OCEANSIDE — A new cafe on Coast Highway is bringing a fine-dining experience to a casual setting while paying homage to its predecessor and creating a new kind of social space downtown.
Kettle on Coast opened a few months ago in the former Petite Madeline location at 223 N. Coast Highway, a historic city-owned building next to the Sunshine Brooks Theater at the intersection of Pier View Way.
Petite Madeline, a cafe and bakery that has served the community since 2006, moved into the location in 2011. The beloved business remained there for the next 15 years until Christine Loyola, who owned and operated it with her daughter, Rachel, decided it was time to sell and retire.
Givino Rossini, the man behind the North County-based The Kettle On brand, began working with Loyola to take over the space. Rossini said he spent a year getting to know Loyola, who chose him over several other offers because his business practices aligned with hers.
“It’s cool to know we’re now in a space that meant so much to her, and we’re able to carry that on,” Rossini said. “We’re not trying to be Petite, but we’re still paying homage to them.”
Rossini moved to the San Diego region several years ago after graduating from college and spending time in Australia learning about specialty coffee. From the beginning, he knew he wanted to open a restaurant, but at the time, he was too young and inexperienced for investors to take a chance on him.
After spending time fundraising, researching and gaining experience, he began looking for affordable restaurant spaces where he could build a business and have a positive impact on the local community.
He found Kettle Tea and Coffee in Escondido, a coffee shop that had operated on Grand Avenue since 2012. After purchasing the shop, he kept the staff in place and began making improvements. He also renamed the business Kettle on Grand, paying tribute to its original name while nodding to its location on Grand Avenue.
Today, Kettle on Grand serves coffee, beer and wine and operates as an entertainment venue with music and events throughout the week.
After taking over the shop, Rossini saw Kettle on Grand grow, but he was still searching for a restaurant space.
That changed when he learned about The Hearth, a Fallbrook cafe that was for sale. Though initially uninterested, he soon changed his mind after learning more about the business, which included a bakery.
“One thing led to another, and we opened a second location,” Rossini said.
He named the new space Kettle on Main because of its location on Main Avenue in Fallbrook.
Not long after opening the second location, Escondido began construction on its Grand Avenue Vision Project, which closed large sections of Grand Avenue as part of a revitalization effort that included wider sidewalks, new roundabouts and other pedestrian-friendly improvements.
Foot traffic slowed for many businesses along Grand Avenue during construction, including Kettle on Grand, but Rossini said his teams at both locations persevered and are now recovering in Escondido.
Despite those challenges and the demands of operating two locations, Rossini remained focused on finding a restaurant space, which eventually led him to his third location, Kettle on Coast, named for its setting along Coast Highway.
Although the three locations share similar names and are part of the same small local brand, each has developed its own identity shaped by the community it serves.
The Oceanside location comes closest to Rossini’s vision of a restaurant. There, Chef David Lay, who previously worked at Kettner Exchange and Juniper and Ivy in San Diego, created a menu inspired by North African and Mediterranean cuisines with a California twist.
Rossini said the goal was to bring fine dining to an approachable setting.
“You can roll in with flip-flops and board shorts, grab a coffee, and have a meal that really encapsulates that fine dining experience in a casual setting,” Rossini said.
Every item, from the ricotta cheese to the pasta noodles, is made in-house from scratch using as many local ingredients as possible. The space also serves beer, wine and coffee and functions as a bakery for the brand’s other two locations.
“It becomes this experience almost,” Rossini said. “If you don’t understand us, you just have to come in and see it. I like building something that’s a little confusing.”
Like the other two locations, Kettle on Coast hosts music and events, including the monthly DJ series “Bottomless Beats.”
Whether they function as restaurants, coffee shops or something in between, all three Kettle On locations serve as community gathering places where people can feel comfortable connecting with one another.
Rossini recalled how his Escondido staff watched a love story unfold in real time between two regulars who met at Kettle on Grand. The pair worked remotely from the cafe on their laptops and, with each visit, began talking more and sitting closer together until they eventually started dating.
“It’s so cool that we have an environment where people feel comfortable enough to be vulnerable and outgoing and interact in that regard,” Rossini said. “If we can keep facilitating spaces like that, that’s really important – especially as the world evolves and things change and social media pulls people further away from the real world.”
