50 years of cheez, if you pleez
Roll N Roaster celebrates milestone anniversary in Sheepshead Bay
BY JESSICA PARKS
Yes, cheez!
Thousands of people
stopped by Sheepshead Bay’s
Roll N Roaster on July 18 for a
socially-distant celebration of
the beloved roast beef joint’s
50th anniversary.
“It went really nice, the
public was great,” said Eric
Rodriguez, general manager
the southern Brooklyn eatery
famous for putting “cheez on
anything you pleez.” “Everybody
kept their distance and
respected everybody’s space.”
To prevent overcrowding,
Roll N Roaster hosted a walkthrough
style anniversary
party where patrons could
pass through serving stations
for complimentary ice cream,
t-shirts, masks and a bit of bubbly
before continuing down
Emmons Avenue or heading
back to their vehicles.
“We had custom-made
masks celebrating the 50th
anniversary, 50th-anniversary
t-shirts,” Rodriguez said.
“People were just getting their
stuff and then they left. They
were happy and it was just
how we wanted it.”
Brooklyn native Buddy Lamonica
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fi rst opened the familyoperated
fast food restaurant
on Emmons Avenue in July,
1970. Roll N Roaster quickly
became a southern Brooklyn
staple, known best for its thinsliced
roast beef smothered
in cheese sauce sandwiched
between two pieces of gravysoaked
bread.
Over the course of the day,
employees served over 3,000
patrons at the reimagined celebration
— and while Rodriguez
said it was a long day, he added
that it was nothing his team
couldn’t handle as the eatery
typically averages about 10,000
customers a week.
“It was nice and steady
through the whole day and
night,” he said. “To see that
many people turn up, it was
really special.”
And Roll N Roaster’s steady
fl ow of customers hasn’t tapered
off during the pandemic,
which Rodriguez credited to
his staff’s quick transition
towards safely operating the
restaurant in the early stages
of the COVID-19 crisis.
“It takes a lot of work and
thinking to adjust to what is
going on,” Rodriguez said.
“One of the reasons we are doing
so well, I think, is because
we started doing all of these
adjustments before the governor
ordered the shutdown.”
In early March, Rodriguez
said he installed custom-made
stickers to direct patrons inside
the store, instituted a slew
of additional safety precautions
in the kitchen, trimmed
hours to discourage customers
from staying out late and
began offering delivery for the
fi rst time in the restaurant’s
history.
“One thing you got to do is
just watch the news and see
what is going on in the world,”
Rodriguez said. “I wanted to
make sure to keep everybody
here safe.”
But, what has kept diners
coming back for half a century
is the quality of Roll N Roaster’s
simple, yet mouthwatering
menu and the sentimentality
of eating in the same
restaurant as one might have
decades ago — something that
is hard to come by these days,
Rodriguez said.
“There is a lot of nostalgia.
People who moved from Brooklyn
to other places, when they
come back, this is their fi rst
stop after the airport,” Rodriguez
said. “They come over
here.”
The beloved roast beef purveyor celebrated its 50th anniversary with a
socially-distant shindig on July 18. Roll N Roaster
203 Meserole Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11222
718-278-3900
johnjciafone@yahoo.com
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