Rosemary’s: A First Glimpse of the Rooftop Garden

Rosemary’s — You can barely glimpse the garden from the street.

When Bobo spun off Rosemary’s — which opened two weeks ago at the corner of Greenwich Avenue and West 10th Street in a burned-out party supply store — one of the marquee features was a rooftop garden.

The view down Greenwich Avenue toward Gray’s Papaya. Along the right wall, rosemary, mint, and other herbs; along the far wall, tomatoes (click on image to enlarge).

The garden got a late start, so the plants are a little undergrown for this time of year. Also, the garden is clearly not large enough to fulfill many of the restaurant’s vegetable needs even when the plants are mature. No matter, the function of making the roof greener is reason enough, but even more important in the future will be the freshly snipped herbs, which are the essence of the type of Tuscan-style cooking the restaurant is doing.

And besides, climbing up the long stairway in full view of the dining room up to the roof is a pleasure in itself, and I recently saw a couple of diners up there, enjoying their cocktails al fresco in the twilight.

Rosemary’s
118 Greenwich Avenue
212-647-1818

In the foreground, basil; in the background, squash, parsley, peppers, and other plants

The squash looks like it could start flowering any day, and the tomatoes are doing well, too.

A view of the dining room as you ascend the rooftop garden stairway