture frames...

A successful rebrand of Food 101 Morningside to Rosebud? Priceless.

Stay tuned for more renovation updates including the amazing collage we are working on.

The Name Game

What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Did Shakespeare really have it right? Is a name that unimportant? It seems pretty crucial to me. You see, I work at Food 101 Morningside. Food 101 is a local favorite (local to Atlanta, GA) – a comfortable, farm-to-table staple in the Virginia-Highlands neighborhood. The chef, Ron, has been here since day one and so have many of our regulars. Now, after several years, Chef Ron has bought the restaurant from his former partners and is making it his own. The first item on the to-do list – changing the name.

You would have thought naming the restaurant would be one of the more fun parts of owning your own restaurant. You would have thought wrong.

Turns out, naming a restaurant is a laborious and nerve-wracking decision. Much like naming a child, you consider way too many options, over-analyze every thought and worry about what other people will think. Then you come up with something great and it turns out three other restaurants already have the same name. Oy.

From a marketing perspective (I’m the PR director for the restaurant), I really felt the name was make or break. It couldn’t sound too feminine or too masculine. Did it sound “foodie” enough? Did it convey the right imagine? As the owner and chef, Ron felt that the name wasn’t quite as crucial as I did – the food is still all his cooking so the menu isn’t changing, and the atmosphere stems largely from his boisterous personality so that isn’t changing either . He wanted it to be something that spoke to his personality and was more personal. So as Shakespeare said, “What’s in a name?”

After months of arguing back and forth and tossing around bad names and good ones, we finally settled on a name. Now we are ready to start telling people and, as nervous as we are, we don’t want to hear, “You should have…”

Come July 1, 2009 Food 101 Morningside is going to be rosebud.

Want to know how we decided on rosebud? Stay tuned…