As an avid home cook and food blogger, I often go to downtown Boulder for my cooking essentials. As co-founding foodie of Local Table Tours, I love bringing my tour guests to some of my favorite foodie hot-spots, especially Oliv You & Me.
Oliv You & Me is the place to explore the varied world of olive oils. Just look for the Olive Oil sign…
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Upon entering Oliv You & Me, it is clear that there are many different olive oils. How is one to choose? Lucky for all of us, Patti Scott, the owner of Oliv You & Me, is an olive oil aficionado and offers samples of olive oil to help you determine which particular oils please your palate.
On our tours, we all gather around the olive oil tasting bar to sample light, medium, and robust oils from all around the world. Patti talks to us about some different flavors and sensations we are experiencing while we slurp down small spoonfuls of premium olive oil. It is interesting to note which flavors you prefer because each oil is uniquely different. After you taste a few and distinguish a preference, it is time to start thinking about how to pair that particular olive oil with food.
Patti often tells our tour guests that a good olive oil not only adds flavor to your dish, but also improves your cooking. She wants people to be inspired by their olive oil and get creative with it in the kitchen. Patti is full of suggestions for pairing olive oils with foods, so, don’t be shy. Just ask.
Oliv You & Me is the perfect place in downtown Boulder to find cooking inspiration. This unique little specialty shop is filled with dried pastas, cookbooks, kitchen gadgets, serving platters, and shelf after shelf filled with olive oils. Take some time to wander through the store and read olive oil facts, flavoring ideas, and recipe suggestions.
Patti also enjoys supporting local businesses. Oliv You & Me serves European style coffee using local Coda coffee. If you’re hungry, locally made salumi from Il Mondo Vecchio might tempt you. As for me personally? I’m a big fan of the glass olive oil dipping dishes made exclusively for Oliv You & Me by local artisan Meg Clarke.
These handmade glass dishes have little ridges on them for you to rub garlic, herbs, lemon, ginger, or whatever else you’d like to use to flavor olive oil. I absolutely love mine.
So, join us on a culinary walking tour. A lot of our tours do make a stop at Oliv You & Me, though not all do. And the next time you’re in downtown Boulder, visit Oliv You & Me and treat yourself and your taste buds to some gourmet olive oils. But I must warn you: after experiencing such thoughtfully selected olive oils it may be difficult to go back to your store brand oil- and that’s just fine with me.