“We were very intentional in designing this space,” says Austin Carson, co-owner of Olivia, at 290 South Downing Street. The Michelin-recommended restaurant in Washington Park plans to reveal its expanded dining room this week, which will allow for wine education and pasta-making classes as well as larger private events and additional dinner-service seating.
“A busy night for us would be [around] seventy people, and when the dust settles on this, we should be in the neighborhood of 120 to 130 capacity over a couple of turns, so it's pretty close to doubling,” notes Carson.
The renovation includes a new main entry on Downing Street and a private dining room, which will host intimate parties for ten to fifteen guests. However, given the 1,200-square-foot expansion, Olivia can tailor its space to accommodate groups as large as forty people. Private event bookings for the holiday season are now being accepted.
On select evenings, likely once per month, Olivia will reserve the new event space for pasta-making classes, a program led by co-owner and chef Ty Leon. He’s spent years perfecting the meticulous art of crafting pasta, first fixating on the skill as a sous chef at Mizuna. During his four-year tenure, he graduated to executive chef; that's also where he met Carson and Olivia co-owner Heather Morrison.
Before opening Olivia in 2018, the trio debuted Bistro Georgette at Avanti Food & Beverage, a French street food concept. “I was missing the fine-dining scene because we were in a casual, quick-service setting — which I love, but I missed everything about fine dining,” says Leon.
So he continued self-educating and started reaching out to chefs who had refined their pasta-making skills. “First was Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon, [who] let me stage there in Portland, Oregon [for two months],” he explains. Leon then spent time at Lilia in Brooklyn, where he gained insight from its extruding program, followed by several weeks at Flour + Water in San Francisco.
“I knew how to make pasta at that point, but I wanted to see how a pasta-focused restaurant operates [so that] colleagues don't run out of pasta, how to store it, and ways of making different shapes that I hadn't heard of,” says Leon. “I got back from Flour + Water, and about six months later, we opened up Olivia.”
“A busy night for us would be [around] seventy people, and when the dust settles on this, we should be in the neighborhood of 120 to 130 capacity over a couple of turns, so it's pretty close to doubling,” notes Carson.
The renovation includes a new main entry on Downing Street and a private dining room, which will host intimate parties for ten to fifteen guests. However, given the 1,200-square-foot expansion, Olivia can tailor its space to accommodate groups as large as forty people. Private event bookings for the holiday season are now being accepted.
On select evenings, likely once per month, Olivia will reserve the new event space for pasta-making classes, a program led by co-owner and chef Ty Leon. He’s spent years perfecting the meticulous art of crafting pasta, first fixating on the skill as a sous chef at Mizuna. During his four-year tenure, he graduated to executive chef; that's also where he met Carson and Olivia co-owner Heather Morrison.
Before opening Olivia in 2018, the trio debuted Bistro Georgette at Avanti Food & Beverage, a French street food concept. “I was missing the fine-dining scene because we were in a casual, quick-service setting — which I love, but I missed everything about fine dining,” says Leon.
So he continued self-educating and started reaching out to chefs who had refined their pasta-making skills. “First was Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon, [who] let me stage there in Portland, Oregon [for two months],” he explains. Leon then spent time at Lilia in Brooklyn, where he gained insight from its extruding program, followed by several weeks at Flour + Water in San Francisco.
“I knew how to make pasta at that point, but I wanted to see how a pasta-focused restaurant operates [so that] colleagues don't run out of pasta, how to store it, and ways of making different shapes that I hadn't heard of,” says Leon. “I got back from Flour + Water, and about six months later, we opened up Olivia.”
That was in early 2020, and even through the pandemic, the restaurant hosted regular online wine tastings and livestreamed other food and beverage events. “I think everything about hospitality boils down to the way that you make people feel, and that's predicated upon your ability to connect with them. Educating, at least in the way that we try to, is just an expansion of that,” says Carson.
The restaurant’s emphasis on education also applies to its staff. “Since the beginning of the year, if you’ve eaten pasta here, it’s been made by Emily Boyd's hands, not mine,” says Leon. “I taught her, and we still come up with recipes together, but as far as the vast majority of pasta production, the ten different shapes that we have right now all come from her. It's probably 30 to 45 pounds of pasta a week.”
Boyd will also support the upcoming pasta-making classes, which will most often overview the process of crafting tortellini and cappelletti. “Those are our two favorite things to make. For the most part, [they] always have a place on our menu,” says Leon.
He adds, “If somebody is very proficient in pasta and just wants to get better, we can absolutely work with that person to become an expert, but most of these classes will be entry [-level]. I mean, pasta is a very intimidating thing to work with, even though it's only four ingredients. We can break that barrier down to help people be comfortable making it.”
The restaurant’s emphasis on education also applies to its staff. “Since the beginning of the year, if you’ve eaten pasta here, it’s been made by Emily Boyd's hands, not mine,” says Leon. “I taught her, and we still come up with recipes together, but as far as the vast majority of pasta production, the ten different shapes that we have right now all come from her. It's probably 30 to 45 pounds of pasta a week.”
Boyd will also support the upcoming pasta-making classes, which will most often overview the process of crafting tortellini and cappelletti. “Those are our two favorite things to make. For the most part, [they] always have a place on our menu,” says Leon.
He adds, “If somebody is very proficient in pasta and just wants to get better, we can absolutely work with that person to become an expert, but most of these classes will be entry [-level]. I mean, pasta is a very intimidating thing to work with, even though it's only four ingredients. We can break that barrier down to help people be comfortable making it.”
Olivia also aims to make wine approachable with the help of its wine director, Scott Thomas. He's the founder of Grappolo Wine School, which focuses on Italian varietals and provides wine certifications to industry professionals. His expertise has ensured that Olivia’s staff has a strong understanding of Italian wine, and has allowed the restaurant to expand its public educational programming.
“He wanted to leverage his brand and our platform to put more people in a position to learn about wine, doing so from a place of sincerity and generosity. He's phenomenal,” comments Carson. Up to twelve guests can participate in Thomas’s next event on October 21, which will review Sicilian wines. Tentatively, there will be a class on pairing wine with traditional Thanksgiving courses the week of November 13.
Thomas and Erika Copeland run the bar at Olivia, which has also been updated. It’s now a customizable Tayēr station, which the restaurant had shipped from Norway. Carson explains that bartending is physically taxing, and the upgrade is not only more ergonomic, but efficient.
He adds, “Rather than bending down for everything in a traditional speed well, everything is laid out almost like it were a line in a kitchen. It's a series of hexagons that can be set up in whatever way you want,” whether the bartender is left- or right-handed. The placement of ice and bottles can also be personalized to preferences.
“To me, it's so much more of an intuitive way to build and manufacture drinks than the way that I learned — largely behind bars that were never designed to be bars,” says Carson.
He concludes, “We're really proud of what we do, and hospitality is at the heart of everything that we do. We're excited to open the doors to the expanded space and get a chance to take care of more people.”
“He wanted to leverage his brand and our platform to put more people in a position to learn about wine, doing so from a place of sincerity and generosity. He's phenomenal,” comments Carson. Up to twelve guests can participate in Thomas’s next event on October 21, which will review Sicilian wines. Tentatively, there will be a class on pairing wine with traditional Thanksgiving courses the week of November 13.
Thomas and Erika Copeland run the bar at Olivia, which has also been updated. It’s now a customizable Tayēr station, which the restaurant had shipped from Norway. Carson explains that bartending is physically taxing, and the upgrade is not only more ergonomic, but efficient.
He adds, “Rather than bending down for everything in a traditional speed well, everything is laid out almost like it were a line in a kitchen. It's a series of hexagons that can be set up in whatever way you want,” whether the bartender is left- or right-handed. The placement of ice and bottles can also be personalized to preferences.
“To me, it's so much more of an intuitive way to build and manufacture drinks than the way that I learned — largely behind bars that were never designed to be bars,” says Carson.
He concludes, “We're really proud of what we do, and hospitality is at the heart of everything that we do. We're excited to open the doors to the expanded space and get a chance to take care of more people.”
