Olio — Restaurant in Bayport

My new favorite spot, hands down. I was wowed by Olio when Luke and Riley were testing their concept in Hudson, and I've been anxiously waiting for their new restaurant to open. It did not disappoint. Everything was exceptional—the food, the space, the service.

My boys and I started with the sourdough focaccia with tomato sauce, grilled cabbage caesar, veal and pork meatballs, and a bottle of the Barolo. If you were there and heard squeals of delight? That was us. (We’d enthusiastically order all of them again.)

For dinner, we had the casarecce, paccheri, and chicken parm. I fell in love with the paccheri in Hudson, and this seasonal twist is simply good for your soul. I highly recommend that you try this dish. (If you don’t like it, please seek medical attention because there is clearly something wrong with you.) My boys loved all three, but the casarecce was their standout—comforting and flavorful without being heavy.

We couldn’t eat another bite. We ordered the zeppole anyway. A fun, sharable dessert if you want to finish on something sweet and wonderfully delicious. (I love their panna cotta but, at this point, my pants were rightly screaming noooooooo...)

In all honesty, there wasn’t a single dish that arrived at our table that was just “pretty good," and that's saying something.

My grandmother was from Torino, and my mom is an outstanding cook, so I was lucky to be raised on traditional dishes that would knock your socks off. I know beautiful Italian food—and this is beautiful Italian food. Thoughtful. Soulful. Totally without pretense. The way food should be.

All of this would be more than enough for a fabulous night, but the warmth of the people makes coming to Olio about far more than food. It feels like family.

What a special place.

When I got home, I wisely donned some stretchy pants and slipped into my food coma with a smile—but not before a friend and I made a reservation....

They’ve just opened and have some kinks to work out. Food didn’t arrive at the same time, etc. The place is charming and cozy; loved the atmosphere. Apps: The mortadella bruschetta app was my favorite item we ordered. The “Cacio e Pepe style” arancini were actually small suppli covered in a red sauce, so my tastebuds were prepped for one thing but got a 180. Salads: We loved the green salad—simple, fresh, flavorful, and just the right amount of texture. The golden beets were delicious—some of our dinner companions were surprised this was a cold dish—it ended up being my main meal. Mains: Sea bass was nicely done, albeit a bit heavy on the smoky flavor, but overall quite nice; I hesitated ordering the Fried Porchetta, thinking “if it sounds this bad, it must be good,” but I couldn’t eat more than one bite—there’s about 347 things going on in that plate, and none were subtle. The paccheri was creamy and excellent, filled with flavor but not cloying. The casarecce and its tasty house made sausage was good—if you’re fennel-averse, don’t worry—it’s not a top note. Dessert: The chocolate cake and olive oil ice cream dessert is alone worth a trip back. This, coming from someone who’s not a dessert fan. Booze: The Manhattan delivered more like an Old Fashioned; very sweet. Martini made with Italian vodka—excellent. Wine list is manageable and decent. We had a bottle of Pinot Nero, which played well with all above-mentioned foods. Summary: Everyone loves this place. I’m super critical (a Dining Group food critic), so I laid out some honesty. I want this place to survive; it’s a good addition to the eastern side of the map. It touts itself as a take on Italian food, but it is truly a Midwesterner’s Italian—and that’s good news to a lot of people. I would like to see some dishes that are less heavy and/or creamy. I will circle back in a couple of months to check...

Had an 8:45 reservation, and the hostess was great, and we were seated quickly. Tiny place with just a handful of tables. Ordered Bruschetta for an app, and it was really good, but just two pieces. Ordered two Caesar salads that we never received, but were charged. No big deal, because we said we would take them with the meal. There were two servers, but at this time there were only 3-4 tables with diners sitting. Our server never checked to see if we needed anything for the 75 minutes we were there. The hostess delivered our entrees. Service was poor. Entrees are very small, and my crab dish (Paccheri) quite literally had zero crab, however the flavors were great. My date had Calamarata, and it was pretty good, but again very small portion. Because of the size of the place, it was loud. Hard to hear across a small table. Spent just over $100 (without the salads we didn’t get) for 1 drink, 1 non-alcoholic drink, 1 Bruschetta and 2 entrees. The topper was they didn’t have the ice cream to make an Affogato for desert. I want to go back, because the flavor of my entree was fantastic, but, the rest will...