I've been meaning to write about this fantastic meal I had Tuesday night.

A bunch of us went to Olives in Charlestown for a birthday celebration. Olives is owned/run by Todd English, one of the area's celebrity chefs. The food has a Medeterranian flair to it (not surprising given the namesake), while the restaurant is pretty informal for higher cuisine. It has an open kitchen, too, which is fascinating (it also allowed us to see that Todd was in the house that night; among other things he appeared to be working on a dessert served in a martini glass).

The menu on the website is nothing like the one we had, but we made the best of it.

To start I had a black olive and goat cheese gnocchi with grape tomatoes which was tremendous- the sauce and the tomatoes gave this sweet tartness which cut the heavier pasta and cheese. I then had some butternut squash ravioli in a brown butter sauce which was on the house as they apparently forgot to enter an order of onion rings (go figure they mess up the easiest part of our order).

For an entree I went with a wild king salmon with an ox-tail ragout. The beef helped to draw out the salmon a bit, as it was lighter tasting than I expected (perhaps the difference between wild and farm-raised fish). It came with a potato croquette and microgreen salad, which were fine. I do find the idea of "microgreen salad" kind of funny, as it really looked like the rabbit food people often refer to when talking about greens.

Dessert was going to be hazelnut creme brulee, but they were out. I instead opted for the pineapple sorbet, which came with a pineapple compote and warm pineapple squares. That sounds like a lot of pineapple, and it was. It was kind of the ultimate palate-cleanser, as the different textures and temperatures were nice contrasts but not much of a flavor change.

All in all, I would highly recommend a trip to Olives. I don't think I can recommend more than one in a single year. At least not on my salary.