ALLENTOWN, Pa. – A soon-to-open restaurant, serving Cuban specialties and comfort food, aims to bring "Little Havana in Miami to Allentown."
José Garces, a James Beard Award-winning chef, entrepreneur, food innovator, and restaurateur, announced that Rosa Blanca, his first of two new restaurants in downtown Allentown, will open daily beginning Monday, March 24.
Rosa Blanca will operate on the ground floor of The Nines residential building at 950 Hamilton St.
Prior to the official opening, Rosa Blanca will open to the public for two dinner and cocktail preview nights on Friday, March 21, and Saturday, March 22, from 4 p.m. to midnight, according to a news release.
The restaurant will be closed on Sunday, March 23, before beginning its regular schedule on Monday, March 24.
Rosa Blanca’s regular hours will be:
Based on one of Garces’ popular restaurant concepts, Rosa Blanca is a Cuban café and rum bar offering fast-casual service featuring breakfast and lunch before switching into a full-service restaurant and bar for dinner.
“This kind of hybrid concept is fairly unique in the Lehigh Valley,” Garces said.
“Rosa Blanca will flow from a breezy café with classic Cuban coffee and pastries by day to a tropical rum bar by night, bringing Little Havana in Miami to Allentown through great music, warm hospitality and, of course, wonderful food and drinks. Evenings at Rosa Blanca will be festive and fun, whether you’re headed to a show or event downtown or just looking for a special dining experience.”
Rosa Blanca’s lunch and dinner menu will offer hearty Cuban specialties and comfort food, from sizzling Cubanos to crispy empanadas, as well as soups, salads and entrees with flavors of the Caribbean.
The restaurant will also offer to-go service at a window on Hamilton Street and will begin catering this spring.
Garces’ second new restaurant in Allentown, Okatshe, will be his modern take on traditional Japanese izakaya. It will open in the second quarter of 2025 at a soon-to-be-announced location downtown.
An Iron Chef known for helping to build Philadelphia's restaurant scene in the early 2000s, Garces is known as a leading culinary authority of Spanish and Latin-American food – from the Spanish tapas at Amada, his first restaurant, to the award-winning burgers and whiskey flights at Village Whiskey.
Garces was attracted to downtown Allentown by "the city's continued revitalization and the placemaking efforts of City Center Group," a prominent downtown Allentown developer, according to the release.
"This harkens back to when I first got to Philadelphia in 2001 and saw an opportunity to create special dining experiences for a market that I felt was right," Garces said in a January announcement.
"I believe in what City Center Group has been doing to make downtown Allentown a strong destination for food, entertainment, and live-work-play, and I share a passion for that mission. I'm excited to invest in downtown Allentown and particularly to be aligned with the Moxy hotel and Archer Music Hall opening this spring."
City Center owns and operates the restaurant’s building on Hamilton Street in the Downtown West neighborhood, where Archer Music Hall and a Moxy Hotel both opened in early 2025.
Rosa Blanca’s interior by dash design of New York City features Art Deco style, lush greenery and an emphasis on glamour to produce "Cuba’s Golden Age aesthetic," the release states.
The 1,500-square-foot restaurant will seat around 40 guests indoors among the bar and tables. Sidewalk seating will accommodate around 30 additional guests.
Over the past five years, Allentown's Downtown West neighborhood has emerged as a vibrant location for entertainment and apartment living.
The district, which sits between Ninth and 12th streets and Walnut and Linden streets, has recently welcomed five new City Center Residential communities, including Cityplace, The Nines, The Gallery, Walnut View, and 1010 Apartments.
Also in Downtown West, City Center Group in January opened the Moxy Allentown Downtown, a boutique Marriott hotel, and it opened Archer Music Hall, a state-of-the-art concert hall run by Live Nation, earlier this month.
Other new features of the burgeoning district include widened sidewalks, upgraded lighting, public art and murals, trees and landscaping, and a new 1,100-space parking deck.
Rosa Blanca also will operate within a few blocks of PPL Center, Da Vinci Science Center and several office buildings, shops and other restaurants.