Check Out the Menus for Vitaly Paley’s Newest Restaurant, Open Today

Rosa Rosa, the newest Paley restaurant within the Dossier hotel, opens today at 3 p.m., serving plates inspired by the restaurateur couple’s summer vacation through Europe. The breakfast and all-day menus deliver what the couple promised: a cross-section of cuisine from the Ottoman and Roman Empires, from Turkish and Italian breads to dishes straight from Georgian hotel kitchens. But that’s not all: Chef Vitaly Paley says the hotel will have a second dining space as well, more inspired by New York Italian classics.

Breakfast at Rosa Rosa ranges from the expected — a smoked salmon Benedict, brioche French toast — to the exciting, from eggs baked in a spicy tomato sauce to fried ricotta topped with a poached egg and hollandaise. Paley is particularly excited about the breakfast pastries, including ricotta doughnut holes with cinnamon sugar and something special: boyo, a Turkish spinach-and-feta-filled bread often made for Shabbat. The recipe is Kimberly Paley’s mother’s, found on an index card while the couple was cleaning out her home following her death. Boyo is also available in the restaurant’s bread basket, alongside a pizza Bianca focaccia.

Starting at 11 a.m., the menu shifts into an all-day set of entrees, including a selection of pastas, shareable plates, and hefty entrees collected on the impromptu research trip. In particular, Paley brought back two dishes he tasted while in Georgia and Turkey: The first is a braised lamb meatball with sour cherries, sumac, and shallots, plucked from the menu at Çiya Sofrası in Istanbul — the restaurant’s chef-owner, Musa Dağdeviren, was featured on Chef’s Table. The other was Chicken Chkmeruli, a Northern Georgian dish with blue fenugreek, butter, sour cream, and cloves. Paley tasted at the Hotel Zuzumbo in Telavi, where he spent a few hours with the chefs of the hotel to learn how to do it right.

Overall, the menus feel very much Italian, which makes sense: The restaurant’s executive chef, Kenny Giambalvo (the Allison Inn and Spa, Pazzo), wants to bring some of his New York Italian background to the Paley restaurants. Giambalvo’s culinary schtick will be much more central to The Back Room at Rosa Rosa, a secondary dinner spot within the hotel for more lighthearted, theatrical Italian dining. The Back Room will open for dinner on November 29, with classic dishes like pasta with Sunday gravy and pasta with clams. Scroll on for a peek at Rosa Rosa’s brunch and all-day menus.

• Dossier Hotel [Official]
• The New Paley Restaurant Coming to the Dossier Hotel Finally Has a Name [EPDX]
• Portland Dining Kingpin Vitaly Paley Is Opening His Fifth Restaurant [EPDX]