Introducing: Rose and Sons, the new Annex diner from Anthony Rose

| December 14, 2012

The hotly anticipated Rose and Sons opened earlier this month where the beloved neighbourhood institution People’s Foods once stood. Co-owned by Robert Wilder and The Drake Hotel’s former executive chef Anthony Rose, the 176 Dupont Street location is the first instalment in a promised trio of restaurants. Out of respect for the diner that Wilder visited for 30-plus years, he and Rose opted to leave the iconic “Hamburgers” sign untouched. Inside, Rose and Sons echoes the retro appeal of the fallen greasy spoon, with the individual tables swapped out for long wooden booths. The eatery has an undeniably buzzy energy, with a bustling bar operating beside a semi-enclosed kitchen, which turns out the kind of elevated comfort food that Rose has become known for.

Rose and head chef Chris Sanderson began writing the menu while on a mezcal-fuelled trip to Mexico City, and it shows in the hangover-friendly dishes at brunch (think patty melts and bread pudding). The most popular dish on the recently launched dinner menu is the duck confit ($24), which is served with maple beans, a raw brussels sprout salad and poached pear. The menu also features crisp pickerel ($24) served on a bed of creamed squash with a caper-spiked green sauce and a pork T-bone ($23) with cheesy grits and onion jus. For dessert, there’s soft-serve custard parfait layered with peanuts, candy cane crumbs and caramel sauce ($8). Cocktails include a Zombie ($9), made with Gosling’s Black Seal Rum, house-made falernum (a Caribbean sweet syrup infused with nutmeg, star anise, cardamom, all-spice and cinnamon) and juice reserved from the cherry jam the restaurant serves at brunch.