Morning Rose Cafe in Bellmore expands

Ever since Morning Rose Cafe opened in Bellmore (and earned three stars from Newsday), the cozy, intimate atmosphere has been one of the restaurant’s best-loved features. But that intimacy can also be a drawback, when the 38 seats are filled and there’s nowhere for hungry customers to wait for a table.

Relief is on the way.

Rose Tzanetos, who opened the breakfast-lunch specialist in 2013, has just embarked on a renovation that will expand the restaurant, adding a designated waiting area and about eight seats. Moreover, the renovation will make the restaurant ADA compliant, with an entrance ramp and handicap-accessible bathroom.

Tzanetos expects the work to be finished in May. The restaurant is open and will remain so throughout the renovation.

The focus of Morning Rose Cafe’s menu remains, as ever, comfort-inducing breakfast and lunch dishes, from “ultimate berry” pancakes (lemon-poppy pancakes topped with berry compote and vanilla whipped cream) to pulled-pork waffle sliders (and those waffles are made with Cheddar and scallions). There are scores of breakfast skillets, omelets and frittatas, pancakes, crepes, Benedicts, hot cereals, sandwiches, burgers and salads.

The kitchen is run by Jon Sullivan, one of the original team, who took over the reins when chef Robert Baez left. (He’s now the chef at The Shed in Huntington.)

This week (through Sunday), Sullivan is bringing back a much-requested special, cinnamon-roll pancakes, inspired by Cinnabon and made by swirling a secret sauce into the pancakes and then topping them with cream cheese-cinnamon icing.

Morning Rose Cafe is at 317 Bedford Ave., Bellmore, 516-221-5010, morningrosecafe.com.