Dolly Olive | Light & Fresh
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Summer is coming...
This is always an exciting time of year in our kitchens. Our menus are very seasonal and Summer means an exciting influx of some of our favorite produce. Oregon has some amazing farms that are producing some phenomenal produce and we are so fortunate to access to this wealth of fresh, local, ingredients.
This month we wanted to take a moment and highlight the way that some of our favorite menu items from Dolly Olive take on a new, light, fresh, Summer look, bring some attention to some seasonal favorites that have slowly made their way back to the menu, and shine some light on a couple new Summer favorites making their way onto the menu for the first time.
Let's get into it!
Food
Crispy Chicken Confit
So you might know that the Crispy Chicken Confit is a bit of a mainstay on the Dolly Olive menu... The heart of this dish is obviously the confit chicken. We season chicken legs with chili flake, thyme, lemon, and salt and confit them in duck fat to get this perfectly crispy skin.
While the chicken is incredible the really enticing thing about this dish is how the rest of the dish changes form throughout the year to match what produce is fresh at the time. The set just recently got an update and we are serving it over a mix of spring vegetables (English peas, snap peas, asparagus, watermelon radish, mustard greens) and house pickled rhubarb. The vegetables and pickled rhubarb create a nice counterbalance to the richness of the chicken and bring a wonderful pop of color to the plate.
Burrata & Berries
Next up we've got one of the all time dishes from the Dolly Olive kitchen... This is the Burrata and Berries. It combines two simple yet compelling ingredients in a way that elevates them both to new heights.
We take seasonal berries (often Strawberry but sometimes this changes based on availability and quality) and make a coulis out of them using using champagne vinegar, yuzu vinegar, sugar, and salt. We plate that coulis alongside some burrata, hazelnuts, and fresh berries before finishing the dish with basil and fresh strawberries.
The result is equal parts fresh and savory. The cheese is rich and creamy while the coulis provides acidity to cut through and balance things out. The hazelnuts play an important role here providing texture. The dish is fairly straightforward but deceptively complex.
Grilled asparagus
So here we have a newer dish... This dish is a great example of taking a high quality produce, in this case some super fresh asparagus, and letting it exist as the star of the show. We start by blanching the asparagus and seasoning it with olive oil, salt, and pepper. That asparagus gets tossed on the grill to add some depth of flavor from the char but that is it when it comes to seasoning the asparagus itself.
To compliment the asparagus we make a honey lemon vinaigrette that adds a bit of zip to the dish. We also plate the asparagus over Fava Santorini which is a Greek meze made using yellow split peas, onion, garlic, salt, lemon juice, Aleppo chili, olive oil, salt and paper. If you have never tried Fava Santorini it is creamy and delicious. It acts as the perfect compliment to a perfectly grilled bite of asparagus.
Whole Grilled Trout
We're back to another mainstay of the Dolly Olive menu with a bit of a new Summer fit. You'll typically always find this whole grilled trout on the menu and for good reason... it is absolutely incredible. We rub the fish with fennel seed, chili flake, dried oregano, black pepper, slat, and olive oil before we toss it on the grill.
The set can vary pretty widely but right now we're serving it over a sun-dried tomato salsa and topping it with a fresh shaved vegetable salad of fennel, red onion, radish, and hersb tossed in lemon juice and olive oil.
The simplicity and freshness of the salad really compliments the trout while not overtaking it at all. The focus here is the fish and the supporting cast of sun-dried tomato salsa and vegetable salad are expertly constructed to let the fish shine while uplifting it in all of the right ways.
Tri Color Cauliflower
Okay so if you told me a cauliflower "side" would be my favorite of the dishes we are covering today I would probably think you're lying but here we are... This is the summer set for the tri color cauliflower and it is wildly good.
We roast cauliflower, romanesco, and purple cauliflower and then toss it in cured lemon. We serve it over a green goddesss dressing and top it with chili crisp before finishing it with more crispy shallots and garlic. The chili crispy brings the umami and a bit of crunchy texture, the green goddess dressing brings a herbaceousness and a creamy richness, while the cured lemon brings some bright acidity. The end result in a perfectly balanced bite and maybe one of the best vegetable dishes I've ever had.
Drink
The food menu isn't the only thing that gets a seasonally makeover when Summer rolls around... We've got some delicious new beverages in the mix as well and you know we had to show them some love to. Let's check out what the bar team has been working on...
Spring Fling
Okay so you might be familiar with a little classic cocktail known as the Negroni....
A Negroni can be a pretty polarizing drink. If you don't like bitter flavors you're probably not a big fan. I would encourage you to reevaluate that position when it comes to the Spring Fling. This is a summer-ized version of the classic Negroni formula that has undergone some interesting adjustments.
First off, we've swapped traditional sweet vermouth for an incredible rhubarb vermouth to lighten things up. We also elected to swap out the Campari for Ulrich bittersweet apertitif - toning down the bitterness just a touch and adding back a bit of the sweetness we lost from ditching the sweet vermouth. A nice local gin and a simple strawberry salt rim really ties the room together resulting in a drink that not only pays homage to the classic that inspired it but ultimately elevates the drink to something new entirely.
Lonely Hearts Club
I knew I was in love before I even tasted the Lonely Hearts Club... This is a vodka sour that is using passionfruit and chili to bring the sweet AND the heat. Fresh lemon drinks brings a nice punch of acidity and the passionfruit brings some sweet fruity notes. By itself this would likely be too sweet to feel right but just a couple dashes of chili tincture packs all the heat you need to get things right back in balance. Garnish the drink with an edible flower and you've got an absolute patio pounder of a cocktail. 🌸
Acquainted With The Night
Last, but certainly not least, on our cocktail list is Acquainted with the Night. This is a very interesting drink due to the simplicity of the recipe. There are so few ingredients at play here that each one really has to fit perfectly.
The core of the cocktail is a blackberry and black peppercorn infused rye whiskey. The infusion takes about 5-7 days but the result is a rye whiskey that is spicy, fruity, and beautifully colored. To let this infused rye shine we combine it with just a bit of cognac and orange bitters for a drink that sits somewhere between an Old Fashioned and a Vieux Carré.
This drink lands at a very compelling intersection of cocktail interests. Many people who like spirit forward drinks don't enjoy fruit forward flavors and many people who enjoy a more fruit forward beverage wouldn't enjoy something so spirit forward. Acquainted with the Night asks you to look past all of your preconceived cocktail expectations and simply enjoy an amazing drink for exactly what it is.
In Closing...
If you are all of a sudden craving some cauliflower or buratta and find yourself wondering about the fastest way to make a reservation at Dolly Olive you'll just want to tap the button below to visit their OpenTable page and book right now! 😂
