Olives In The Family, Ohplease.Com, and More
Published 7:00 am Monday, October 9, 2006
Olives In The Family When you’re staring at the shelves at DeLaurenti’s trying to decide which of the dozens of premium olive oils to buy, there’s nothing to tip you off that a couple of the oils on sale are dearer to management’s heart than all the others. The name on the label is “Ponticelli,” which is Italian for “little bridges,” but the oil inside is the produce of a Perugian estate belonging in proper Italian extended-family style, to DeLaurenti managing partner Patrick McCarthy’s in-laws. The connection gets even closer, because McCarthy himself sometimes participates in the backbreaking business of harvesting the olives on the family property. The new (fall 2002) crop of extra-virgin Ponticelli oil’s in stock at a reasonable $20 for a half liter, but the stars of the line are a couple of olivey novelties: a 2002 “novello” made from fruit picked the very first week of harvest in late September which sparkles with fresh-olive tang and flavor ($10 per quarter-liter) and, for $23, a similar-sized bottle infused with black truffle essence so powerful that a teaspoon on your pasta will bring tears to your eyes.
Ohplease.Com Shades of MyLackey and Kozmo: Dot-com dreaming is not dead! With a touching obliviousness to everything we’re supposed to have learned over the last five years, here’s a press release from Seattle Citysearch announcing a partnership with food.com’s “state-of-the-art technology” to order takeout. Really. We’re not kidding. “The work-to-home transition is difficult and time consuming enough without a stop at the grocery store,” reads the release, not to mention the grief of “last-minute cell phone calls asking impatient waiters what’s on the menu.” Avoid the hassle! food.com will remember for you that you always “order pizza with spinach, pepperoni, and half mushrooms on Friday night and that you never want wasabi on your California Rolls.” All pumped up by this promising pitch, we immediately logged onto Citysearch, went down three or four blind alleys before finding the link to “Online Takeout Orders,” and then reveled in the range of choices before us: three Romio’s outlets, Four Seas Chinese and Sea-Thai in Seattle, and Super China in Redmond. The press release promises the same wonderful service and broad selection will soon be available in “additional markets.” But don’t you feel proud that Seattle got it first?
Here’s Your Beef Like meat? Want to help local ranchers? Island Grown Farmers Cooperative wants to sell you a share in their bounty to help capitalize their growing operation. $500 up front gets you a share in their next two years’ worth of beef, lamb, pork, or various combinations of the three. If the down payment’s a little steep for you alone, club together with some meat-friendly friends. To learn more about the deal, e-mail bruce@lopezislandfarm.com.
Naked Lunch Last week we told you about Protein Planet’s “naked sandwiches” (or meat in a bowl) but we didn’t tell you where to find them. Sorry: Go to 415 Pike St., DOWNTOWN, 206-625-3203.
