Olive, an urban dive.

Melissa and I decided to try out a new (open six months, or so) foodie restaurant tonight. It was so yummie, I couldn’t help but share. lucky. you.

Olive, an urban dive, is located at the corner of Wayne and E. 3rd Street near the Oregon District. It’s a super cozy restaurant, so I recommend making reservations to assure an open seat.

I happen to be one of those anti-chain restaurant types, and get way too much satisfaction knowing the food is made with local ingredients.

Olive’s motto: local over import, labor over convenience and service over everything else. we chase chickens, when we say free range…. we mean it

Straight from their website: “At Olive everything possible is made from scratch, from as many local ingredients as we can find! check out our staff shirts for our list of local farmers and purveyors. we like it fresh. we don’t even own a can opener or a microwave. our kitchen is 280 square feet so we get deliveries every 2-3 days. we hand wash our dishes, compost all veggie scraps and coffee grounds at Garden Station or our own gardens and recycle absolutely everything we can! even our ‘to go’ cups and flatware are compostable… seriously… throw your fork in your compost pile! our jukebox is powered by a car stereo and an i-pod with all local music donated by the artists!”

OKAY.. onto the good stuff. Here’s their menu

Appetizer: We split the Italian half socca(chickpea flat pizza with house pesto, marinated mozzarella, grilled chicken, tomatoes, roasted kalamata olives, sweet garlic, lemon zest, balsamic reduction and fresh grated parm.) The chickpea pizza is 100% gluten free for all you anti-gluties out there. Sadly, Melissa and I were so entranced in deep “catching up talk” that I forgot to take a picture of our appetizer. oops.

Entrée: I ordered the Signature Tuscan Grilled Cheese (balsamic marinated mozzarella, tomatoes, house pesto, and pancetta on rahn’s herbed ciabatta) with sweet potato fries & aioli. Melissa had the Urban burger (grass fed beef raised 3-4 years on open pasture, with tomato, lettuce, fried leeks, beer bacon glaze and aioli) with sweet potato fries & aioli. yummm.

Dessert: okay.. this place was awesome, so when they brought out the dessert menu we couldn’t not try (gasp) something. Me: chocolate mousse with fresh berries. Melissa: bread pudding. Forgot to take pictures of our dessert too. oopsie. I think this time we were entranced in our own sugar high.

Long story short… I was impressed.

Plus… its BYOB ($2 fee/per person).. score.

Nutritionally… this meal was quite an indulge, but everything is about balance. If you know you’re going to have a few extra calories, workout a little longer that day or eat extra clean in the days prior. Prepare your body, so those pants still button up the next day 😉

Oh and support your hometown restaurants & local farmers 🙂