The Pitted Olive
Michael Holmes has been cooking in St. Louis a loooooong time for a fairly young guy. He began at Fedora, the Union Station eatery that also brought another blessing to us, Bill Cardwell, and since then has been at—oh, never mind, there’s no sense in listing them all. But he was always working for someone else. Now he’s opened a spot of his own, and it’s something really different for south St. Louis. REALLY different.
Yes, it’s takeout food like it’s never been seen south of Chippewa. It’s also a very casual eating-in spot, feeling rather like a little shop in the countryside of Tuscany or Provence before either place was discovered by the trendy. A few tables for two, a couple for four and then there’s a pair of long tables. That allows for communal seating, something that’s gone over quite well once folks got past their surprise.
Several refrigerator cases immediately offer options, and there’s a real menu as well. We tried a variety of things, most of which are available every day. Probably the most outstanding was the eggplant cannelloni, grilled eggplant stuffed with basil-laced goat cheese and sitting in a small pool of tangy tomato sauce, the sort of dish that makes carnivores forget to growl about meat. This is a big-flavor dish, utterly beguiling. Mushroom bisque, the soup du jour, woos the eater with plenty of cream and plenty of mushroom flavor. A vegetable lasagna, crisp on top from its quick reheat–not that there’s anything wrong with that–holds plenty of flavor, thanks to spinach and two kinds of cheese. And a muffaletta sandwich rode on fresh foccaccia and held lots of meat. Extra olive relish came on the side, always a good idea.
Desserts on hand include a variety of house-made cookies and brownies, as well as Sugaree Bakery’s coconut roulade. And it’s always hard to pass up sticky toffee pudding, but we succumbed to a daily special, a lemon ricotta empanada. (Empanadas seem to be everywhere this spring.) The light, crispy crust held a warm puddle of cheese that was somewhere between lemon pudding and cheesecake, a very good spot for a dessert to be, in our book. 
Right now, breakfast is available, but as the patio in the back progresses, dinner hours will be extended and breakfast will be phased out. So if you’re interested in oatmeal with brown sugar and vanilla custard sauce, hustle on down.
The Pitted Olive
5815 Hampton
314-832-OLIV (6548)
Comments