Webster Groves welcomes its newest restaurant when Olive & Oak fires up the burners tonight, Jan. 26, at 102 W. Lockwood Ave. Having spent the past six months preparing, co-owners Mark Hinkle and Greg Ortyl, along with executive chef Jesse Mendica, are eager to share their food with the community at a grand opening this weekend.
As The Scoop reported in May 2015, Hinkle formerly worked in front-of-house management at Annie Gunn’s in Chesterfield. Inspired by that experience, the Olive & Oak wine list boasts more than 120 bottles with 20 available by the glass, while bar manager Chelsea Little’s cocktail menu offers light and bubbly options, as well as boozy libations and eight rotating local beer taps.
Executive chef Jesse Mendica also hails from Annie Gunn’s, where she served as executive sous chef for eight years. Her menu offerings include oysters and other pre-dinner seafood options, five appetizers and half a dozen soup and salad options. The entrees are almost evenly split between surf and turf dishes, including chicken options and two sharable dishes – a salt-roasted red snapper and a rib-eye. Meat-free options appear as entrees like a potpie filled with local mushrooms and cauliflower and a grilled pear and cheese sandwiches featuring Tulip Tree Trillium.
Here’s what to expect when you step inside Webster Groves’ newest eatery.
This article appears in January 2016.