Two iconic Park Avenue locations will soon be home to two new restaurant concepts.
Eric Rozestraten, Jay Speranza and Ron Billitier are at work at restaurants in the former laundromat space at 650 Park Ave. and the former Park Avenue Pub, at 644 Park Ave. next door.
Rozestraten and Speranza already are doing business a stone's throw away. They are among the partners in Easy Sailor, a tiki bar that opened last fall. Rozestraten also owns Jack's Extra Fancy, a cozy bar on Atlantic Avenue that recently made USA TODAY’s list of best bars in the country. Speranza also owns Tony D's, which has been a popular Italian restaurant for close to two decades.
First to open will be Golden Boy at 650 Park Ave., which was previously a Starbucks. Before that, it
had been a laundromat for nearly 50 years.
The music-driven establishment will have a different DJ each night, setting the mood by spinning vinyl from their own personal collections. The sound, which will include turntables, will run through old-school equipment and an “insane sound system."
"It will be the best audio output experience you can get in Rochester by a landslide," Rozestraten said.
It will have a large bar with seating for 23 and a dining room that will seat roughly 45 people. The menu, which is in the works, is slated to be reimagined international comfort food.
The bar will have an espresso machine, and the cocktail program will center around espresso martini flights and spritzes.
The interior will be sleek and streamlined, with a Japanese modern look.
"I think it’s going to give people a new perspective on what good music and dining can be together," Rozestraten said.
An October opening is planned.
Once Golden Boy is open, work will begin on the former Park Avenue Pub.
That will become an intimate eatery that has a triple-deck pizza oven and sells large slices of traditional New York-style thin-crust pizzas. The bar program will focus on a large selection of amaro.
"We’re still working out the details," Rozestraten said. The tentative name is Rosso − Italian for "red" − which also be the color of the lacquered walls.
The idea is to have a different popular bartender − and therefore a different experience − each night of the week, a concept borrowed from The Milk Room, a former world-renowned speakeasy bar in Chicago.
The target opening date is December or January.
Tracy Schuhmacher has been food and drink reporter for the past 11 years. Notice a food establishment open or close near you? Email her at tracys@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Former Starbucks, Park Avenue Pub will be home to new restaurants
