Olive + Oak

After a friend reported that she had been to Olive + Oak three times, it's hard not to notice. It quickly got added to the top of the list of places we wanted to try and I was thankful for getting a reservation (5:30pm Sunday) while calling on Thursday. Rarely do we try to go some place so new this quickly!

I had a little bit of trouble finding the restaurant since they don't have a sign yet, so look for the blue and white color theme on the outside, which carries inside as well. I really enjoyed the "olive branch and oak leaf" motif, which is on all the cocktail napkins and menus.

We sat towards the back of the restaurant, which has an open kitchen. It's neat to watch the cooks in action except for when something is dropped. hehe

One of the owners came over to check up on us so that was a nice personal touch in addition to the wall of pictures that faced us.

The menu donates one entire side to cocktails, wines, and beers. While the wine and beers (mostly craft brews!) is quite lengthy, the cocktail list is immediately at the top so we all stopped there. My eyes immediately went to the drink with the Big O in it called "#69".

#69 - Whiskey, Lemon & Lime, Big O, Egg, Torched Rosemanry

Since Patience ordered that, I went with my second choice, "#51", which had vodka and bubbles in it!

#51 - Vodka, Rose Infused Dolin Blanc, Lemon, Bubbles

Also, each table comes with a wine book, which can seem overwhelming, but after flipping through it, the list is actually "user friendly" with easy to understand section headers.

Again, I found myself in the usual place of wanting to order everything on the menu and luckily there were four of us so we could get a variety of items. We still definitely need to go back to try more!!

Patience and I started off with oysters because we can never say no to them. We each ordered two west coast and two east coast.

East Coast and West Coast Oysters

Amy and Molly chose the Stuffed Clam, which looked a little bit unusual in the long shells, but was good if you like that clam flavor.

Stuffed Clam

Yet, my favorites from the starter section was the Blue Crab Gratin along with the cheese curds.

Blue Crab Grain

Cheese Curds

Amy is the only one who dared to get a salad with all the food we had ordered! This is the Tuscan kale with crispy potato, grated egg, sweet pepper with a creamy sherry dressing.

Tuscan Kale Salad

Since there were scallops on the menu, it was pretty easy for Patience and I to select our entrees.

Roasted Sea Scallops on a bed of braised flageloet beans with suace vierge

Amy tried the hearty Shephard's Pie, which came with braised lamb, root vegetable, cauliflower with a roasted leek gravy.

Shepard's Pie

Molly ordered the Tagliatelle with mushrooms, roasted garlic, leeks with a herb goat cheese.

Tagliatelle

With Patience around, there always dessert to be ordered. I'm really not sure where we found room for this Bread Pudding!

Bread Pudding

And I believe this is a caramel butterscotch pudding with candied walnuts.

Caramel Butterscotch Pudding

So many more things to try! Can't wait to go back!

Resources:

Olive + Oak = http://www.oliveandoakstl.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon