A Center City pub with 19th-century roots is cutting itself in half to open an ‘everyday’ steakhouse

P.J. Clarke’s, the saloon and pub at the Curtis across from Washington Square and Independence National Historical Park, will give up half of its space this fall to create Rockwell & Rose, a steakhouse.

A hallway will connect the two restaurants as Rockwell & Rose reactivates the Curtis’ entrance on Walnut Street. The opening is scheduled for Oct. 8, coinciding with nearby events surrounding the Navy and Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary events.

Rockwell & Rose has been the pet project of P.J. Clarke’s general manager Tim Killeen, who started in 2022, four years after it opened.

P.J. Clarke’s traces its history to 1884 and counts three locations in New York and one in Washington, in addition to Philadelphia.

During the pandemic, P.J. Clarke’s shifted its entrance to the Curtis’ lobby on the Sixth Street side, home of the building’s famed Tiffany glass mural, The Dream Garden. Killeen said he noted that the dramatic back rooms were underused for dining and could be adapted without disrupting private events. After getting the buy-in from P.J. Clarke’s owner Phil Scotti, they decided to create a setting with plants and other greenery to make it warm and less formal.

They are positioning Rockwell & Rose as a more everyday steakhouse, “not just a special-occasion hotspot that comes and goes in a flash,” Killeen said. The price point will be lower than that of a typical steakhouse, averaging $65 to $75 per person compared with the $85 norm, while P.J. Clarke’s averages about $45.

Casual steak seems like a new move here, what with this month’s arrival of Medium Rare, with its $32.95 prix fixe steak frites experiences, in Fishtown.

Rockwell & Rose’s menu will feature a raw bar with live shucking, seafood towers, house-made pastas, and steaks and seafood, as well as other dishes that Killeen said would make it stand out. For example, a dish called Freedom From Want, inspired by Rockwell’s iconic Thanksgiving illustration, reimagines turkey with sausage stuffing, rolled and sliced porchetta-style, and filled with cranberry chutney and sweet potato crema.

The bar program, overseen by Killeen and Michelle Zarallo, will include eight taps for beer and cider, as well as wines and cocktails.

The space will be divided into four, including a room overlooking Washington Square, a dining room anchored by a 15-seat table, an oyster bar, and a private-event space.

Killeen is also planning a five-day staffing model not only to give workers a consistent schedule but to allow customers to see the same servers and bartenders night after night. This was a hallmark of the old Palm on Broad Street, which cultivated regulars.

The name is inspired by the building’s history as home to Curtis Publishing, where Norman Rockwell’s work appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, and Rosie the Riveter, the wartime icon featured in one of Rockwell’s illustrations for the magazine. The name also honors Scotti’s mother, Rose, who died in May at age 98. Phil Scotti, a Jeffersonville native and Marine, began his restaurant career in New York after turning down a role in his family’s Genuardi’s supermarket business; his mother’s parents were Gaspare and Josephine Genuardi. He purchased P.J. Clarke’s in 1999.