Citron & Rose Has An Opening Date (And A Menu)

While it seems like we’ve been waiting forever for Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook to get their newest (non-fried-chicken-and-donut) concept off the ground, we now have official word that Citron & Rose, the partners’ Glatt kosher deli at 370 Montgomery Avenue in Merion, will be opening to the public at 5pm on Wednesday, November 7. Honest to god, this has to be the best food news to happen on the Main Line in forever.

But we don’t just have the opening date. We’ve also got some details on the menu and the kosher cocktails (yeah, you read that right) being put together by Cook, Solo and chef Yehuda Sichel. Check ’em out after the jump.

Citron & Rose Opening Menu

FIRST COURSE

Celery Root Soup

veal kreplach, pickled celery 10

Chopped Liver

sour cherry, chocolate, pumpernickel 10

Citron Salad

baby romaine, beets, hazelnuts, dill, garlic 9

Mushroom Knish

smoked kasha, tsimmes, carrot-mustard 10

Bacon & Eggs

duck bacon, poached egg, frisee, duck fat potatoes 10

Salmon Gravlax

everything spice, walnuts, radish, smoked bagel 11

Pickled Mackerel

cucumber salad, potato gaufrettes 10

Beef Tartare

pastrami spice, bone marrow croquettes 12

SECOND COURSE

Ribeye Duo

white beans, kale, concord grape mustard 28

Veal Roulade

celery root and apple kugel, beet relish 25

Crispy Salmon

roasted eggplant, cucumber, chanterelles 24

Duck Sholet

crispy breast, confit leg, kishke, haminado, flageolet beans 27

Dry-Aged Ribeye (for two)

horseradish chremsli, pickled green tomatoes, steak sauce 72

Roast Chicken

honey and paprika glaze, schmaltzy potatoes, baby arugula 24

Baked Whole Bream

parsley potatoes, sweet peppers, riesling 25

Chestnut Galushka

fall vegetables, mushrooms, goulash 18

C&R Burger

beef bacon, pickled green tomatoes, horseradish 14

So yeah, not exactly your traditional deli menu is what they’re saying here…

Still, this is a dairy-free kitchen, working without butter or cheese and focusing instead on the meat-heavy dishes of Central European Jewish cuisine, revised with an eye toward modernity, fresh ingredients and the particular high-end slant that Solomonov brought to Zahav‘s kitchen.

Which is how you end up with something like baked whole bream done en papilotte, salmon gravlax with everything bagel spice, and the cholent (pictured above)–a classic meat-and-potatoes dish which (traditionally) takes the form of a 24-hour stew, prepared on a Friday and meant to be eaten during Shabbat. Here, Citron & Rose’s kitchen has subbed in duck breast and confit leg, haminado and flageolet beans, and plated the whole thing like its just waiting for its Food & Wine centerfold shoot.

As for those kosher cocktails? Dig the Cosmonaut with vodka, beet syrup and grapefruit juice (which I would totally drink) or the Reb Roy, made with scotch and Manischewitz (which I’d certainly try at least once).

Also, the dessert menu looks pretty solid. The best-sounding thing on the board? Honey cake with cinnamon meringue, apple confit and apple sorbet. Get me one of those, some beef tartare with bone marrow croquettes and a couple of Cosmonauts, and I’d be a happy boy.

Citron & Rose [Official website]