For years, brothers Dom and Frank Morra have built restaurants around pizza. This summer, they’re opening a restaurant that feels closer to the table they grew up at.

Expected to open in late summer at 1127 Mainland Street, Rosalia Osteria is the Morra brothers’ newest venture, a 33-seat restaurant in Yaletown built around house-made pasta, family recipes, and the kind of food that got into their bones long before Via Tevere, Don’t Argue Pizza, or Straight Outta Brooklyn became part of how this city eats.

The restaurant takes its name from their grandmother. Not as a concept or a brand, but because she earned it.

“She babysat us every Saturday,” Frank recalls. “And she used to make us Sunday sauce on Saturdays.” Frank recalls, laughing. “I was not an easy kid to deal with. So much energy. But I always remember how much I loved her pasta.”

And it wasn’t just Saturdays. Pasta was the daily reality of growing up. It was always there, always good, always made by someone who knew what they were doing. “We ate it almost every day” Dom says. “But those Saturdays with my grandmother we special.” Frank chimes in: “The least we could do was name the restaurant after her, considering what she put up with from both of us.”

“Mostly him,” Dom says.

“Yeah, mostly me,” Frank laughs.

From everything the brothers tell me about their childhood, Rosalia sounds like the kind of woman who fed people as a way of taking care of them, who understood, maybe without ever saying it out loud, that a bowl of pasta set in front of someone is a form of caring that creates connection, and that feeling of comfort is what Rosalia’s is aiming to capture.

There will be 13 seats inside, including a pair at what might be the sweetest spot in the room: a two-seat bar overlooking the open kitchen. With such a small footprint and so few seats, making the numbers work is its own challenge. The patio solves part of that equation, adding another 20 seats and making the space work year-round. Still, the interior is undeniably compact, which could go two ways: cramped or, with the right touches, intimate.

To get the details right, the Morras have brought in Tomlenovich Design. The result, still taking shape behind plywood and construction dust when I visited last week, will be a rounded alcove in the main dining room, dusty rose limewashed walls, marble tabletops, brass accents, curves, and clean-lined millwork that reference old European cafés and neighbourhood osterias, without ignoring that the address is unmistakably Yaletown. I’d describe it as romantic without being precious. Not formal, but a clear departure from the pizza restaurants. More like a different room in the same house. The word that kept coming up as I looked through the renderings was “pretty.” Rustic, but pretty. Simple, but pretty. Pretty colours. Pretty details. “Pretty is a good word,” Frank agreed.

The food follows the same instinct as the room: different from a pizza place, but clearly from the same family.
“There wasn’t a day growing up that went by that we didn’t eat pasta,” says Dom. “That was normal for us. It was always the centrepiece, didn’t matter if it was a family gathering or just a Tuesday. It was what we knew. It was what we loved. That is what we want to share at Rosalia”

So the menu is concise by design, built around a handful of house-made pasta dishes, antipasti, seasonal salads, and desserts – the kinds of dishes you’d encounter at a Sunday dinner. The drinks program follows the same logic: a focused wine list and cocktails built largely around batched drinks, which, given the size of the bar, is the only option.

“We’ll keep things tight,” Frank says. “Not fancy. Just traditional. Authentic.”

For two guys who built their name on pizza, Rosalia doesn’t feel like a reinvention. It feels like the origin story catching up with them, a return to the meals that inspired them to open restaurants in the first place.

Rosalia Osteria is expected to open in late summer at 1127 Mainland Street in Yaletown. Open seven days a week from 4pm until late. Follow here for updates.