Photo By Joe Lamb

Olives

There's a lot to like about Olives at the Ludlow Garage. This new independent restaurant occupies the space that used to be Uno's in Clifton, and a big space it is. The wood floors are gleaming and the menu is impressive and diverse with salads and sandwiches for the pre- or post-Esquire Theatre crowd, as well as excellent entrées.

The night of our visit, we had to run across the street to Ludlow Wines to pick up a bottle to go with our dinner. Olives hadn't yet gotten their beer and wine license ironed out, but they assured us that this would be corrected within the next few days. We ordered the two appetizers that our server recommended, and they arrived shortly after my friend returned with the wine.

The Blue Fin Crab Cake ($12.95) was peppery and flakey with finely shredded lump crabmeat. The price is a little steep for one crab cake, but it was exceptionally nice, and each of us had a good-sized portion.

We raved about the Wild Mushroom and Artichoke Strudel ($7.95), with delicate phyllo pastry surrounding finely minced baby artichokes and woodsy mushrooms and a wonderful beurre blanc sauce.

Our server brought a basket of warm bread -- ciabatta and rye from Giminetti Baking Co. -- with the house spread, a kalamata olive tapenade butter.

The salads were lovely. Someone incredibly talented with a vegetable peeler had made long, lovely curls of bright orange carrots and fresh, crisp red beets to garnish the plates of baby greens and farmer's market yellow cherry tomatoes. A really nice presentation and a big thumbs up from The Beet Queen, moi. The house balsamic vinaigrette was excellent.

There were ooohs and ahhhs when the entrées arrived, too. The best was the Roasted Frenched Half Rack of Pork ($15.95), a posh presentation, and the pork was superb -- rich and succulent. Seared Ahi Tuna ($17.95) was perfectly tender. Both the pork and the tuna came with roast parsnips and horseradish mashed potatoes. The pork had rich gravy spiked with currants, and the tuna boasted a port wine reduction.

Linguine Suzanne ($16.95) was our pasta choice, since we'd tried the Orecchiette ($9.95) with asparagus tips and pine nuts as a little enticement on our way in. The best thing about the linguine was the inclusion of delicious blue fin crab, as well as plenty of spicy shrimp.

People who are into football hang out with their fellow football fans, right? And they spend an evening out watching a game, yakking about their team and some incredibly stupid fumble in the end zone.

Well, I was with my dearest food friends at Olives, and our evening was all food, all the time -- where we'd eaten, what we'd eaten, what we'd cooked. This was halfway through Restaurant Week, so there were all-star meals involved. Our server must have noticed that we were a little obsessive, so that had to make the Great Medium-Rare Cheeseburger Incident all the more painful for her.

There were so many interesting choices on the menu that ordinarily I wouldn't have looked twice at the sandwiches, but "Olives' Peppercorn Encrusted Blue Cheese Burger with melted Maytag" ($9.95) sounded too good. (With homemade Saratoga chips to boot.) So I ordered it, medium rare.

It looked absolutely fantastic, but at our server's suggestion I checked to make sure it was done properly. It was medium-well. I just shrugged, but she insisted on replacing it. So I hung on to my chips -- which were very good -- and tasted everyone else's food while I waited for Burger No. 2.

I felt fairly certain that it would be perfect. After all, everything else was so good. But Burger No. 2 was ... medium well. We each had a bite, and the flavor was good -- the cheese and peppercorns were excellent. By this time, I was full anyway and really didn't care. But the staff kept apologizing while we moved on.

While we were laughing and enjoying Sour Cream Apple Pie ($4.95) and the Bread Pudding ($5.25), Burger No. 3 arrived, packed in a to-go container, with plentiful assurances that it was medium rare. I arrived home to my beloved dogs who, after I picked off the yummy peppercorns and blue cheese, thought that Burger No. 3, though cooked medium well, was delicious.

Olives deserves a lot of credit for a creative menu and for the most sincere attempt at customer satisfaction I've ever seen in a newly launched restaurant. It's a good addition to Clifton. I recommend a visit.©

Olives
Go: 342 Ludlow Ave., Clifton

Call: 513-221-4200

Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday

Prices: $13-$22

Payment: All major credit cards

Red Meat Alternatives: Fish, pasta and salads

Accessibility: The bar on the first floor is easily accessible; ramp access to the lower level dining room

Grade: B