Monday, February 26, 2007

Oliva: Sangria, Tapas, and the Love of Ginger's Life

There are certain cuisines that are better to eat before going out than others. Tapas happens to be one that gets me in the mood to continue drinking and have some fun. Maybe it's the Sangria, or the waitresses with the sexy accents, but on Saturday, when Ginger and I left Oliva on Houston we were definitely ready to go where the night took us. But that would be a different story entirely.

When we first arrived to Oliva, we walked into the dark restaurant to find about 20 tables cluttered in a small room aligned with Spanish tiles and little red lights. The festive music set the mood. We announced our reservation and a server showed us a table in between a couple on a date and two girlfriends out to catch up. We were basically having dinner with them, but everyone was really friendly and it kind of went with the program. (Later in the night, our neighboring table thought we left our credit card and cell phone on the table by accident and called our friend to notify her...when really we were just outside smoking a cigg--but how sweet!)

Our waitress came over to take our drink order and tell us the specials. Ginger fell head over heels for her. She froze up, which is very unlike her rambunctuous self. Our waitress was very cute and had a raspy sexy Spanish accent. She suggested we get the large pitcher of Sangria over the smaller one and then Ginger really fell in love. I think it's her affinity for foreigners, but in any case for the rest of the meal, I had to do most of the communicating with our waitress because Ginger was too embarassed to talk...and she says she's not really a lesbian.

We ordered some olives to start. I envisioned olives plucked off the vine like I ate in Spain (since Oliva really makes you feel like you are in the Basque country.) Instead they were mildly large and came in both green and black varieties. I was slightly disappointed until the Mussels reached our table. We loved them. They were large and succulent and emmersed in a garlic and white wine sauce. Shortly after that our grilled calamari arrived with string bean salad, which was also great. Our third tapas were the meatballs. We were both kind of disappointed in this dish, but I guess you can't always have it all. The food at Oliva is by no means original. Most of the items on the menu are what you would typically see: shrimp ajillo, fritata, fried calamari, etc. The food, however, was good and the atmosphere was kitchy and cute. If you are looking for ingenuity, you might want to try somewhere else. But if you are looking for standard tapas in a fun environment then def give Oliva a go.

In the middle of our dinner, our exotic waitress asked us if we minded moving over a table so she could sit a 5 top. We happily obliged and she rewarded us with a shot. The shot was actually really smooth and easy to take down with reminiscent cinnamon flavors. Of course, I couldn't really understand what she said when I asked her what the shot was.

While we finished our sangria, we pondered dessert and decided to go for it. We got the warm chocolate and almond cake complimented by vanilla ice cream. I thought it was good, but Ginger put it up there in her top 5 (maybe because our waitress brought it to us). By the time we finished the entire meal, we were warm and fuzzy and compliant to go to another bar. As it turns out, my other friend was randomly eating there too so we went with him and his friends to a couple LES bars. While the night did end up interestingly, I think Ginger wished it had ended with our waitress in her arms, embraced in a kiss. I guess she'll just have to go back there to see her lovely Spanish novia again...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL Thank God for my alias!!!
PS that was a very accurate portrayal of our date! The food was great and I am such a sucker for those high-character-fun-genuine-hot places (a la cafe noir). It was so my type.


As was our waitress...

Lo said...

You like large mussels!? That's so strange...

So Ging is slightly lezzish..haha!

Oh, and "the night ended interestingly" - hahahaha. Love it.