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Having spent 10 years as chef for other restaurants in New York City, followed by another 10 years as restaurant consultant around the world, Julia Jaksic was ready for a place of her own. When she and her husband moved to Nashville three years ago, she began her search. Once she learned that the Depression-era storefront at the corner of Porter and Greenwood was available, she didn't hesitateshe signed the lease while on consultation in Singapore.
This June, Jaksic opened Cafe Roze, a charming, all-day café that reminds her of places she loves in Manhattan.
'New York is in my bones, and this kind of restaurantcasual, comfortable, offering something for everyoneis a favorite of mine,” she says.
Roze (pronounced like the flower) is Croatian for pink. Jaksic, whose father is Croatian, has incorporated rose-colored elements into both furnishings and cuisine.
Step inside the shotgun eatery, where you can sidle up to the long marble bar (its base is painted pink), or slip into the banquette hugging the left wall to dine at one of the pink-topped café tables. It's the kind of a cozy place that you long for in a neighborhood. And the menu? Jaksic says, 'These are dishes I'd make for myself at home.”
Fuel your day with a brew from the espresso barbeans by Revelatoror savor the rose- and cardamom-scented Roze latte, sprinkled with dried rose petals. Breakfast can be as straightforward as a bowl of coconut yogurt, mixed berries, and her granola or the more elaborate Savory Oat bowl, grains topped with poached egg, bitter greens, and roasted shiitakes seasoned with gomasio. In either case, the favors come through clean, true, and satisfying.
At lunch, you could enjoy the Pan Bagnat, a Provencal-inspired pressed sandwich of tuna, anchovy, and a lusty tapenade of red peppers, fennel, and nicoise olives. Her Roze Bowl is a beauty, where black lentils, red quinoa, roasted zucchini, kale, and pickled beets are surrounded by a wide stripe of beet tahini (more pink!) painted onto the bowl's interior.
Meet up with a friend for a house cocktail or happy hour glass of wine. Share one of the toasts (you can't go wrong with either Avocado Hummus with pepitas or the Roasted Broccoli-Ricotta) or an order of luscious corn fritters, laced with nduja. A concise dinner menu offers several appealing main dishes: pasta with anchovy, garlic, and parmesan; pork schnitzel and red cabbage; bistro steak and frites. We're partial to the rainbow trout, served over sugarsnap pea and corn succotashmoreover, the hospitable vibe Jaksic has created at her café.
'Feeding people, an act of giving, is why I became a chef,” she says. 'At Roze, we want to create a healthy, safe environment, where everyone feels nurtured, where it's not just the food, but that intangible something that makes a place special.”
1115 Porter Rd, 615-645-9100; caferoze.com