Published November 2004

Olives Gourmet Foods
Cafe & Wine Bar:
Takeout deli transforms into restaurant

Snohomish County Business Journal/ KIMBERLY HILDEN Business partners and high school friends Michael Young (left) and Strom Peterson cater to both the gourmet and the gourmand and Olives Gourmet Foods Cafe & Wine Bar, a restaurant and retailer of cheeses, olives and olive oils, in Edmonds.

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

Olives Gourmet Foods in downtown Edmonds underwent a transformation this summer, changing from a takeout deli and gourmet food shop to a full-fledged restaurant featuring mouth-watering fare with a Mediterranean flair.

And though the remodeled venue is just a few months old, Olives Gourmet Foods Cafe & Wine Bar already has developed a steady stream of business, owner Strom Peterson said.

“Lunch is busy any day of the week. Friday nights are busy, as are Tuesday nights, which feature half-price bottles of wines. And Saturdays are busy all day long as people shop the downtown stores,” said Peterson, who owns and operates Olives with his wife, Maria Montalvo, and business partners Michael and Michelle Young.

The restaurant, which offers lunch and dinner menus, an extensive wine list, box lunches for business meetings and special events as well as catering services, has held on to its retail roots. As cheesemonger Peterson notes, Olives carries about 50 cheeses from around the world, not to mention a variety of olives, olive oils, coffee and aged balsamic vinegar.

The move to convert the establishment into a restaurant was driven by customers’ demand for seating as well as a desire to showcase the culinary talents of chef Michael Young, who had been working in high-end restaurants in San Francisco before Peterson suggested starting Olives a few years ago.

“We went to high school together,” Peterson said of his longtime friendship with Young. “I called Michael because he was the only one I knew in the food industry, and I was looking for free advice.”

That “free advice” led to a partnership, with Olives opening for business in May 2002.

Today, Olives sports menus highly influenced by the cuisines of France, Italy, Greece and Spain, Peterson said, with a European-style of dining that calls for small portions, enabling customers to sample a variety of flavors.

The dinner menu, for example, includes Yakima Valley asparagus with goat cheese fondue, salmon croquettes with mustard cream sauce and grilled Misty Farms beef medallions with mushrooms and red wine sauce.

There are also antipasti items — a cheesemonger’s trio of cheeses served with bread and candied nuts, a pate plate and a selection of meats — as well as soups and sandwiches, including a prosciutto, gorgonzola and fig compote panini that Peterson calls his favorite for lunch.

The restaurant is open six days a week, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

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