Stopped in here on the way back to LA for a lovely experience but what I (and Becca) thought was a terrible bunch of olive oils. The setting, in the rolling hills outside Paso Robles, couldn't be better, with a quiet country road, big old trees, a picturesque olive orchard, chickens clucking in the distance, and a campus of quiet historic barns and structures.
The staff was friendly, chatty, and attentive, with a set 10-15 minute story of the orchard, its current management, the prizes they've won, and a sequence of tasting their oils (pressed on site) and the local vinegars and wines that they sell as well. They kept everyone in the tasting room engaged and moving along, and there seemed to be another car of agritourists pulling up every five minutes or so.
But the olive oils. I like olive oil. I like fruity, dark, extra virgin olive oil that really shines through in a salad or as a dip, something that can't be mistaken for anything but top notch olive oil. This wasn't that. Half of their offerings were olive oil mixed with a citrus oil, which should have been a tip off from the beginning that the underlying olive oil product was something they needed to hide. For the straight EVOOs, and there were three of them at price points from high to astronomical, what they needed to hide was apparent: bitterness and astringency way beyond my comfort zone and out of range of any other high quality/price oil I've ever tasted. This is not to say that others won't like these olive oils, but to me and Becca, these were hard to choke down with a straight face.
Another tip off that the oil couldn't stand up by itself: instead of basic salt to flavor the oil they had some sort of tasting salt with a mix of herbs and spices, which certainly masked the olive oil flavors, if not all of the harshness. Nonetheless, and somewhat guided by the fact that the oil did improve a little when mixed with other flavors, I bought a bottle of their least offensive EVOO as a souvenir. I have served it a couple times, but I'm about ready to give up on it and just cook with it, which seems like a bit of a waste for a $25 bottle of oil.
Admittedly, this was my first tasting at an olive orchard. Previously, I've only done tastings in Italian import shops and gourmet food stores, comparing various small run and large producer olive oils under the guidance of store staff. So maybe I've just never been offered the good (i.e. strong) stuff. Or maybe Pasolivio is making it all up and hoping the dumb city folk have had enough glasses of wine on the way up the valley that they won't notice how gross their overpriced oil is.
Yesterday's run destination: San Vincente Blvd.
Yesterday's menu:
breakfast: hot oatmeal with maple syrup
lunch: chicken and broccoli leftovers, cold, standing up in the kitchen while getting ready for my meeting
dinner: mac and cheese with peas and bacon
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