Astranoir

Recently, Ryan saw a shop called Midtown Olive Press in The Shops at Friendly Center. It sounded like an interesting place to go, and I filed it away in my mind as a treat to splurge on when I had more money. To my delight, there was a recent Groupon for Midtown Olive Press ($9 for $18 voucher), so I bought one with the intent to see what the shop is like.

This Saturday, Ryan and I stopped by Midtown Olive Press to assess the experience, and the products.

The shop is set up with rows of small fustis (apparently small kegs). They have plastic sample cups, and cubes of bread so you can try the product. I knew I wanted something simple since I was looking to rebuild my pantry. The atmosphere was very pleasant, and the employees were very friendly. If you are the type of person who does not like it when the employees talk to you a lot and try to guide your experience, you might not want to go here (or at least let them know you’d like to look on your own). I was glad they were so hands-on since I was not familiar with the shop and what/how we were allowed to sample.

Once you choose your products and your size (small, medium, large), they bottle the product, seal it, and wrap it for you.

I ended up choosing a medium bottle of garlic olive oil, a small bottle of 18-year balsamic vinegar, and 2 basic stoppers.

Overall, the experience was very pleasant. They are as pricey as I would expect from a place with a wide variety of gourmet oils and vinegars, but it was definitely a fantastic deal with the Groupon. I was disappointed to find they import their product from California rather than pressing anything locally (it’s called an olive press…), but the quality seems quite good.