My first real fancy bar job was at a French restaurant. I’d been working for like six years in dive bars and clubs already but this was like, black tie, crisp white shirt, starched bistro apron, the whole thing. Pouring wine and TONS of Martinis. At least once a night someone would order a Martini with bleu cheese stuffed olives. We didn’t have them behind the bar so you would have to run to the kitchen, beg the slammed pantry cook for a little bleu, and then pop the pimento out of some bar olives with a toothpick and stuff them yourself. Always when you were buried in the weeds. It was a pain in the ass.
I grew up in California, and all along I-5 there are signs for The Olive Pit. Deep in the Sacramento Valley in the middle of nowhere lies The Olive Pit, a fun, cheesy, silly kind of roadside attraction right in the heart of olive country where tons of olives and almonds are grown.
Recently, my girlfriend and I were driving back from California and we found ourselves at The Olive Pit (as we always do). And I thought, you know, I do actually love a delicious bleu cheese stuffed olive Martini. I guess I finally got over my trauma from 20+ years ago. So this time I picked up a bunch of jars of them to bring home. Because they have, naturally, a million kinds of stuffed olives there at the Olive Pit.
Anyway, I brought them all to the bar (except one for home) and this post is to let you know that if you, like me, enjoy a bleu cheese stuffed olive Martini from time to time, then Pacific Standard is here for you. And I would love to make you one. I was a hater for a long time but you know what? Bleu cheese stuffed olives and a Martini are fucking awesome with a steak frites.
Wow, I can post something that Mr. Morgenthaler might read! I haven’t checked back in a year and am really happy to see posts again.
I just tried anchovy-stuffed olives and they are *amazing*. I assumed they’d just be a variation on the usual, but it’s like they’re a completely different taste, and they are good in my admittedly amateur martinis.
Yeah, their stuff is absolutely amazing!
I typically drink a fairly standard 2:1 or 3:1 gin martini. Would you recommend a vodka martini with the blue cheese olives, or do they work well with gin?
Blue cheese stuffed olives are awesome. Also love jalapeno stuffed and garlic stuffed.
I’ve always been a fan of ordering an occasional dirty martini with three blue cheese olives. Never understood why purists looked down on this? Thanks for posting this and reminding us all that it’s okay to just enjoy what’s in your cup.