Rossi's Place in Big Pine - Handmade pizza, sandwiches, salads, beer, and spirits
There was a bar in Big Pine, Rossi’s Place, then it moved next door to stay with cousins before making it back down to where it started. A game of musical barstools.
Rossi’s Place, next to Carroll’s Market on Highway 395, offers stiff drinks, hand-battered onion rings, Rossi’s famous bleu cheese dressing and the best barbecue pizza.
The Rossi matriarch, Alma ran Rossi’s Place from 1939 to 1954 when her son Mike took over. The restaurant was turned into Carroll’s Market and Rossi’s Place moved to a little alcove next door. It stayed at Carroll’s until 1994 when it moved to share space with Rossi’s Steak and Spaghetti, a few doors up from Carroll’s in a turn of the century building.
Flags flew at half-staff when Rossi’s Steak and Spaghetti closed its doors, but Rossi’s Place moved sedats again and went back to the hole-in-the-wall next to Carrolls. Mike still owns the place, he and his wife Yvette tend bar. It’s still a family affair with the up and coming generation of Rossis waiting tables and serve drinks.
The place is half-museum, with antique bottles and brickabrack lining the shelves, shotguns line the bar. Everyone’s welcome at Rossi’s; cowboy boots
It’s hard to miss Rossi’s Place and Carroll’s Market, the building’s bright red with hitching rails out front. Rossi’s Place opens at 5 p.m., closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. There is food service from 5-9 p.m. and Rossi’s is open for Monday Night Football! It is closed on the major holidays. Take out is available by calling 760.938.2308.
Mike Bodine has been reporting on the small town news and gossip of the Eastside for more than 15 years.