In Search of the Banana Flavored Olive Oil
Posted by Jules - September 17, 2007 at 08:09:08 pmIt all started with Mike’s older brother’s birthday. On saturday, I went out with Mike’s family to celebrate his brother’s birthday at Luna Ristorante in Concord, CA. And the first thing they served us was bread and olive oil. They forgot the balsamic vinegar, but I’m not complaining because the olive oil was great. It had notes of banana to me- while this sounds weird, it was deliciously fruity olive oil. The rest of the food was also really delicious. Mmmm… anyways, back to the olive oil! I only had Costco brand extra virgin olive oil left at home, and it’s definitely a “cook with” oil, and not a “dress with” oil. So I called up the restaurant and asked for the name. The person who answered the phone was very helpful, but cautioned me that I would not likely find it for consumer use, as they buy it through a source solely for restaurant bulk orders. Martinis, made in Greece, ROKAI.
So what is the first thing that I do? I google it, of course. Unfortunately, Martinis is also a common name for an alcoholic drink of perhaps greater notoriety. And adding an “olive” to that search? These alcoholic drinks also come with olives. Extra dry. Luckily there is one hit, leading me to http://www.iloveoliveoilblog.com/. Sounds promising eh? In their review, they say,
I almost forgot to mention: we found Martinis olive oil at the local Trader Joe’s. It was a steal at under $10 and it was by far the best store-bought olive oil I’ve found in years. It had that robust flavor that really seems to typify Kalamata olive oils. And it comes the closest, in terms of taste, to the olive oil my grandfather produces each year on a small scale at his farm outside Kalamata. These are oils that want to stand on their own and demand your palette’s attention. They should enhance and magnify the underlying flavor of the (hopefully) fresh ingredients you drizzle it on..
So off to Trader Joe’s I went. And now I am a proud owner of a 1 Liter bottle of Martinis EVOO, made from Kalamata Olives. And at 8$, I think it’s a pretty good deal. And yes, I tested it as soon as I got home. I made Mike try it too (^__^)
Tonight’s menu: Linguine alla bolognese + ciabatta + banana flavored olive oil + 1 green tea mochi
3 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Powered by WordPress with GimpStyle Theme design by Horacio Bella.
Entries and comments feeds.
Valid XHTML and CSS.
my my ur becoming quite the gourmet! wonderful! glad you enjoyed the dinner, and we’ll look for the Marinis EVOO at TJ’s
Comment by pop — September 18, 2007 #
The other day I tried a fabulous Italian cafe in Pioneer Square and they had an awesome balsamic dressing for their salad. I asked what was in it, because it tasted really sweet and flavored to me, and the waitress said it was just a mixture with mustard and garlic and olive oil. But i could’ve sworn they must’ve added sugar or infused it with something like raspberries. it was yum.
Comment by Jen — September 18, 2007 #
pop- Thank you again for dinner! I’ll have to go again some time. It was great, and the company is always pleasant
Jen- Sounds yummy
Going to try to replicate it at home? It was probably the balsamic that was sweet- they are made from grapes, after all. Either that, or they are hiding their secret ingredient. Bwahahah.. What was the cafe called? I haven’t been to Pioneer Square in a looong time.
Comment by Jules — September 18, 2007 #