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The Black Olive has a lot of
reputation, some people absolutely adore it. I was hard pressed to get
excited about a Greek restaurant, after all, they tend to be incredibly
formulaic. While much of the menu and dining experience was predictable, I
was happy to find professional service, some menu innovation and an
interesting wine list.
We'd called twice to bump our reservation time up,
which is always a little embarrassing, but we were greeted promptly and
politely and the host managed to convey 'happy you made it,' rather than
'finally, what took you so long.' Since we were late, we were also
really hungry. We scanned the menu and ordered a first course of saganaki
with our cocktails. The host took the order, and didn't make any
grimaces of discomfort or ask us to wait for our server to order.
Our
server appeared shortly, asking after us as we read over the menu. I
was happy that there wasn't many cliché Greek restaurant
dishes. On first peruse I didn't have any questions, but a few minutes later
I called him over to clarify a menu item. I was interested in the veal chop
with blueberry demi. The idea of berries in my demi was making me nervous, I
didn't want a bunch of sugary blueberry juice squirted into a nice demi. The
server took my question seriously and went back to ask. He returned
quickly with an answer - no blueberry juice, extract or reduction, just
dehydrated blueberries. OK, we're in business. Patty ordered the rack
of lamb, which I have been told is a specialty of the house.
As I perused the wine list, the server was keen to
offer advice. He wasn't pushy, but pointed me to a good value Italian wine
with a few years on it. He seemed to know a lot about Italian wine and
admitted he'd been studying it recently. He also admitted he'd only been
working at the Black Olive for a few days. Wow - you'd never have guessed!
Our saganaki arrived and I was a little
disappointed it wasn't on fire, as the goat milk cheese is usually served,
but was interested in the presentation nonetheless. Usually it's just
cheese, fat and booze in a pan - not today, this presentation was loaded
with olives, artichokes among other things and drizzled with olive oil. Yum
- this was a far more satisfying dish than the classic.
Our main courses arrived with a warning: - they're huge,
don't feel bad if you can't get through it. Well, I was pretty happy with
everything, but monstrous portions are a big no-no for me - I don't want to
pay for food I can't eat. Indeed, it was huge. My veal chop must have been
10 oz cooked and was loaded with a pile of veggies and Greek-style potatoes
(cooked in lemon). I'm a pig and I got through about 80% of it. The demi was
indeed not overly sugary with blueberry, but I was a little disappointed
that the meat wasn't a little pinker (I'd asked how the chef liked to cook
it, and the server suggested that wouldn't be any more well done than medium
- it was medium-well).
Generally, however it was a nice dish, simple with good flavour.
Patty's lamb was indeed tasty and perfectly cooked. I
was a little jealous. The dish wasn't anything remarkable, but it was well
executed and Patty finished it off, even gnawing on the bones (which is
normally my job).
Clearly, there was no room for dessert. We'd hoped for
an interesting digestif menu, but unfortunately, the spirit list didn't
compare to the wine list. We had a pretty run-of-the-mill grappa that the
server kindly split between us.
Everyone was extremely friendly and not at all
overbearing. The menu wasn't inspiring, but was refreshing compared to
regular Greek restaurant fare and the the wine list was above average. The
Black Olive is never going to be my favorite restaurant, but they're
definitely doing something right.
reviewed June 14, 2007
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