A line quickly forms at Rossana outside Thomas Jefferson Community Center during intermission from “Flip the Script” by Encore Theatre and Studio. @rossana_toyou Photo by Shirley Ruhe.
The Rossana food trailer is parked in front of Thomas Jefferson Community Center on Sunday, Feb. 23 while Encore Stage and Studio’s “Flip the Script: Jamila’s Table” plays at the theatre inside. This is an original play about a young African American restaurant owner on Columbia Pike in Arlington. She is trying to expand her family’s generational soul food restaurant to incorporate the foods of other diverse cultures along the Pike including Vietnamese and Hispanic.
According to Madaline Langston, Director of Programming for Encore, the play was envisioned about three years ago “but it took the entire team of student writers as a collective to write such an amazing story.” The Encore plays have travelled from Halls Hill to Green Valley to Columbia Pile as part of their Flip program.
In order to make this truly a community event, local food trucks were invited to participate in the theatre experience by offering multi-cultural food for theatre goers during intermission and after the show. Rossana is parked right beside La Raza, offering Hispanic food, while inside the lobby Rosa’s Baking Company is selling homemade cookie sandwiches filled with dulce de leche.
Randi Milton, co-founder of Rossana with her sister Maria, braved the weekend cold to warm up customers with the special of the day, the honey-apricot thyme latte. Hot chocolate is also popular with the kids in line. “The salt and pepper cappuccino is probably the best seller although all of our flavors are popular. We make the cappuccino with simple syrup boiled with Szechuan peppercorns for 12 minutes and steeped overnight. Then we add two shots of espresso and steam sea salt in the milk. Finally we sprinkle a little salt on top.”
Both Randi and Maria are trained baristas. They rotate flavors with the seasons and make their own syrups that are added to the lattes or cappuccinos. One of the favorites last summer was peach-basil latte. “We’re going to bring it back. It’s delicious. I like using citrus and herbs. We try things out and see how they work.”
Randi says she and her sister started the business in May 2023. “We had both been in the hospitality business and decided we wanted to work for ourselves — you know, time for no boss. When we brainstormed a business model, the idea of something mobile appealed to us because of the initial investment, and there wasn’t this type of thing already in the area.”
They named the restaurant after their mother Rossana “who taught us hospitality, kindness and inclusion. So we named it after her, a reminder every day of what we want it to be and a tribute to her.”
Today Randi and Maria have the trailer but usually they have their food truck which is currently being converted into an electric vehicle. “it’s very exciting.”
She said they are usually located in the Virginia Square area and sometimes Courthouse. “We are out six days a week, and sometimes we do special events like today.” The next special event is a Women’s Day celebration on March 8 at the Museum of Contemporary Art at 3550 Wilson Blvd. in Arlington. “We are pairing with Chiboo Bakery and making a special orange latte to pair with their macarons.”
Randi says they try to bake as much as they can and offer scones, cake, muffins and cookies and always have croissants on Friday. “About thirty percent of our customers are repeat with some coming weekly and others several times a week. We really enjoy the people doing their happy little coffee or tea routine; it’s a special thing.”