The romanticized rose, and its difference with the stupor of rosé, despite their pinkish similarities, has much poetry to be conjured. In French, la vie en rose means looking at life through rose colored lenses.

A staple in the glitter-free, color splattered, cultural heart of Venice, is The Rose Venice, with artwork lining its pink exterior for a glowing invite. Serving locals and travelers alike since 1979, Chef Jason Neroni keeps the all day fare fresh and seasonal. The entrance is laced with a wine cabinet, wide open sunlit spaces, walls flocked with neon signage, neon colored artwork, and a market counter with fresh catch, as well as a bakery case with American classics and freshly baked goods.

The space itself is quite large, designed by Studio UNLTD, which is a mix-and-match of the evolution of Venice from an artistic, grungy central to a bohemian, fashionable avenue. Complete with a beer garden, a full market and bakery, Verve Coffee bar, and a cocktail bar, with inventive drinks that match with Venice artist C.R. Stecyk III‘s eccentric artwork on the walls.

Having been aplenty, the journey from lattes to cocktails is as sumptuous as the one from brunch to healthy Californian style hearty bowls. The turmeric latte, sunny as the city and healthy as the situation, is spiked with turmeric, cayenne, cinnamon and vanilla, a creamy and decadent sip. It matches beautifully with the home braised brussels sprouts topped with a jiggly poached egg.

The heartier elements are the bowls; my favorite being a hearty grain bowl, because when in LA, the beach is just a clothes-drop away. Made with roasted butternut squash, turnips, carrots, honeycrisp apples, feta cheese, toasted pecans, date vinaigrette, it is a tasty, plentiful bite, which marries the tart and crisp beautifully.

The duo of cocktails that we graced our experience with were the inventive betta-carrotine, coyly named after my love for carrots, and which arrived with a mini carrot dunked into it! Made with vida mezcal, carrot, ginger, lemon, agave, peach bitters, it was a tasty, healthy and rather tart bite, tasting of a swell time with a kick. This was followed up with the served up “i can’t feel my face”, a frozen cold cocktail with rum, coconut, and orange spiced syrup, rather like a tiki punch which was surely going to knock us out an hour later at sunset on the iconic Venice Beach.

With rose-to-go as an option to support local, so ended a rosy date at sunset in one of the most iconic neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

C’est La Vie. En Rose.