The team behind Franny's, Brooklyn's perennially popular farm-to-table pizzeria, have been quietly building a new casual restaurant in the space that used to house Marco's, their upscale trattoria. Rose's, as the new restaurant is called, will be what co-owner Francine Stephens describes as a "bar and grill," and is slated to open by the end of May. Danny Amend, the chef at Marco's, has moved on since that restaurant closed in December, and so Andrew Feinberg, Stephens' husband and Franny's co-owner, will be the chef. He, of course, was the chef at Franny's for many years, but has since handed over that position to Johnathan Adler, so this will be a return of sorts to the kitchen for him (though he's been actively overseeing both the restaurants and Bklyn Larder, their grocery offshoot, this whole time).
Rose's is named after Feinberg's grandmother, and Stephens says he plans to serve bar food that's "straightforward" in the same way that the pizzas and small plates at Franny's are straightforward – which is to say simple, but carefully made. There's a burger on the menu, as well as dishes like fried olives, cheese toast, deviled chicken, and spit pork.
Some have pointed to Marco's higher price points as one of the reasons it struggled, while Franny's, when it originally occupied that space, always packed them in. So hopefully this new direction will be more what the neighborhood was looking for.