Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF OLIVES (EXTERIOR) SO MANY DINNERS... SO LITTLE TIME The dining room at Olive's—still the place to be after 23 years. olives redux O EMPIRE GETS A REBOOT. BY MAT SCHAFFER PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDY RYAN THE FLAGSHIP OF THE (TODD) ENGLISH " I wanted the new Olives to be more local, more neighborhood. —todd english after a grease fire and undergoing a major " face-lift, Olives reopened with a revamped in 1994 and Bon Chef Todd English The original Olives, before a fire closed it down for two years. lives has become as much a recognizable symbol of Boston as the Red Sox, the Boston Pops, and Old Ironsides. Since 1989, Todd English's restaurant has been an enduring presence in the Hub din- ing scene, as its proprietor went from just another local chef to international culinary superstar. Twenty-three years ago, when English and his then-wife, Olivia, opened a 60-seat storefront on Main Street in Charlestown, patrons lined up for hours to dine on the robust, Mediterranean-inspired cuisine, dished up in Brobdingnagian portions. In 1992, the lines grew even longer when the couple moved their restaurant several blocks to the current location in City Square, doubling its seating capacity. Olives begat multiple restaurants around the world, four cookbooks, a cookware line, a PBS television series, and many accolades for English, including a James Beard Foundation Best Chef Northeast nod Appétit's 2001 Restaurateur of the Year award. That same year, People magazine named English one of its "50 Most Beautiful People in the World." Lobster "toast," with butter-poached claw meat and a Mason jar of lobster corn soup. diners—a mix of casually dressed neighbors, business people, and curious foodies. If you sit in one of four seats at the back counter you can watch Executive Chef James Klewin and his staff bustle around the granite open kitchen with its flame-spewing ovens. (English himself is in the kitchen one or two nights a week.) VIPs are seated at the window tables by the corner of menu. English wanted to reboot the restaurant. "The landscape of the Boston dining scene changed a lot in those two years," he says. "Two thou- sand seats were added—which are a lot of seats—and a lot of emphasis went to the waterfront. I wanted [the new Olives] to be more local, more neigh- borhood." Longtime fans will embrace this new incarnation. Expanded windows make the room feel bigger and brighter. A rectangular, dark- stained oak bar in the center, which seats 45, attracts both drinkers and 80 BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM This past May, after closing for two years Main and Park Streets, the better to get a view of the entire establishment. Over the years, celebrity guests have included members of the band REM, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Affleck, Jon Lester, Shawn Thornton, and Fatboy Slim. No less a culinary icon than Julia Child was an early English sup- porter and Olives diner. Several original Olives dishes remain on the menu: English's signature beef carpaccio; butternut squash-filled tortelli in brown-butter and sage sauce; and the vanilla soufflé (it still calls for a 12-minute wait). The yellowfin tuna tartare recipe hasn't changed in 23 years. But you'll also want to try recent dishes: continued on page 82