English Rose Rincon Owner Honors the Local Jam
A British-oriented restaurant, with a heavy heaping of authentic local products, in the heart of Rincon, Puerto Rico? That’s owner Jessica Del Mar’s vision for The English Rose Rincon, and she’s committed to keeping it going.
Del Mar, a New Jersey native who’s lived in Rincon for 19 years and started at the restaurant as dishwasher and food runner in 2007, began operating the place six years ago, and bought it with the help of an investment fund three years later.
She got to know the original owners when they worked together — she bartended and waitressed — at the Black Eagle at the town’s marina before The English Rose Rincon, also known as La Rosa Inglesa, opened its doors.
Del Mar doesn’t contemplate ditching the British dishes for something perhaps more trendy. “I wanted to basically honor the roots of the restaurant,” she said, noting that there are locally grown avocados on the menu, Puerto Rican coffee is the brew, and the staff creates all the jams out of local fruits. “The British part for me is the soul of it.”
Read Real Puerto Rico’s review of The English Rose Rincon here.
The formula seems to be working because on the weekends, at least, you’d better have reservations or you won’t get in. Del Mar gives a lot of credit to chef Julian Swanson, as well as the rest of her staff.
“It’s a little bit of a mashup of everything,” she said, adding if something tastes good, British or not, “we’ll put it on the menu.”
Del Mar took a nontraditional route to the top of Piña Hill, where the restaurant and inn, complete with newly renovated guest rooms and lap pool, afford spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.
A graduate of New Jersey’s Stockton University, Del Mar studied biochemistry and communications, and put herself through school bartending and waitressing. She took a trip around the world, enjoying the restaurant around the corner in the next town wherever her wanderlust and foodie instincts took her.
“I just really loved the industry,” Del Mar said, referring to restaurants, and adding that she thought she would grow tired of it, but never did.
One interesting twist to the menu is that you can pay $10 to buy the staff a round of drinks, which I did. It was our waiter’s birthday one recent Friday morning when we showed up, and he said he was going to enjoy a shot of Tequila.
Del Mar said the staff enjoys that perk, especially the kitchen staff, who mostly work out of sight and don’t get the credit they deserve.
While Del Mar pays homage to the original owners’ British cuisine, she also hasn’t forgotten her waitressing and bartending — not to mention dishwashing and food-running — roots, emphasizing that at the English Rose Rincon, “my staff is my everything.”