A painting hanging at One13 Social depicts a bicyclist crossing a high wire with no net. Owner Kevin Rockwood knows the feeling.
“That's kind of us, opening a restaurant in the middle of COVID,” he says. “But we've had such fantastic support from everyone, from all of our guests locally and from far away. We're super fortunate. We love Carlisle.”
One13 Social opened in downtown Carlisle in January 2022, presenting a new choice for fine-casual dining and unique twists on classic dishes.
Rockwood is a Carlisle native and restaurant-scene veteran who fell in love with hospitality as a Shoney’s server at age 15. Now, he is infusing that sense of hospitality into the first venture of his own.
“I want you to come here and feel welcome,” he says. “I wanted this to feel homey, to feel like more than sustenance. You can sit and talk to your friends. That's where the ‘social’ part of One13 Social came from.”
For 18 years, Rockwood was general manager of Boiling Springs Tavern. When it closed during the pandemic, he finally heeded family members who’d been urging him to open his own place. He learned that Brick restaurant was closing, so he contacted the building owners, Steve Capone and Chris Rice. A couple of “garage meetings” later, the three partners lunged ahead.
Extensive renovations followed. Doorways, knocked into walls adjoining a former photography studio, enlarged and unified the space. Julie Estes of Carlisle Design Interiors & Consulting Group shepherded the design, bringing Rockwood’s vision of metropolitan upscale-casual to life.
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The result: easy elegance in blues, greens, and golds. Custom woodwork frames the doorways, booths are newly upholstered, and the old powder room has been converted into a coffee station. Original art draws the eye at key focal points. Some of the artwork, including that high-wire bicyclist, secretly doubles as sound baffles for sound management without the institutional look.
Diners have their choice in spaces. On one side, a relaxed dining area connects to the open kitchen. On the other, the airy dining room leads to the intimate front bar overlooking the street. In the rear, a cathedral-ceilinged bar soars two stories high, with light fixtures that evoke Queen Anne’s lace lit from within.
Bonus spaces include the rear patio, open even on warm-ish days, and the meticulously designed foyer. Pub tables snuggled among the plate-glass windows provide a popular spot for watching parades and passers-by.
And, adds Rockwood, “This is one of the only restaurants where you get a bathroom tour.” Each features original art, dramatic murals or wallpaper, and the same kind of painted vintage furniture found throughout the restaurant.
“You want everything that we tried to achieve in the restaurant to flow into the restrooms, as well,” Rockwood explains.
Executive Chef Ross Graham creates the menu featuring small plates, entrees, and sandwiches available for lunch and dinner. Prepared in the scratch kitchen and supplied by local vendors whenever possible, the small-plate centric menu features “nothing too out there, but not the same thing that everybody else has,” Rockwood says.
Highlights include the small plates of smoked salmon tacos, she-crab bisque, shrimp and grits, and pozole rojo of braised pork shoulder in red chili broth. Diners craving a larger plate might enjoy Argentinian flank steak, Buddha bowl, or scratch-made shrimp gnocchi. Graham has an “uncanny ability” to meld distinct flavors into blended bites, says Rockwood.
Diners can pair their meals with a reasonably priced wine curated by Rockwood. The selection of entirely house-made desserts generally rotates, although removing Kevin's peanut butter pie would cause a riot.
“The creme brûlée uses actual Madagascar vanilla beans, not extract,” Rockwood says. “Those little things make a difference.”
Rockwood is the youngest of five tight-knit siblings, and he credits family support as “really paramount” to making his restaurant happen. The dessert menu’s choice of ports reflects a Rockwood family tradition of port after dinner, and it’s one of many family influences woven into One13 Social. When the building housed a realty office, their mother had a desk in the spot that’s now the front bar. The drink menu’s Carlisle sour, a take on the red wine-tinged New York sour, is a favorite of Rockwood’s sister. The picture of a distinguished gentleman in the front bar is a reproduction of a painting Estes’ grandmother completed of her grandfather.
The family orientation that all the business partners share is also the key to attracting and retaining premier staff.
“Happy people, happy environment,” Rockwood says.
Reservations are not accepted, but One13 Social has perfected a system in which guests who call ahead are placed on the waiting list. For instance, a diner who expects to be there around 7 can call at 6, and their name moves up the list while they’re getting ready and driving into town.
Rockwood and his partners have also purchased the former Alibis, nearby on Pitt Street, to launch a casual bar. It all funnels into supporting the Carlisle community and contributing to a vibrant, and growing, dining scene.
“We've got an amazing staff,” Rockwood says. “We've got great customers. We couldn't be happier.”
One13 Social
113 W. High Street, Carlisle, PA 17013
Tuesday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
717-706-3514
