Olive & Rose is Chef Philip Pretty’s most soulful endeavor—and his new lunch deeply reflects that. This isn’t to say it lacks the quality of his Michelin starred space, Heritage; no. Rather, the methodical approach that defines Heritage’s style is eschewed in favor of food that fits the vibe of Olive & Rose.
And Olive & Rose, now officially hitting its first spring and summer, is definitely a vibe.
Olive & Rose offers a Downtown lunch unlike any other.
For the entirety of its inaugural outing, Olive & Rose was relegated to night hours with a (stellar) dinner-only service. That, in turn, left much to the imagination as what the space would encompass in during the day. After all, the entirety of its west-facing wall can open to the attached hotel’s pool and inner plaza. It opened mid-autumn and then rolled into the winter months, further making one wonder what a gorgeous spring day would be like.
Now, with the warmer months ahead and a newly minted lunch menu that feels SoCal in every best way possible, the experience of Olive & Rose is a distinctly new one. Comfortable, soft breezes run through the entirety of the space. Hotel patrons sit poolside. Restaurant patrons flank the space’s outdoor seating as well as its interior seats.
It offers the perfect setting for a Chef Philip menu that is bright, light where it should be, and perfectly heavier where it needs to be. Using greens and herbs from his Heritage farm above 7th Street on Gladys Avenue—a gem of an urban food space if there ever was one—
Chef Philip Pretty’s lunch menu sets the stage for its dinner service while fitting into the larger feel of the restaurant.
A bowl of olives is layered with fennel and herbs—highlighted by mint—are doused in a showering of Satsuma mandarin peel and chunks of the fruit itself. Serenely salty and cheerfully citrus-forward, it’s a delightfully Californian dish that is a perfect accompaniment to a martini from the space’s newly minted cocktail program. Or as a way to open the meal if you’re sharing.
It is a fine way to start and then move on throughout the menu. A lobster salad—chunks of its claw tucked into a bed of butter lettuce from Finley Farms with bits of capers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and plenty of dill—is perfectly doused in a champagne vinaigrette. It is the salad that acts as a companion to his red endive and date salad—available on his dinner menu as well—a sculptural beauty that layers slivers of red endive atop the heart of the salad in a perfectly circular stack.
A Kampachi tostada drizzled with a mild yet flavorful salsa macha before being happily hidden by a forest of cilantro. A Jidori chicken thigh fried perfectly, accompanied by (the underrated) Guindilla pickled chile and a house-made hot sauce that is like Frank’s on steroids. A damn near perfect burger served with what could be the city’s best fries.
It’s a wonderfully charming, accessible-but-not-pedestrian menu that is a warm welcome to Downtown’s continually evolving culinary scene.
A look at Olive & Rose’s lunch menu.
Californian to the T. Beautifully bright. Lovingly light. Happily hefty where it wants to be. Joining stellar lunch staples like Sonoratown and Ammatoli in DTLB, Olive & Rose packs a SoCal punch with its succinct, straight-to-the-point lunch offerings.
Olives: Olives | Satsuma mandarin | Fennel | Citrus peel | Mint | Herbs
Tostada: Kampachi (Yellowtail) crudo | Salsa macha | Avocado | Cilantro
Lobster salad: Lobster claw | Butter lettuce | Cucumbers | Capers | Cherry tomatoes | Herbs | Champagne vinaigrette
Octopus salad: Octopus | Potato | Frisèe | Celery | Almond | Espelette pepper
Endive salad: Red endive | Date | Humboldt Fog blue cheese | Apple
Fried chicken: Jidori chicken thigh | Pickled Guindillas | House-made hot sauce | Lemon
Burger: Santa Carota beef patty | Cheddar | Dill pickles | Gem lettuce | House Russian dressing | Thrice-fried fries | Garlic aioli
And yes, there are great desserts for lunch.
Whimsical at one point—Chef Philip created a base of cocoa rounds for his mint stracciatella that is covered in the hardened chocolate shell of Dairy Queen fans’ dreams—while just expertly made at another—their key lime pie—here are two essential sweets to try before you get jealous of the folks at the pool.
Mint stracciatella with “magic shell”
Key lime pie
Olive & Rose is located at 255 Atlantic Avenue.
