Don’t be foiled by your oil
Dressed By An Olive offers a tasting bar
S niff, swirl, sip ... No, we’re not talking wine. Welcome to Dressed By An Olive, a new Tecumseh store that invites visitors to sample higher- end extra virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegars.
Flavours galore fill the dark wood shelves. Try the garlic oil, owners urge. Citrus-infused oils, such as lemon or blood orange, smell and taste like the fruit has just been freshly picked. Customers can buy infused flavours and mix and match them at home to create their own favourite blends.
Merja (pronounced marryyah) Avena, 50, and her husband Daniel, 42, opened their new retail food venture last month.
Repeat visitors are exploring the dozens of oils and vinegars available, while enjoying the atmosphere. They can listen to Frank Sinatra, relax in deep leather arm chairs and wander through the long, narrow tasting room.
“It’s a whole new experience for many people,” Merja said. “It’s a personal shopping experience, and we’re trying to make it familiar.”
In their travels, the couple saw olive-oil tasting bars and enjoyed products like the Delizia olive oil from Californiabased Veronica Foods Company. They thought such a business would be an ideal enterprise when they returned to this area from Vancouver to be closer to family.
They share a passion for food and have a customer-service background; she’s a dental hygienist and he has hotel and hospitality experience.
“We thought there was a market here,” Daniel said.
Visitors at the first evening tasting, arranged by reservation, would agree.
“I think it’s really neat, and it’s really swag here,” said Julie Renaud of Lakeshore. She joined several women for a tasting with the Avenas, who also brought in chef-caterer Johnny Oran to select appetizers for sampling with the oils and vinegars.
Renaud said she’s tried more premium olive oils and appreciates the quality and taste.
Lynn Geremia, also of Lakeshore, likes unique foods and fine olive oils. She enjoyed the tastings, which included a foam Oran made from the shop’s lemon grass mint balsamic vinegar.
One dessert included espresso balsamic vinegar drizzled over a chocolate brownie crumble hors d’oeuvre. Oran served items with distinctive flavours like walnuts, chevre and beets along with the oils and balsamic vinegars. He then showed how they taste mixed together.
The Tecumseh store is one of about 10 in Canada with a tasting capability for the branded oils and vinegars.
Items include a Japanese sesame oil, French roasted walnut and black truffle oil and vinegars like blackberry, ginger with chipotle, dark chocolate and maple. The oils and vinegars sell for $11 each for 200-mL bottles and up to $26 for 750 mL. Gift sets are also available.
Dressed By An Olive is located in the St. Clair Beach Shopping Centre, 13566 Tecumseh Rd. E., Tecumseh. Call 519-7351772 and visit dressedbyanolive.com.