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NEWS!
by Virato
 It
seems like over a decade ago (although they’ve only been
open since
2002)
when
I first met Rosetta Starr. At the time she was a
late
twenties, vegetarian hippy from Old Fort, NC,
and
she
had just opened Rosetta’s Kitchen on N. Lexington Ave downtown
Asheville. It's one of the three vegetarian/vegan restaurants
in Asheville. I remember sitting with her in her café and mentioning that
I had heard of a stripper back in Philadelphia called Rosetta Starr. I
knew Rosetta’s would be my kind of eating place when she blurted out, “I
was one in South Carolina,” [exotic-dancer that is].
  I would describe Rosetta’s eatery as
shabby-chic-rainbow-vegetarian-vegan-sort-of-quick-food served in a
revolutionary, body-art, anarchistic sort of way... The
Rainbow
Gathering comes to downtown Asheville with
Che Guevara in
pierced
punk...
Well, it seems that our hippy-founder-lady, Rosetta, has left the country. I'm sure we
could find out why, but I love the rumors. Here are a few: she's on a spiritual pilgrimage to
Tibet...or is it Hunza?; a hide-a-way in Europe; a rainbow cult family in Afghanistan;
a secret witness protection thing (Shh!). It's claimed she gave up
vegetarianism over a year ago, and maybe this is why. Her
employees claim she said, “I may never be back.”
 Over
the years I've have good and bad experiences at Rosetta’s. I rarely saw
Rosetta or her not-so-silent partner--her dad. Frankly, it seemed like absentee
ownership. Whenever my wife and I stopped in we never saw her. So much depends upon the chef,
anyway, as it still does. If they're good they're good...if not, oh
well. They come and go. I guess
this comes with the turf of gypsy hippy owners. They are free
spirits. One thing about being counter-culture where veggie-new-age,
back-to-the-earth, or pot smoking artists and hippies congregate, they're
rarely
dull! That's why I go there--the ambience.
And they are open late. I like that.
Asheville's Mountain Xpress describes Rosetta's as a "quirky
vegetarian kitchen."
Well, now it seems that they (the employees) are sort of taking over.
Heather Houbek, one of Rosetta’s employees, was recently quoted as
saying that if Rosetta doesn’t return in six months, the employees are
considering taking it over and running it as an employee-owned
cooperative. Houbek also
says Rosetta’s’ is definitely not closing!
Firestorm Café & Books
on Commerce St. in Asheville is such an owner-owned cafe.
Somehow I don't
think a revolution is planned, though I'm not so sure about some of the more
pierced staff. I did hear that the
current or last chef is going to become the chef of the home-delivery
catering service Veg-In-Out, which has also just been taken over
by new management.
Here
are a few of Rosetta’s words, “Having worked in the food serving and
preparation industry for a number of years,
I feel the systems that run restaurants are very counter-intuitive to
creating places of health, nourishment and happiness I spent a lot of
years thinking about how to make things better, a way to busy my mind
and cool my frustration at the absurdity of the way things were. I
wanted to be a part of a business that I was proud of; I was led to do
something different.
She said she wanted a place where the people preparing the food
felt respected and respected the job they were doing and that she wanted
to do something cool. She went on, “There were roads I had to travel in
order to understand, in order to have the compassion I would need. In
doing [this] restaurant, without me knowing, I was learning the lessons
I needed.
The place wouldn’t have been possible without the love
and dedication of all of the kitchen’s past and present staff. I ask,
they answer, I try my best to implement. It has been a collaboration,
and it will continue to be. That’s what makes it work. Well that and
love, faith and gravy!
 In less than a decade Rosetta leaves her legacy. God speed to you
Rosetta, wherever you are…
....and whether or not you were really ever a
stripper in South Carolina.
See 'ya around!
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