Olive Oil Suggestions

I'm looking for the kind of olive oil you see in nice(r) restaurants on the table, served with bread.

What kind and where can I find it?

TIA!

Um, not to be flip but you can buy olive oil almost anywhere from Dominicks to Caputos.
They all sell a wide range of qualities and from several countries. Or you could just ask the restaurant that serves one you like...

Perhaps your best bet is to buy a few and taste them or you might try a specialty shop that specializes in oils.

Here's one in Downer's Grove The Olive Tap

The Olive Tap
5151 Main St.
Downers Grove, Illinois 60515
Telephone: (630) 964-2444

You might also stop by the City Olive on Clark Street in Andersonville. I'm sure they would have some recommendations.

5408 N Clark Street
p. 773.878.5408
http://www.cityolive.com

I guess what I was looking for was suggestions for high(er) quality olive oil. I've purchased it for cooking at places like Jewel, but I don't think it would taste as good with a fresh baguette. In other words, brands. Sure, I could go by how much something costs, but I'm looking for recommendations based on having actually tried it.

I had no idea that Olive place was on north Clark Street...I live in Andersonville, so thank you so much for mentioning it.

Most of the olive-oil stores (and even places like Williams-Sonoma) offer samples of bread and little cups so you can find out what your preferences are: there are a range of flavors in olive oils from grassy to buttery to olive-y. There are also regional differences that you'll be able to detect and apply when buying olive oil elsewhere.

Or you can drive up to Zion and get Captain Porky's home-grown, home-pressed olive oil and have a tale to go along with your baguettes (he does sell it, doesn't he? )

There's also a specialty olive oil (and balsamic vinegar, I think) place on Wells between North Ave and The Spice House on the west side of the street. The name escapes me and I haven't walked past in a couple of months.

Rick T. wrote:There's also a specialty olive oil (and balsamic vinegar, I think) place on Wells between North Ave and The Spice House on the west side of the street. The name escapes me and I haven't walked past in a couple of months.

This is Old Town Oil. They have a lot of oils and vinegars and you can try everything. We picked up a few nice vinegars last fall - an 18 year old Balsamic vinegar and some Champagne vinegar. We weren't blown away by the olive oils.

You might want to check out the Tuscan olive oil available for $10/liter at Costco. It's quite good. I also like Sultan olive oil, a Turkish brand that is widely available for about $12/liter (in full disclosure, my wife doesn't like this one that much). Fox and Obel has a lot of oils that you can taste.

Old Town Oil
1520 N. Wells St.
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 787-9595
http://www.oldtownoil.com/

My personal olive oil of choice, for what it's worth, is Frantoia. At 30-something bucks a pop for a liter bottle, it ain't cheap though. I usually pull the stuff out for dinner parties and special occasions. It's a very hearty, yet amazingly smooth oil that makes a very noticeable difference in my cooking when I use it. It is of course fantastic on it's own with bread and a touch of sea salt or balsamic vinegar.

You can usually find bottles of Frantoia at the Sam's Wine located off Clyborn, or at Fox & Obel.

Lately I've been purchasing my other go-to olive oils at Graziano's. Salvati, a fantastic unfiltered olive oil Graziano's carries, has become my everyday olive oil of choice, and is a relative steal at around $11 a liter. They also carry a high end olive oil from Sonoma Farms (in California) that I thoroughly enjoyed, although I can't recall the price point they offered. It's worth checking out, though, and Sonoma Farms' website lists a 9.8 ounce bottle from around $10. I did find it's way too delicate to cook with, however, as it has a very low smoke point. I usually keep it around for salads and bread dipping. Graziano's has been discussed elsewhere in depth on this board:

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=2975&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=graziano%27s

Here's the link to Sonoma Farms Oil:
http://www.sonomafarm.com/pro_detail.php?id=59

As for Old Town Oil, I have to agree with Darren72. I was really unimpressed with this place. All their oils and vinegars tasted watered-down and thin to me, for lack of a better term. What really threw me, though, was a sample I tried of what they claimed was a either a 12 or 16 year old balsamic (I can't precisely recall the year they advertised). It was thin, runny and didn't have any of the depth of flavor or texture normally associated with a good balsamic of that age. I was tempted to call shenanigans on them, but ultimately thought better of it and just walked out.

Hope that helps.

Carlywood-

You might also peruse the thread on the first olive oil tasting hosted by Gypsy Boy and Lovely Dining Companion. Several of the oils tasted that day are readily available in stores.

-The GP

Depending on your thoughts concerning location (does it have to be from Italy or Greese??)

Olive Hill has some very good extra virgin - ideal for dipping or dressing. It's a small producer in the Santa Ynez valley in CA. Very fresh, grassy, with a little pepper on the end.

I'm sure it's not in stores in the mid-west but we get ours at:



enjoy!

The Sicilian Olive Oil at Trader Joe's seems to be copy-cat of Frantoia and it's quite good.

City Olive tends to have fairly pricey high-end oils, but the upside is they generally have many open for tasting, allowing you to really get a sense of what you like in terms of richness, lightness, pepperiness, herbaciousness, etc.
The breadth of oil taste profiles probably rivals that of wine if you really start getting into it.
Go there and maybe get some specific "brand" ideas and also some good generalizations and rules of thumb to go by: Spanish and French oils generally a bit lighter, Tuscan oils spicier, Umbrian oils heavier, etc. So your best bet for greens might not be your favorite for bread dunking...
While you're there try some of the various smoked salts. To die for.
P.S. Keep freshness in mind. Heat and light are bad for the oil. Many good stores keep their oils displayed on racks in the window getting blasted by sun, or in hot storage rooms.
A few types actually tell you what harvest they're from. Worth knowing when you can.

Thanks everyone for your helpful suggestions.

Much like wine, I'm just plain clueless on the subject!

I would recommend doing some homework for the next harvest. In October/November '09 you could get your order in for some fresh harvested Olio Nuovo direct from the grower. Last year was the first time I tracked down some Olio Nuovo. I got a couple of bottles from California and some from Umbria, Italy. Keep in mind that oil from different areas within the same region still taste very different from one another. You can take a taste through Italy and the oil will vary from area to area.

Don't forget about places like Spain, Greece and California too.

good luck,
dan

Darren72 wrote:
This is Old Town Oil. They have a lot of oils and vinegars and you can try everything. We picked up a few nice vinegars last fall - an 18 year old Balsamic vinegar and some Champagne vinegar. We weren't blown away by the olive oils.

You might want to check out the Tuscan olive oil available for $10/liter at Costco. It's quite good. /

Old Town Oil seems to specialize more in flavored oils - you know, basil infused, porcini infused, etc. So it's good if you're into that, but in terms of exploring the many intricate flavors of pure extra virgin olive oil, it's a little limited. (Though I haven't been there in probably a year.)

The Costco Tuscan olive oil has a very "green" flavor to it, which I like. And the Clybourn Costco still had a huge display of it as of a week ago!

Tasting olive oil is really the only way to go. As an agricultural product, one year's harvest can vary dramatically to the next. Just pay attention to the harvest date and get the freshest you can. Don't buy a big bottle since opened olive oil can go rancid after 3-4 months.

pcharrig wrote:Tasting olive oil is really the only way to go. As an agricultural product, one year's harvest can vary dramatically to the next. Just pay attention to the harvest date and get the freshest you can. Don't buy a big bottle since opened olive oil can go rancid after 3-4 months.

Just bought my first big metal container (when I was a kid, this was how my mother got it: a giant tin of Fillipo Berio, the only game in town at the time.) We are clicking through it at an alarming rate, I don't think I'll have to worry about it expiring...

FWIW, I usually buy my olive oils from Marketplace on Oakton, and often go for whatever Extra-virgin is on sale that week - sadly, I don't pay as much attention to what I'm buying as I should, but I've always liked what I got, even though it isn't expensive high-end oil. The tin in my pantry right now is Grigoris Lefa Special Reserve, a buttery Greek oil.

Mhays wrote:FWIW, I usually buy my olive oils from Marketplace on Oakton, and often go for whatever Extra-virgin is on sale that week - sadly, I don't pay as much attention to what I'm buying as I should, but I've always liked what I got, even though it isn't expensive high-end oil. The tin in my pantry right now is Grigoris Lefa Special Reserve, a buttery Greek oil.

I do the same - Marketplace on Oakton has a good selection of 3-liter tins under $20. My pantry currently has Chloé Farms Kalamata Extra Virgin - also from Greece, rich and buttery. I do usuallu have a specialty olive oil on hand for drizzling, but this stuff, to my taste, has better flavor than some of the oils I've gotten in restaurants to go with my bread.

I am a freak for the Greek. I find most Greek olive oils are brasher and more bitter than their smoother, more subtle and refined Italian cousins. It is all a matter of taste. A lot of the Vegetable and Fruit markets in the area have good selections of Greek olive oil in up to 3 litre cans.That market on the corner of Waukegan and Dempster, has a nice little alcove off to the side filled with Greek Oils (olive and grapeseed), but most others have a fair selection (like the store at Petrson and Lincoln?). The most famous of course, are the Kalamata oils, but I found some from some smaller vendors in less well known areas that were just as exceptional but cheaper. On the not so cheap side, I like Tassos oils which are imported by a company in Oak Brook. I wish I could remember the names of some good less expensive ones, but they are often written in The Greek alphabet, and are deceptively similar to one another. For instance, there is a Dana and a Diana. IIRC, one is pretty good and the other is pretty bad (but cheap).

Produce World Deli & More
8800 Waukegan Road
Morton Grove, Illinois - 60053
Phone: 847.581-1029

MrBarossa wrote:Lately I've been purchasing my other go-to olive oils at Graziano's. Salvati, a fantastic unfiltered olive oil Graziano's carries, has become my everyday olive oil of choice, and is a relative steal at around $11 a liter. They also carry a high end olive oil from Sonoma Farms (in California) that I thoroughly enjoyed, although I can't recall the price point they offered. It's worth checking out, though, and Sonoma Farms' website lists a 9.8 ounce bottle from around $10. I did find it's way too delicate to cook with, however, as it has a very low smoke point. I usually keep it around for salads and bread dipping. Graziano's has been discussed elsewhere in depth on this board:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... aziano%27s

I love the Salvati from Graziano's. It is a rich robust unfiltered oil from Umbria and is definitely good enough to eat with bread. It is also suitable for cooking as it is not super delicate and has a decent smoke point. There are probably nicer (more complex?) oils out there for twice the price or more, but it beats some more expensive stuff out there, and is definitely a cut above your run of the mill supermarket EVOO (and cheaper too!). A great everyday oil, especially if you are price conscious.

Olive oil tasting: the results

The GP wrote:You might also stop by the City Olive on Clark Street in Andersonville. I'm sure they would have some recommendations.

5408 N Clark Street
p. 773.878.5408
http://www.cityolive.com

City Olive ftw. They're so nice there, and have a great selection.

If you want a very tasty, fresh, fruity, smooth but well balanced extra-virgin that can be used in cooking as well as seasoning or to dress a salad, buy the Martini's 100% kalamata from Trader's Joe. The date of harvesting is always engraved in the glass of the bottle, therefore you know about its level of freshness. Besides the glass of the bottle is darkened and it protects the oil from sunlight.
But best of all it is only 8.99 dollars for a full liter.
I used a cup of it to do my first ratatouille of the season this weekend and that oil gave it a very perfumed smoothness that was extremely pleasant.
If you go the marvelous shop of City Oil on Clark, ask Karen Rose the owner to let you try some of her best French olive oils.
They are marvelous.

Good Luck

Alain
FrenchVirtualCafe.blogspot.com

d4v3 wrote:I am a freak for the Greek. I find most Greek olive oils are brasher and more bitter than their smoother, more subtle and refined Italian cousins. It is all a matter of taste. A lot of the Vegetable and Fruit markets in the area have good selections of Greek olive oil in up to 3 litre cans.That market on the corner of Waukegan and Dempster, has a nice little alcove off to the side filled with Greek Oils (olive and grapeseed), but most others have a fair selection (like the store at Petrson and Lincoln?). The most famous of course, are the Kalamata oils, but I found some from some smaller vendors in less well known areas that were just as exceptional but cheaper. On the not so cheap side, I like Tassos oils which are imported by a company in Oak Brook. I wish I could remember the names of some good less expensive ones, but they are often written in The Greek alphabet, and are deceptively similar to one another. For instance, there is a Dana and a Diana. IIRC, one is pretty good and the other is pretty bad (but cheap).

Produce World Deli & More
8800 Waukegan Road
Morton Grove, Illinois - 60053
Phone: 847.581-1029

I thought I would chime in after reading Evil Ronnie's quest for Colavita http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=28004.

I'm pretty fortunate that my mom works for a "natural" foods distributor and gets manufacturer's samples and sends them my way. Recently, she mailed me a bottle of Gaea Greek olive oil (http://mybrands.com/Product.aspx?pid=5867) and a 1 liter bag (yes - with spout) of "The Village Press" a New Zealand oil made from Barnea Olives (http://www.thevillagepress.co.nz/). I burned through the Gaea and it still haunts me. "Green and grassy" without being bitter - a little buttery - perfect for finishing dishes and dipping bread. I think I used half of the bottle on minestrone and other vegetable dishes this past winter. I'll probably go buy another bottle of this since it's pretty inexpensive. The New Zealand oil is good but not as good as the Greek. It's described as a "smooth, soft buttery oil with a light palate" but I find it a little heavier (maybe compared with the Gaea - unfairly). Both aren't bad but the Gaea is worth checking out if you like Greek oils. Cheers.