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Olives at the Bellagio

By: The Lady of The Night Out

Why should you eat at Olives?

I became intrigued with Olives when I overhead our Gen X reporter, Austin Rosenthal, tell his friend that Olives is the most romantic spot in Las Vegas. He had had dinner on the patio, which juts into the dancing fountains at the Bellagio. The Eiffel Tower glows across the street. The stars twinkle above the neon of the Strip.

Austin's right. The ambiance would make any woman melt.

And the food is fantastic, too. Even if you hated English 101, you'll love this restaurant. Olives is one of 13 restaurants operated by star chef Todd English. We're going to ignore the fact People magazine included English in its "50 Most Beautiful People in the World." In spite of his classic good looks, this man and his minions can cook.

Who should you eat at Olives?

Shameless romantics. This is the perfect place to get engaged or celebrate . anything that special person in your life. The night we supped, the couple next to us flew in from L.A. to celebrate her birthday.
Anyone about to propose. The staff will do anything to help you. If you want 'em to bake the ring in the crème brulee, they do need a few days notice.
The fress to impress crowd. It's at the Bellagio and its star chef made People magazine. We don't have to say more.
Eclectic eaters. Chef Todd likes to layer ingredients; the food looks like a wedge of lasagna on the pretty plates. Often, the ingredients are strange bedfellows. But that's half the fun ... because these unusual pairings work!
Singles. This is one of the few restaurants in LVNV that welcomes singles. There's a special section at the bar where singles can share dinner with other singles. That has made Olives a fave for dateless locals as well as travelers.
The hip. The bar scene at Olives is hoppin'.
There's no dress code. Show up in tails or with your shirttail hanging out. As long as you're clothed, anything goes.
Families. Olives is one of the few fress to impress places that welcome children.

Who shouldn't eat at Olives?

Folks on a budget. If you're having dinner, this place is tres cher. A pork chop costs $31. However, anyone who wants to experience the romance of Olives can order a salad or share a pizza.

Ok, so what's the food like? English favors Mediterranean flavors in bold, rustic style. His grandmother owned olive farms in Italy; the restaurant is named to honor her influence on his distinctive cooking style.

The must have entrée: Caesar salad. The glistening salad greens are sheathed inside a giant garlic crouton. Then there's a wafer thin wall of crackling baked Parmesan cheese. It stands up as straight as a Marine. You unroll the crouton and the salad, powered by garlic and anchovies, spills out. Clever! This is why let star chefs feed you.

Olives' signature menu item is its olive tapenade, a thick paste made of finely chopped fresh olives mixed with olive oil, capers and anchovies to give it a salty persona. It's an exotic butter substitute. you spread it on the bread. The plate has a sea of olive oil in the center surrounded by whole green and black olives as well as tapenades of both stripes.

The tapenade works perfectly with the walnut and black currant bread. This hearty, thick, fruity bread soaks up the salty tapenade to create a symphony of flavors in your mouth. The foccacia bread is dripping with sweet onions.

Best appetizer: believe it or not, fried oysters. The chef, whose Mom now lives in Maine, prefers Malpeck oysters. The coating uses buttermilk to add extra flavor to the bivalves; what a confident crust. The oysters inside are heated and cooked but still perfectly chewy. This being cranberry season, the oysters sat on a bed of crunchy, coarsely chopped berries. The tart fruit mixed well with the never shy oysters.

If you have one cardiological cheat a year, have the seared foie gras at Olives. These livers from Hudson Valley gees are buttery and rich. It's served with a self-possessed duck confit that was so tasty it could easily been a showcase item. At the bottom of the creation was a quince crepe that had a crispy crust and a gushy interior. It glistened with maple syrup to inject the perfect amount of sweetness. These crepes were so good I wished I could have ordered 10 for breakfast. (Not possible - Olives is only open for lunch and dinner.)

Carnivores, you don't have to go to a steakhouse to find a perfect cut of beef. Olives serves a classic sirloin. What's interesting here is the layered look. Two huge slices of steak form the crown of a five layer creation. (A tower of protein power!) Other layers include billiard green garlicked spinach, sweet and sour shiitake mushrooms, Roquefort cheese, English peas (no relation) and ham. Eat a cross section and your mouth experiences a riot of flavors.

Fish lovers: reel in the sea bass. Perfectly cooked: fork tender, juicy, brash. The fish floated on a bed of satiny whipped mashed potatoes spiked with horseradish. And there was a surprise performance: chunks of cold lobsters sitting on watercress. These denizens of the deep, hot and cold, made a dynamic duo.

The Nantucket Bay scallops were so sweet they should have been off limits to diabetics. Their foundation was a woodsy layer of muscular porcini mushrooms. There was a male-female thing going on here with the lacey scallops winking at the masculine mushrooms. There was also a tiny tart dotted with rosemary and garlic. A drizzle of port wine added color and a lovely alcoholic buzz.

Finally, sushi lovers will enjoy Olives' tuna tartar, pink, sushi grade tuna wrapped in a cucumber holder and topped with white caviar. Instead of wasabi paste, the kitchen uses Vietnamese chili paste to turn up the heat.

Dessert in the desert: I never thought anyone could top the tiramisu at Buca di Beppo, my gold standard, until I tasted Olives' roasted banana tiramisu. Instead of using the traditional lady fingers, the bakers substituted moist banana bread with lots of crushed nuts. The molten chocolate sauce gave the dessert a banana split edge.

History: Todd English was born in Amarillo, Texas, an unlikely place for worship at the alter of haute cuisine. Attended the Culinary Institute of America, the Harvard (or should I say Yale) of cooking, where he met his wife and business partner, Olivia. The original Olives is in Boston. Other locations are New York (at the tres chic W Union Square Hotel) and Washington, D.C.

The last word: If you're a hopeless romantic or a food snob, you'll love lives. If you've got a ring in your pocket (or purse), make sure you reserve a table on the patio. Star chef creativity shines through with every dish. And it's at the Bellagio, which ups the "cool" factor.

Where is it? In the shopping mall area of the Bellagio. 3600 S. Las Vegas Boulevard. 702.693.7223.

By: The Culinary Curmudgeon Lady of the Night Out

Our Gen X reporter, Austin Rosenthal, is right. The patio at Olives is one of the most romantic spots in Las Vegas. if you plan on paying for dinner. Personally, if I want a romantic view of the Strip, I prefer the third floor of the parking garage at Green Valley Ranch. You don't have to shell out a couple hundred bucks for the repast AND you can get a whole lot closer to your sweetie.

But, if dinner is in the cards, the patio at Olives wins hands down. If you're dining with your wife and you've heard all her stories before - this place is perfect for a discussion of the deaf. Every 15 minutes water crashes down and the music soars, creating a delightful roar that drowns out all conversation. You need a megaphone to ask her to pass the salt. And she thinks this is great!!!!

If you sit there long enough, you can sample the fountain's most delicious irony: Celine singing the theme song from the movie Titanic as fog enshrouds the pond. Icebergs in LVNV: this greatly amuses me.

Since we live in a desert, there are not many occasions that call for that mink coat she brought from "home" --- home being that cold and snowy place you moved from 15 years ago. This time of year, it gets pretty nippy out there on the romantic patio - even with those gas heaters. She gets to retrieve her coat from Trudy's and bundle up into her ball of fur. The coat appreciates the fresh air, too.

Speaking of wraps, I love the cheese cloak around the Caesar salad. When I first started eating Caesar salads, the waiters cracked the egg in front of you because the maitre d' whipped the salad together tableside. Olives' giant crouton adds the drama back. Hooray!

Olives is such a cool place to eat the waiter's uniforms ruin everything. The doofy bow ties and the aprons with pockets make them look like blue collar butchers from the 1950's. Given the funky and fun clown décor at the bar, dressing the wait staff like painted marionettes would be a lot more congruent. Get the experts from "O" to do the make up.

And if you show up early and there's no room at the bar, where do you wait for your table? The only option is window shopping in the mall for all the expensive stuff she saw in Vogue. Make reservations at Olives so you don't end up having breakfast at Tiffany's.

Aired 06 December 2002

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