Rose Marie (524 Lorimer St.), a bar with cocktails and Southern cuisine, is taking over the space that was previously home to Magdelene.
Magdelene was a vibrant Lebanese bar and restaurant that was in danger of closing last year when the restaurant’s owner, Magda Sayeg, became entangled in a lawsuit with her landlord. Sayeg told Greenpointers that her landlord wanted to terminate her lease after she survived the pandemic and sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements to the property.
The new tenant, Rose Marie, will be run by the team behind Manhattan’s Yellow Rose, a Tex-Mex restaurant known for tacos on homemade tortillas, tortas, chalupas, queso, and margaritas.
Yellow Rose’s owners, Krystiana and Dave Rizo, have signed the lease on the Lorimer Street property, and plan to open Rose Marie in March 2025, according to Eater. They have brought in Yellow Rose’s general manager, Tracy Spetka, as a partner in Rose Marie.
As of right now, the plan for Rose Marie is to have an open kitchen and follow a model of ordering at the bar and then sitting in one of the 45 seats inside or in the large dining area outside in warmer months.
Dave Rizo will helm the kitchen and cook up Southern-inspired dishes like chicken fried steak and patty melts, while Yellow Rose’s pastry chef, Young Cho, does the desserts. The beverage program at Rose Marie will be overseen by Yellow Rose’s Kelly Ann Sullivan.
Yellow Rose’s team is no stranger to Williamsburg as just days ago they partnered with The Meat Hook (397 Graham Ave.) to create a smoked jalapeño cheddar breakfast taco with beef sausage from the local spot.
Eater reported that the moniker Rose Marie, an obvious nod to Yellow Rose, also stems from the Bob Dylan song “Goin’ to Acapulco” and worked well because Spetka’s mother’s name is Rosemary.