I’ll try to keep this brief…
First, I’d just like to say…
WHO ‘DAT?!?!
Okay, now let’s get to what’s what down here at Olivia…
February.
New things going on and coming up. Here’s the 411 on all things Olivia this month:
Valentine’s Day is officially on! Reservations are going fast so you best git on it if you’re gonna have any chance makin’ time wit’ your sweetie this weekend. With Cupid’s day being on a Sunday this year there is more than just that night to show the one you love your love through good food! Why, there’s Brunch on the 14h, some reservations remain for early and late Saturday night, Friday night is still looking good as is Monday the 15th, so, the options are simply dizzifying…
But, like I said, it’s on and going fast. 512.804.2700 gets things started…

Some of y’all may remember that when we opened, way back in August of 2008, we served lunch. We served lunch for about 5 days. The desire was there but the logistical reality of hitting the markets every morning, creating a new menu for dinner every day and then prepping for that dinner as well as trying to serve lunch 4 days a week just about put Chef (and an entirely overworked kitchen staff) over the edge. Well, that was then. After a crazy 17+ months of serving up dinner (and brunch!) for you good folks, we have come to the realization that lunch, albeit, a finely-tuned lunch, can happen at Olivia. So, starting Friday, February 19 we will throw open the doors for the Olivia-Kickin’-Off-The-Weekend-Luncheon-Jamboree!
Okay, so that’s just a working title. But, for true, every Friday and Saturday, starting Feb. 19th, from 11-2, we will be open for and serving up a lunch menu worthy of your time and ours.
It’s a time who’s time has come.

Now, some changes have taken place over the past few weeks as well.
First. Chef de Cuisine Morgan Angelone, one of the sweetest faces to ever serve some of the finest pasta dishes I’ve ever tasted, left us to begin her research and preparation for a future endeavor. Her departure leaves us sad but over-the-top grateful for everything she contributed to whatever success this restaurant has achieved. Our beautiful restaurant is just a little less so without Miss Morgan’s lovely smile. We miss you, gorgeous, but see you soon for a glass of bubbles! 

Now, the task of replacing someone as important as Miss Morgan was a job I was profoundly glad wasn’t mine. Chef Holmes had a task that could have taken his restaurant in many differing directions. And many of those just the wrong ones. Instead, he found Chef Andrew Francisco.
And, damn if he didn’t get it right!
Chef de Cuisine Andrew Francisco spent his formative teenage years in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were the exotic local foods fed a curiosity which led him to immerse himself in all things delicious. Fast forward and now he’s an accomplished chef for 11 years. Having served as as an intern at Thomas Keller’s French Laundry, he returned to Austin in 2001 where he cooked at the over-the-top-stoopid-high-end Emilia’s, then on to local Austin favorites Mars, Asti (where he and another young up-and-coming chef – Morgan Dishman, soon to be Angelone – became fast friends) and eventually the Italian super-joint Vespaio. While curing his own meats and hand-making pasta, Andrew was named Sous Chef during his last two years at Vespaio. He served as Chef at Word of Mouth Catering in 2008. Just briefly before coming to Olivia, he was also the Chef de Cuisine at Lamberts.
Andrew knows the shoes he’s stepping into and is sensitive to where this restaurant has come from and Morgan’s role in helping shape and define who we are. That he and Morgan are friends has been a happy bonus. In the little over 2 weeks that Chef Andrew has been at Olivia we feel a direction and focus beginning to take shape that bodes well for our future. Next time you’re in, give a warm shout out to the man. He’s the skinny guy with the great head of hair behind the line. And, I’d like to say after tasting his food, he has made me reevaluate my Never Trust A Skinny Chef motto. Welcome Home, Andrew!

Another new face in the Olivia kitchen is pastry chef Taff Mayberry. Starting at the age of 14, Taff is a 15-year veteran of the restaurant industry. He hales from Athens, Georgia which is probably were he picked up his questionable affinity for the Georgia Bulldogs. Not to mention the Atlanta Falcons and the Braves… Anyway, Taff has served within the restaurant biz in an array of positions, front and back of the house. After a four-year stint at Jennings Mill Country Club, about an hour northeast of Atlanta, where he went from apprentice in the pastry kitchen to Executive Pastry Chef, Taff moved to Austin landing a job at the Four Seasons as Pastry Cook/Relief Baker. Soon, he took on the position of Baker/Cook at Sandy’s Bakery and Deli and then ended up as the Executive Pastry Chef at the Shoreline Grill for 4 years. Taff’s arrival as pastry chef at Olivia marks a strong commitment to fully focus on dessert as more than just the end of the meal. Or, as he puts it, “Dessert is the last thing customers see and taste, so it has to look good, taste good and leave a positive impression.”  Well said, Taff. How’d you like that Astros/Braves NLDS game back in ‘05…?

Care for a spot of wine…?
Ok, you didn’t really think you’d get through an Olivia newsletter without a wee bit of wine stuff, did you?
No. Of course you didn’t.
Actually, there’s more than just wine stuff to talk about ’cause I gotta mention, once more, the really happening thing and that is Chef James Holmes and crew have been invited to host a dinner at the prestigious James Beard Foundation. Yep, the gang departs on Tuesday, March 29th for the full-on Olivia hoedown on Thursday, April 1st (fitting, no?). 
http://jamesbeard.org/?q=node/1897  Pretty groovy, no? And here’s a fitting opportunity to offer up a robust grazie to the good folks at Dalla Terra wine importers – especially Mr. Rob Forman – for helping coordinate the wine which will be poured at the dinner. As well, we are most grateful to all that have joined up to help us make this a gen-u-winely Austin, Texas – South Austin, Texas – night in the Big Apple. Salute!
Now, about that wine I promised you…
When last we spoke I was hot on the tail of some fine, fine, super fine sparkling wine. So, let’s talk white, shall we? Sure it’s colder ‘n than Hell right now that the Saints have won the Super Bowl, but that don’t mean you can’t enjoy some oh-so-fine whites!
And here’s a few…
Bressan Carat 2003, Farra d’Isonzo, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
Tocai Friulano (no matter what the EU sez), Malvasia and Ribolla Gialla.  Juice so heady-rich it’s as if faries sprinkled pixie dust…wait…can faries dust? Or does it have to be pixies doing the sprinkling before any pixie dust can be sprinkled? Is there some kind of Mythical Creature’s Union that controls these things? Farie Workers Local, No. 1309. I don’t know but it’s these kind of esoteric yet meaningless questions that seem to take up space in my brain when I’m sipping something as otherworldly as this beauty. Why? Hell, I don’t know. I’m still dazed the Saints won the Super Bowl. Maybe they had pixie dust. $73

Meroi Pinot Grigio 2007, Colli Oriental del Friuli, Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Let’s just put it this way: I think Pinot Grigio is vastly overrated. 
However, there are some producers who have an innate ability to take this oft-pimped grape and turn it into something sublime. The producer above, Fulvio Bressan, is one such producer. Paolo Meroi is another. Here is a Pinot Grigio my grandma would like – full, rich, powerful, full of stuff! In other words not for wussies… It ain’t cheap, but, hell, like granny always said, “Boy, if it ain’t worth stealin’ it ain’t worth enjoyin’!” then she’d smack me and tell me to get her another pillow. Her lumbago pained her something awful.
Yeah, she was a pistol, but her tobacco-stained words still hold some truth today.
Just don’t try stealing it. $82         

Edi Simčič Kozana Chardonnay 2005, Goriska Brda, Slovenia
Wow.
No exclamation point. No animated illustrations indicating excitement. No crazy scribbles off to the side of my tasting notes. Just simply “Wow”. This is a mutha of a white wine. That it is Chardonnay simply underscores how impressive it is. Like Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay is the prostitute of the wine world. Just a few bucks gets you a turn with this grape of easy virtue. Chardonnay has been had and abused so many times it has almost no sense of what a strong, graceful, beautiful wine it can be. In the hands of loving, caring master, this grape can produce some of the most exquisite wine ever put to grateful lip. And, my friends, Mr. Edi Simčič is just such a master. Deep, rich, warmly robust yet elegant. Truly outstanding wine. $92 

Alrighty, then. Thanks for the time and, remember, Valentine’s Day is here so if you haven’t made plans times a’ ticking…
Also, lunch every Friday & Saturday from 11am to 2pm! This’ll be a hoot!
See you soon.