Friends, restaurateurs share their love of food
Kristina Evans and Theresa Rosette in their new restaurant Rest Farmhouse Inspired in Montrose.
Two friends who opened a restaurant in Montrose this week plan to feed their patrons the same way they feed their families.
After two years of planning, Theresa Rosette and Kristina Evans opened their first restaurant, Rest Farmhouse Inspired, serving up dishes made from locally sourced and seasonal ingredients.
“We like to think of the menu as rustic French,” Evans said.
Evans and Rosette have been friends for more than 20 years after meeting through their husbands, who shared an office in Maryland. Now, both husbands work at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Over the years, one theme in the women’s friendship has remained consistent.
“The topic of conversation has always been around food,” Evans said.
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Kristina Evans and Theresa Rosette, co-owners of the new Rest Farmhouse Inspired in Montrose.
Prior to opening their restaurant, Evans worked as a personal chef, and Rosette would help her on various cooking gigs.
When Evans and Rosette decided to open Rest, they were determined to emphasize local ingredients sourced from farmers Evans has developed relationships with while working as a chef.
If customers ask, they can learn the name of the farm where the grass-fed, free-range meat on the menu came from.
“This is the way we feed our families,” Evans said. “This is the way we wanted to feed Montrose, too.”
Some menu items include beef-and-chicken-bone broth, a roasted beet salad, and house-made jams such as the bacon jam used in their Parisian sandwich made with brie on sourdough bread.
They also sell pastries and Annaboo sodas, named after their creator, Evans’ daughter Anna.
The Earl of Montrose soda is made with lavender simple syrup, club soda and Earl Gray tea with lemon.
The menu also features daily “Chef’s creations,” and this week, Wednesday’s special was a slow-cooked mocha-rubbed, grass-fed beef roast, served with baked sweet potato.
Friday’s special offers grass-fed bison-stuffed peppers served with cilantro-lime cream.
Leading up to this week’s opening, both women said they are grateful for the way their family members have pitched in to help.
Evans has two daughters, ages 15 and 13, while Rosette has three sons, ages 17, 15 and 12.
During recent evenings, both women’s husbands helped prepare the restaurant for its debut after each had put in a full day’s work at JPL.
“We couldn’t do this without their support,” Rosette said.
The restaurant, located at 2420 Honolulu Ave., is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
