By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy of Belle Vie Photography
With Conshohocken’s only open air dining setting, The Stone Rose Restaurant has become a popular neighborhood destination.
AML’s Monday Night Meetup, our fun, regular social get-together, returns this Monday evening, June 21st, at Conshohocken’s popular Stone Rose Restaurant. Stone Rose opened last October with owner Brian Pieri, a former executive in the financial industry, and executive chef Jason Mase spearheading one of the Philly’s burbs hottest new dining spots.
Stone Rose is tucked away off the main stream of restaurants in Conshohocken near the corner of 9th and Fayette—across from the Conshy Fire Department. The welcoming exterior with outdoor seating gives way to a cozy and sexy upscale neighborhood restaurant inside. The front room boasts a beautiful fifteen seat bar. The ‘Rose’ also has an intimate back room, rustic Italian accents and Conshy’s only open air dining setting.
Mase is a North Central, PA native who has been a chef for nineteen years. He joined The Stone Rose shortly after their opening last fall and boasts experience as the executive chef at The Guard House in Gladwyne and at The Four Seasons downtown. The cuisine is largely American continental with international influences. “We are fine dining with a comfort food spin. We try to use local, organic produce resourced from Southeastern PA,” explained Mase. His braised short ribs over homemade mac and cheese, a signature dish influenced by Jason’s mother’s recipe, is offered as an appetizer or entrée, a Rose customer favorite. In addition, pan seared diver scallops with prosciutto and pea risotto with roasted mushrooms in a mushroom cream sauce are a menu highlight. For a steady lunch crowd, Mase’s diners often order the seared burger, cooked in a cast iron pan on a bed of kosher salt—with Spanish onions, homemade French fries, and remoulade on a challah roll. And, beer geeks will be glad to know that Stone Rose only serves local beers on tap.
Crab and Avocado Salad
As for Pieri, a Conshohocken native, dashing entrepreneur and Penn State grad, the restaurant world is a new venture as he spent his first ten years out of college building a very successful career as a stock broker. Pieri met Mase through a friend and brought on lifelong friend Jim Maglio as general manager. Thanks to Pieri’s savvy marketing skills on their popular Twitter account (StoneRoseConshy), the restaurant has become the buzz of the burbs. “I was very aware of marketing strategies and client relations in my previous career. I kind of laugh when I see restaurants tweeting in all caps, or only using Twitter to talk about themselves and their daily menu ad naseum. It is a great connector and really a shared network—we have had dozens of customers walk through the door (from Twitter) and ask for me personally. That has been a large part of our early success,” said Pieri.
Stone Rose owner Brian Pieri will be our gracious host for AML’s next Monday Night Meetup.
As for the name, the restaurant is Pieri’s way of honoring his mother Rose, who he lost to cancer five years ago. “Everything here is personal—has personal meaning and is connected to my life. The pictures on the wall are my family and their vineyards from Italy. Jim came from a family of stone masons—so that’s how Stone Rose came about. This is my neighborhood, my customers are like family to me and it’s been a dream of mine,” explained Pieri.
AML Monday Night Meetup at Stone Rose Conshohocken
When: Monday June 21st 6-8pm
Where: Stone Rose Restaurant, 822 Fayette Street, Conshohocken
RSVP: Respond on our Facebook fan page.
Details: Monday Night Meetups are free and all are welcome to attend, 21 and over. No children permitted.
Phone: 484-532-7300
Website: www.thestoneroserestaurant.com
Facebook: StoneRose Conshohocken
Twitter: StoneRoseConshy
