Olive + Oak

S and I bagged our plan to go climbing one day last week in favor of dinner at Olive + Oak, one of the hip, new(ish) spots around town.

A caution: the restaurant is incredibly noisy.

A tip: it is on Lockwood in Webster Groves, which is a lovely place to sit at the sidewalk tables and watch the cyclists go by.

It was a bit warm to be outside on the evening we were there, but if the door was opened just right we got a nice blast of A/C that cooled us off. A spring or fall evening might be a better night to go.

As for the food: we started with the beef carpaccio, which was good, and it's a shame to say that the big takeaway from it was how good the bread was. It was brushed with olive oil and grilled. It had just the right amount of crunch - enough to give it texture, but not so much that it cut up the inside of your mouth the way day-old baguette does. It had a good, smoky flavor from the grill, but was not over-charred.

We mentioned to the server how much we liked it, so she brought out some of their regular bread and butter. It was rye bread, which I'm not normally a fan of, but this was pretty good. The butter was 1) soft, 2) very salty, and 3) herb-infused. In my book, that's a winner on all three counts. I might need to reconsider rye bread if it comes with delicious butter all the time.

We each had a pork sandwich as our main course; the menu was seafood and pork heavy.  I had the Hog, which it appears by looking at the menu now, changes periodically.  My version had slightly overcooked pork, which I overlooked in favor of the delicious fried green tomato that was on it also.  S got the Dip, but we both agreed that mine was tastier.

For dessert, we got vanilla ice cream over mascerated peaches, with ginger basil cookies. So wasn't a fan of the cookies, but I liked them and ate every last bit.

All in all, a win, if you can sit outside. I won't be going in the winter.