This past weekend, two of my best friends made it a point to get me out of my funk (and out of my house) by inviting the boys over for dinner and a movie so that Ingrid and I could go out to dinner all by ourselves. Brent offered to watch the five kids and when we left, all was quiet upstairs with the four older ones aside from the sound of an accordion playing, and Emil was dressed as Darth Vader, galloping slowly across the wooden floor on top of a much-too-small white horse. Obviously we left laughing!
I was thrilled to finally try Olio, an amazing and charming little restaurant just down the street from Ingrid’s house in the historical Botanical Heights neighborhood. The restaurant itself is situated in a renovated 1930’s Standard Oil Filling Station, which means it is tiny. But don’t let that put you off — the space inside is full of natural light (it was an overcast day when we went and the pictures of the food will show you just how light and airy it was inside the bar area) and is really quite charming. It would be the perfect place to meet for a date or celebrate any number of occasions. Plus, they do take reservations, which is something I find hard to come by these days. The space is so well cared-for, with each square inch carefully tended to and loved. It’s obviously someone’s pride and joy, inside and out. 
We did not have reservations, so we were seated in the light and airy bar area right next to a window. It was so nice to catch up with Ingrid, who had disappeared into the 10,000 lakes of Minnesota for the past 12 weeks. I had missed her so — it’s truly hard to be far away from good friends, but that makes the reunion so much sweeter, I guess! 
The food was all amazing, as were the drinks (we each had a version of a Slo Gin Fizz that was so refreshing). We ordered the kale salad (of course), the roasted cauliflower with caramelized onions and almonds on crostini, and the speck sandwich (which was light and zesty with lemon peel!). It was the perfect summer meal. Plus, the area surrounding is so cute. Here, the architecture across the street: 
Also, less than half a block away is Union Studio, a great local gift shop I hope to feature here soon.
Have a terrific Tuesday wherever you may be!
I love that place, and it’s so close to home. M and I meet up there for drinks when the girls are out of town at grandparents, and we just went this past week as well. We went Wednesday and met two other couples for drinks and food. We were there for three hours and sampled so many things off the menu, (and lots of cocktails), so I was pleasantly surprised by the bill when it came and we divided it three ways. I highly recommend it for small friend gatherings. And since it was my husband’s birthday, they brought us a complimentary round of hummus – delicious.
I love their egg salad (lemon!), beet salad, octopus salad, kale salad – they are all so good. The blistered tomatoes on bruschetta is a must if you go back, as well as the zucchini dish. I’m not usually a big fan of small plate type restaurants with a group – sometimes people are over-polite and no one really gets filled up. But the food is so good here, everyone licks the plate clean. It didn’t hurt that we were dining with friends that actually like to eat as much as we do. We left stuffed and happy. (The Bailey is my favorite drink there – mmm grapefruit and gin.)
I love all the places around this corner – have you been into the bakery? Stunning. And Old Standard was a fun treat for the girls and I one night.